Political Economy of War and Victory

Abstract

the paper analyzes foreign and domestic economic policies of the countries participated in the World War II, and how political and economic factors influenced the results of the military confrontation. It is shown that the choice of allies during the war determined the ratio of economic and military potentials of the parties. Mistakes in determining the parties’ mobilization capacities, their scale and speed of putting economies on a wartime footing became the important factors of the decisions made. The paper also considers political and economic intentions of the parties, time frames fo the commencement of economic mobilizations for war-preparation, and why the speed of economic mobilization differed between the different countries. In the context of a protracted conflict, a scale of the economy and efficient use of its potential play a key role in achieving victory. The militarization of the economies taken place in the hope of a quick victory has not brought success to the Axis Powers.