Many major world events have occurred since the last keyanniversary of the beginning of the Second World War, and these events have had adramatic impact on the international stage: 9/11, the Iraq War, climate change and the world economic crisis. This is an opportune moment to bring together a group of major international experts who will offer a series of newinterpretations ofthe key aspects of the origins of the Second World War. Each chapter is based onoriginal archival research and written by scholars who are all leading experts in their fields. This is a truly international collection of articles, with wide breadth and scope, which includes contributions fromhistorians, and also political scientists, gender theorists, and international relations experts. This is an important contribution to scholarly debate on one of the most important events of the 20 th century and a subject of major interest to the general reader, historians, students and researchers, policy makers and conflict prevention experts.