The conflict that ended in 1945 is often described as a 'total war', unprecedented in both scale and character. Volume 3 of The Cambridge History of the Second World War adopts a transnational approach to offer a comprehensive and global analysis of the war as an economic, social and cultural event. Across twenty-eight chapters and four key parts, the volume addresses complex themes such as the political economy of industrial war, the social practices of war, the moral economy of war and peace and the repercussions of catastrophic destruction. A team of nearly thirty leading historians together show how entire nations mobilized their economies and populations in the face of unimaginable violence, and how they dealt with the subsequent losses that followed. The volume concludes by considering the lasting impact of the conflict and the memory of war across different cultures of commemoration.

1945年结束的冲突经常被描述为一场 "全面战争"，其规模和性质都是前所未有的。剑桥第二次世界大战史》第三卷采用了一种跨国方法，对作为经济、社会和文化事件的战争进行了全面和全球性的分析。在28个章节和四个关键部分中，该卷涉及复杂的主题，如工业战争的政治经济、战争的社会实践、战争与和平的道德经济以及灾难性破坏的影响。一个由近30位顶尖历史学家组成的团队共同展示了整个国家在面对难以想象的暴力时是如何动员其经济和人口的，以及他们如何处理随后的损失。本卷最后考虑了冲突的持久影响以及不同纪念文化中的战争记忆。