Evan Mawdsley is an Honorary Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow. His extensive teaching experience at Glasgow included a specialist course on the grand strategy of World War II. He is the author of a number of recent important books and articles on World War II, including Thunder in the East: The Nazi-Soviet War (2006/2015), December 1941: Twelve Days that Began a New World War (2009), and The War for the Seas: A Maritime History of World War II (2019). He was also general editor of the three-volume Cambridge History of the Second World War (2016).

Review of the first edition: 'It is a rare textbook that is both cutting-edge and new: the book proves that we need to place the start of the Second World War in East Asia in 1937, rather than Europe in 1939 or Russia and Pearl Harbour in 1941. It changes how we write history.' Times Higher Education

• Preface to Second Edition; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. The World in 1937; 2. Japan and China, 1937–1940; 3. Hitler's border wars, 1938–1939; 4. Germany re-fights World War I, 1939–1940; 5. Wars of ideology, 1941–1942; 6. The Red Army versus the Wehrmacht, 1942–1944; 7. Japan's lunge for empire, 1941–1942; 8. Defending the perimeter: Japan, 1942–1944; 9. The 'World Ocean' and allied victory, 1939–1945; 10. The European periphery, 1940–1944; 11. Wearing down Germany, 1942–1944; 12. Victory in Europe, 1944–1945; 13. End and beginning in Asia, 1945; 14. Conclusion; Further reading; Notes; Index.

Evan Mawdsley is an Honorary Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow. His extensive teaching experience at Glasgow included a specialist course on the grand strategy of World War II. He is the author of a number of recent important books and articles on World War II, including Thunder in the East: The Nazi-Soviet War (2006/2015), December 1941: Twelve Days that Began a New World War (2009), and The War for the Seas: A Maritime History of World War II (2019). He was also general editor of the three-volume Cambridge History of the Second World War (2016).

Review of the first edition: 'It is a rare textbook that is both cutting-edge and new: the book proves that we need to place the start of the Second World War in East Asia in 1937, rather than Europe in 1939 or Russia and Pearl Harbour in 1941. It changes how we write history.' Times Higher Education

• Preface to Second Edition; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. The World in 1937; 2. Japan and China, 1937–1940; 3. Hitler's border wars, 1938–1939; 4. Germany re-fights World War I, 1939–1940; 5. Wars of ideology, 1941–1942; 6. The Red Army versus the Wehrmacht, 1942–1944; 7. Japan's lunge for empire, 1941–1942; 8. Defending the perimeter: Japan, 1942–1944; 9. The 'World Ocean' and allied victory, 1939–1945; 10. The European periphery, 1940–1944; 11. Wearing down Germany, 1942–1944; 12. Victory in Europe, 1944–1945; 13. End and beginning in Asia, 1945; 14. Conclusion; Further reading; Notes; Index.