Emmel #4B

Mosley, Leonard. On Borrowed Time: How World War II Began. New York: Random House,
1969.

On Borrowed Time is a narrative outlining the road leading to the outbreak of hostilities
in Europe in 1939. The cited sources are mostly primary and archival in nature. The usual list of
biographies, memoirs, and interviews is also presented in the bibliography. References are not
directly cited. However, the notes section is organized by chapter heading and page number; each
entry shows what references were used to outline the presented arguments for that section.
Informational footnotes are used throughout the work help the reader understand the type of
minutiae that regularly occurs in histories.
Mosley's goal is to show the progression and breakdown in diplomacy that occurred
throughout late 1938 and 1939 that led to the outbreak of World War II. His primary argument is
that politicians like Chamberlain followed a policy of appeasement that led Hitler to become
more aggressive in pursuit of his expansionist policies. Mosley also asserts that less vacillation
on the part of the western democracies and a firm military intervention early on in the crisis
could have averted the tragedy to come. Mosley also denies the view that Chamberlain was
merely a likable fellow who was merely motivated by peace but rather paints a portrait of him as
a typical politician more concerned with his own power.
Mosley outlines his argument by showing how Britain refused to back France up
militarily in support of eastern Europe and lays the most blame on Britain for the appeasement
process. The title borrowed time refers to the idea that appeasement merely delayed the
inevitable military crisis and that peace is never possible with a ruthless dictator.