Decolonization changed the spatial order of the globe, the imagination of men and women around the world and established images of the globe. Both individuals and social groups shaped decolonization itself: this volume puts agency squarely at the center of debate by looking at elites and leaders who changed the course of history across the world.

Decolonization changed the spatial order of the globe, the imagination of men and women around the world and established images of the globe. Both individuals and social groups shaped decolonization itself: this volume puts agency squarely at the centre of debate by looking at elites and leaders who changed the course of history across the world.

Dieser Band ist eine studentengerechte Einfuhrung in die von Bruchen, Konflikten und Integrationsversuchen gepragte Zeit zwischen dem Zweiten Weltkrieg und der Auflosung desOstblocks. In bewahrter -Grundriss--Manier tritt neben die Darstellung der geschichtlichen Ereignisse eine umfassende Diskussion der Forschung sowie eine Bibliographie der wichtigsten Literatur."

Nazi Germany and the crimes associated with that regime have never left the public consciousness, even though the war generation is slowly dying out. However, historians have found new ways of viewing the subject, changing their perspectives and models of interpretation. This history provides access to recent research, combining analysis with a narrative account of the period. It covers the rise of the Nazi party, the consolidation of power in 1933-1938, preparations for war, and the nature of the Nazi state. It focuses particularly on the war, the military engagements, the persecution of the regime's victims, the extermination and terror programme, and the policies of occupation in the Nazi-occupied parts of Europe. The author attempts to place the Nazi crimes in their proper context after 1945, and to assess the extent to which Nazism brought about a modernization of Germany.