Ebbing of European Ascendancy

SALLY MARKS is Professor Emerita of Rhode Island College, USA.

'Sally Marks has rendered a great service to students and general readers alike in this incisive and insightful survey of global politics in the first half of the twentieth century. Her lively prose and shrewd judgements make it a most readable and valuable introduction to the themes of modern diplomacy, war and the relations between Europe and the wider world.' Gordon Martel, Professor of History, University of Northern British Columbia 'A most thoughtful and comprehensive analysis of how Europe's dominance of the globe dissolved in the twentieth century. Readers are carefully led through the thickets of war and diplomacy with due attention to economic and cultural factors and the perceptions - and misperceptions - of key actors as well as the public in Europe and around the world.' Gerhard L. Weinberg, Professor Emeritus, Universit 'An incisive and insightful survey of global politics in the first half of the twentieth century.' Educational Book Review 'This is a very useful introductory text, written in a lively style providing a thorough analysis of the erosion of European power in the first half of the twentieth century.' History

• Prologue - Europe's world; diplomacy and the state system to 1900. Act I Europe's war: the coming of the First World War; the First World War; the Russian revolution. Act II The West's peace: the Paris Peace Conference and the Versailles Treaty; the Eastern Treaty 1919-1923. Act III The West's world: the imperial factor; sub-Saharan Africa; the Middle East; East Asia; Latin America; the United States; Europe in the 1920s. Act IV The world's crises: the Great Depression; challenges of the dissatisfied, 1931-1937. Act V The world's war: war east and west, 1937-1941; World War II, 1942-1945. Epilogue: a different world; the aftermath.