Collapse: The World Goes to War 1931-1942

by Jonathan Fennell

In the first of a three-volume series, a brilliant young scholar of World War II offers a fresh and magisterial new history of the cataclysmic military struggle and the geo- and socio-political change it engendered.

Between 1931 and 1949, a series of crises broke out that threatened collective security, world order and the internal cohesion of states across the globe. At the heart of these crises was a world war that shook the foundations of global power, a watershed moment in the history of the twentieth century. Collapse is the first volume of an authoritative trilogy that tells the story of the Second World War through this international lens, covering theatres of war in multiple continents and analyzing worldwide trends.

Through exciting new sources in 14 languages and from over 50 archives across the world, Professor Jonathan Fennell examines the first part of this "long war,” from 1931-1942, and explores what it really meant to live through this violent time. Using an innovative approach which explores the personal alongside the political, the global alongside the local, he shows how a world that many considered civilized collapsed into barbarity.

Through immersive storytelling and a cast of characters, from "bands of brothers" to "sisters in arms" and "warwoven lovers," Collapse links the home and battle fronts and ties together the stories of great campaigns with the dramatic political and social changes of the twentieth century, and in doing so, transforms our understanding of this monumental conflict.

Kindle Edition

Expected publication November 24, 2026

About the author

Professor Jonathan Fennell is Professor of the History of War and Society at King’s College London. After completing a Doctorate in Modern History at the University of Oxford, Jonathan worked in management consultancy in the City before joining the Defence Studies Department in 2009. Prior to this, he was awarded a joint honours History and Politics Degree at University College Dublin and studied History as an Erasmus Scholar at Université Lumière Lyon II. Jonathan now holds a joint position between the Defence Studies and War Studies Departments at King’s.

Jonathan’s research focuses on the history of Britain and the Commonwealth and the transnational history of the Second World War. He has written two books and is co-editor of a third. He has published articles in research journals and other media as well as contributing chapters to edited collections.

His most recent monograph, Fighting the People’s War: The British and Commonwealth Armies and the Second World War (Cambridge University Press, 2019), won the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Duke of Wellington Medal for Military History 2020, and also the Society for Army Historical Research Templer Medal for the History of the British Army 2020. It was awarded the silver medal in the Military History Matters Book of the Year 2020 (a prize decided by public vote) and was third place in the British Army Military Book of the Year, 2020.