In this groundbreaking history, Tooze provides the clearest picture to date of the Nazi war machine and its undoing. There was no aspect of Nazi power untouched by economics--it was Hitler's obsession and the reason the Nazis came to power in the first place. The Second World War was fought, in Hitler's view, to create a European empire strong enough to take on the United States. But as this book makes clear, Hitler's armies were never powerful enough to beat either Britain or the Soviet Union--and Hitler never had a serious plan as to how he might defeat the United States. An eye-opening and controversial account that will challenge conventional interpretations of the period.--From publisher description.