Table of Contents

Prologue
Part I: Retreat from Internationalism, 1933-1938
1: Brown Dawn: The Rise of Hitler and the Death of Disarmament, 1933-1934
2: Uncertain Embraces: The European Powers and Nazi Germany, 1934-1935
3: The Assault on Versailles and Locarno: Ethiopia and the occupation of the Rhineland
4: The Remnants of Internationalism, 1936-1938
5: The Spanish Cockpit, 1935-1938
6: Rearmament and Appeasement 1936-1937
7: Appeasement Advances, 1937-1938
8: Illusions of Neutrality: Eastern Europe, 1936-1938
9: Whither the Soviet Union? Moscow and the West, 1936-1938
10: Thunder from the East: The Sino-Japanese Conflict and the European Powers, 1933-1938
11: Hitler Moves: Austria and Czechoslovakia, 1938
12: The Munich Settlement
Part II: The Road to Hitler's War, 1938-1939
13: The Fog of Peace: Strategic Choices after Munich
14: Black Sun: Aggression and Deterrence
15: Darkening Skies: Peace Talking and War Planning in Britain and France
16: Unleashing the Dogs of War
17: Red Clouds: The Soviet Union and the Nazi-Soviet Pact, 1939
18: Escape from War or Persecution? The Smaller Powers and the Jews
19: The Nightmare of the Dark: The Decisions for War
Conclusion

About the Author

Zara Steiner is Emeritus Fellow, New Hall, University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of the British Academy.

Reviews

`Review from previous edition A terrifically good read...a definitive account, the distillation of a lifetime's dedicated scholarship... No short review can do justice to the book's riches.'
Piers Brendon, The Independent
`A gigantic work of synthesis ... a staggering achievement.'
Alex Danchev, Literary Review
`Magisterial...a magnificent work of scholarship, narrative, and authoritative historical judgment.'
Richard J. Evans, The New Republic
`Magisterial...Anyone who works on the 1930s will be permanently in Steiner's debt...Zara Steiner's account of this troubled decade is fuller and richer than any yet published.'
Richard Overy, Times Literary Supplement
`A remarkable achievement of conscientious scholarship.'
Vernon Bogdanor, New Statesman
`A modern classic...magnificent... Authoritative and absorbing, Steiners volume will stand the test of time.'
Joe Maiolo, BBC History Magazine
`One of those masterpieces of exact scholarship, conceived on a vast scale, which will remain the standard work on the subject for many years.'
Jonathan Sumption, The Spectator
`A landmark event...Steiner's two volumes will undoubtedly become a standard work of reference for the two decades between the world wars...magisterial...a triumph...a magnificent achievement... A distillation of a lifetime of fine scholarship, this is an invaluable account of one dimension of these complex and fateful years.'
Britain and the World
`A superbly wrought history and a major contribution to the field. It is a mammoth work filled to the brim with prodigious scholarship'
Patrick Porter, History Today
`Definitive...the most thorough, wide-ranging and carefully argued narrative available on the tumultuous decade that ended in world war. Every historian of the period will stand in Steiner's debt.'
Richard Overy, Wall Street Journal
`Zara Steiner has written a beautifully crafted and persistently intelligent survey of Europes descent in the 1930s into war and barbarism.'
Harold James, International Affairs
`This book is monumental ... a remarkable achievement by Zara Steiner'
Talbot Imlay, English Historical Review
`a truly magnificent achievement ... a triumph of historical writing and an exemplar for all historians.'
Keith Neilson, War In History
`Her thorough analysis, skilful handling of the sources and convincing argumentation, has made The Triumph of the Dark a stimulating and rewarding affair.'
Martijn Lak, European History Review