Volume 1 offers a comprehensive and authoritative new account of the war's military and strategic history.

General introduction Evan Mawdsley; Introduction to Volume 1 John Ferris and Evan Mawdsley; Part I. Grand Strategies: Introduction to Part I John Ferris and Evan Mawdsley; 1. British military strategy David French; 2. China's long war with Japan Jay Taylor; 3. French grand strategy and defence preparations Martin S. Alexander; 4. German strategy, 1939-45 Gerhard Weinberg; 5. Mussolini's strategy 1939-43 John Gooch; 6. Feigning grand strategy: Japan, 1937-45 Alessio Patalono; 7. US grand strategy, 1939-45 Thomas Mahnken; 8. Soviet strategy Bruce W. Menning and Jonathan House; Part II. Campaigns: Introduction to Part II John Ferris and Evan Mawdsley; 9. Campaigns in China, 1937-45 Hans Van De Ven; 10. War in the West, 1939-40: an unplanned Blitzkrieg Karl-Heinz Frieser; 11. War in the West, 1939-40: the Battle of Britain? John Ferris and Evan Mawdsley; 12. Operations on the Eastern Front, 1941-5 David R. Stone; 13. The Mediterranean and North Africa, 1940-4 Simon Ball; 14. The war in the West, 1943-5 Mary Kathryn Barbier; 15. The war in the Pacific, 1941-5 John T. Kuehn; 16. The Atlantic war, 1939-45 Marc Milner; 17. Anglo-American strategic bombing, 1940-5 Tami Davis Biddle; Part III. Fighting Forces: Introduction to Part III John Ferris and Evan Mawdsley; 18. War planning Eliot Cohen; 19. Armies, navies, air forces: the instruments of war Dennis Showalter; 20. Filling the ranks: conscription and personnel policies Sanders Marble; 21. Logistics by land and air Phillips O'Brien; 22. Intelligence John Ferris; 23. Prisoners of war Bob Moore; 24. Guerrillas and counter-insurgency Ben H. Shepherd; Bibliographical essays; Index.