The Nature of Total War: Grasping the Global Environmental Dimensions of World War II

The past decade has seen a proliferation of studies examining the environmental dimensions of World War II. This article analyses this literature by engaging with relevant parallel historiographical streams on the war and on non-military environmental history. It suggests that scholars working with a non-European focus have been innovative in their use of global and transnational approaches. Studies of Axis-occupied Europe, on the other hand, have uncovered the nuanced dynamics behind the fascist regimes' efforts to manipulate nature. This article outlines the potential contributions of bringing these bodies of literature in dialogue. Moreover, this article contends that the impact of the Second World War on socio-environmental dimensions can only be fully appreciated through studies that transcend a traditional temporal boundary.