Northern European Overture to War, 1939-1941

Michael H. Clemmesen is a retired army brigadier general.He was director of the strategy department at the Royal Danish Defence College and later established the Baltic Defence College in Tartu, Estonia. Currently he is a senior research fellow at the Danish Centre for Military History.Marcus Faulkner, Ph.D. (2009), King's College London, is a Teaching Fellow in the Department of War Studies. He is a contemporary international historian and currently focuses on the development of sea power in twentieth century.

"...Covering an impressive range of topics sensibly organized into five sections, the volume offers a welcome international perspective on northern Europe's descent into war. Summing Up: Highly recommended."K. C. O'Connor (Gonzaga University), CHOICE, November 2013

• List of Illustrations ixList of Contributors xiIntroduction ... 1Michael H. Clemmesen and Marcus S. FaulknerPART I : THE GREAT POWERS AND THEIR APPROACHES TO THE REGIONContainment and Cold War before the Nuclear Age: The Phoney War as Allied Strategy According to Liddell Hart ... 9Azar GatResponding with Kindness or in Kind? On Conceptions of War and the Democracies’ Responses to Military Threats ... 23Jeppe Plenge TrautnerThe Only British Advantage: Sea Power and Strategy, September 1939–June 1940 ... 45Andrew LambertThe Soviet Policy towards the Baltic States in 1939–41 ... 75Boris Vadimovich SokolovSoviet Naval Perceptions of the Baltic Sea, 1938–41 ... 91Gunnar ÅseliusThe Long and Winding Road to Weserübung ... 115Michael EpkenhansSlipping into the War: German Naval Strategy between 1920 and 1940 ... 129Jörg HillmannPART II: THE FOURTH PARTITION OF POLAND-LITHUANIA AND OTHER EFFECTS OF THE MOLOTOV-RIBBENTROP PACTThe Lithuanian Reaction to the Loss of Klaipėda and the Combined Gift of Soviet “Security Assistance” and Vilnius ... 167Česlovas LaurinavičiusPolish Perceptions of the Strategic Situation on the Eve of the Second World War ... 189Sławomir DębskiGovernment and Public Reaction in Estonia to Soviet Pressure and the Events of September–December 1939 ... 209Magnus IlmjärvResponses During the First Months of the Second World War: The Latvian Government, Army, Society and the Finnish Winter War ... 229Valters ŠčerbinskisPART III: SCANDINAVIA AND WESERÜBUNGNorway and the Withering League of Nations ... 249Karl Erik HaugA German Menace to Norway: The Evolution of Threat Perceptions and Strategy between the Wars ... 271Tom KristiansenThe Strategic Considerations and Actions of the Danish Commanding Admiral in the Years before the German Occupation in 1940 ... 295Hans Christian BjergThe Armoured Commerce Raider: The Concept that Guided German Naval Lobbying for Control of Norway ... 307Michael H. ClemmesenUnternehmen Weserübung April 1940: The German and Allied Strategy and Operational Approaches in Northern Europe 1939–40 ... 331Werner Rahn (in cooperation with Milan Vego)British Operational Responses to German Control of Denmark and Norway, April 1940–June 1941 ... 361Marcus S. FaulknerThe Two Norways, 1940–41 ... 383Ole Kristian GrimnesPART IV: THE FINAL MONTHS OF SOVIET GEOSTRATEGIC PREPARATIONSSoviet Military Preparations in Estonia during the Year before Barbarossa ... 405Toomas HiioSwedish Responses to Soviet Moves East of the Baltic Sea: The Baltic States in Swedish Military Planning, 1939–41 ... 433Lars Ericson WolkePART V: THE HISTORIOGRAPHYWeserübung in German and Norwegian Historiography ... 449Rolf HobsonConspiracy, Guilt and Rationality: The Memory and History of the German Military Occupation of Denmark on 9 April 1940 ... 465Palle Roslyng-JensenProblems of Baltic Historiography, 1939–41 ... 491Alfred Erich SennIndex of Names ... 511