A Low, Dishonest Decade: The Great Powers, Eastern Europe, and the Economic Origins of World War II, 1930-1941

Almost all written histories of the period leading up to World War II stress political diplomatic and ideological conflicts. Arguing that previous historians have confused effect for cause and have considered these conflicts without reference to the systemic problems that provoked them Paul Hehn focuses on the fierce rivalries among the Great Powers in the relentless search for markets during the world depression of the 1930s. These rivalries were exacerbated particularly in southeastern Europe where Germany dominated the economies and trade arenas of its neighbors in a semi-colonial manner. In A Low Dishonest Decade Hehn surveys the five Major Powers and all the Eastern European countries from the Baltic to Turkey. But he primarily canvases the economic situations in strategic locations like Czechoslovakia Hungary Poland Romania and Yugoslavia.