000			01434nam a2200169Ia 4500
005			20250718142140.0
008			250718s9999 xx 000 0 und d
020			_a9780141041308
082			_a940.5311 _bOVE
100			_aOvery, R. J.
245		0	_a1939
260			_bPenguin UK _c2010
300			_a120 pages
500			_a24 August 1939: The fate of the world is hanging in the balance. Hitler has ambitions to invade Poland and hopes Stalin will now help him. And the West must try to stop him. If they don t, world war will result. In this dramatic account of the last days of peace in 1939, Richard Overy re-creates hour by hour the unfolding story in the capitals of Europe as politicians and the public braced themselves for a war that they feared might spell the end of European civilisation. There was nothing entirely predictable or inevitable about the outcome. The West hoped that Hitler would see sense if they stood firm. Hitler was convinced the West would back down. There were moments of hesitation and moments of confrontation; secret intelligence was used by both sides to support their hopes. The one constant feature was the determination of Poland, a country created only in 1919, to fight a war that seemed entirely irrational, against the armed might of Germany. Countdown to War brings to life a defining moment in the history of the violent twentieth century.
650			_aHistory
942			_cENGLISH
999			_c576163 _d576163