This book interprets the World Wars as a single unit in modern history. The interwar decades were a period of rearmament based on assumptions about the probability of a future war and the nature of its prosecution. The result was a conflict exponentially more violent than that of 1914-1918.

Carl Cavanagh Hodge is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of British Columbia-Okanagan.

Introduction 1. Diplomatic Failure and Military Catastrophe 2. Naval Theory in London and Berlin 3. Armistice 4. Appeasement and Rearmament 5. The Launch of World War II in Europe 6. The Asia-Pacific War 7. Defence and Offence, Land and Sea 8. The Allied Offensives. Conclusion