The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy

by Adam Tooze

On the ground and in the air, the Wehrmacht could expect to enjoy at least a temporary advantage. Meanwhile, over the summer of 1939 Germany’s strategic situation suddenly took a turn for the better. Czechoslovakia was eliminated as a threat. Roosevelt was frustrated by a resurgence of isolationism. And through a few hectic weeks of diplomacy, Ribbentrop broke the encirclement that had seemed to threaten after the occupation of Prague. Rather than backing Britain and France, the Soviet Union committed itself to supporting Hitler’s aggression. This in turn enormously strengthened Hitler’s hand in relation to the smaller South-eastern European countries who would now, surely, be roped into the Axis corral. In the final analysis, there seems little reason