世界历史发展进程中的第二次世界大战

第二次世界大战是资本主义陷入深刻危机的产物,使人类在物质上和精神上蒙受了前所未有的巨大双重劫难。但是,战后形成的社会主义新气象和殖民体系的瓦解,以及在国际关系中形成的各种维护世界和平与安全、促进全球经济发展与合作的新机制,进一步加快了世界历史的发展进程。战后的世界历史进入了一个以和平与发展为时代主题的新阶段。     

Review Article: The General History of the Second World War

MARTIN KITCHEN. A World in Flames: A Short History of the Second World War in Europe and Asia, 1939–1945. London and New York: Longman, 1990. Pp. xii, 377. $24.95 (CAN);

R.A.C. PARKER. Struggle for Survival: The History of the Second World War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990. Pp. xii, 328. £5.95;

H.P. WiLLMOTT. The Great Crusade: A New Complete History of the Second World War. New York: Free Press (Macmillan), 1989. Pp. xii, 500. $24.95 (us);

JOHN KEEGAN. The Second World War. Sydney: Hutchinson, 1989. Pp. vii, 608. Aus $39.95;

JOHN ELLIS. Brute Force: Allied Strategy and Tactics in the Second World War. London: André Deutsch, 1990. Pp. xxii, 643. £19.95;

ALAN F. WILT. War from the Top: German and British Military Decision Making during World War II. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1990. Pp. x, 390. $35.00 (us).     

The Cambridge history of the Second World War

Following on from earlier three‐volume histories of the Cold War and the First World War, Cambridge University Press completes a trilogy with this detailed treatment of the Second World War. Multi‐authored in the Cambridge tradition, the individual chapters cover a wide range of events and topics and the 81 contributors, mainly but not exclusively from the United Kingdom and the United States, include both scholars who have already established a reputation in the subject as well as those who are in the process of doing so. Perhaps the greatest strength of the volumes is the treatment given to what may be loosely referred to as the Pacific War. No one who uses them properly is going to have any doubts about the nature and importance of the struggle between Japan and its opponents between 1937 and 1945, and it is particularly encouraging to note the use of Chinese and Japanese sources by the authors, when so many English‐language books on the subject cite none. The principal weakness of the enterprise is its division into an unnecessarily complicated series of topics, which is not always adhered to by the authors and which often compels the unfortunate reader to skip backwards and forwards, not only within but between volumes. Despite this flaw, however, this remains an important contribution to the history of the Second World War and will need to be consulted by any serious student of the subject for many years to come.