Historians have hitherto devoted attention almost exclusively to political and diplomatic issues, more especially to Hitler and the Nazis, as the root causes of the Second World War. Economic affairs and trade and business investments in the prewar period have been little noticed. Arguing that previous historians have confused effect for cause and have considered these political, diplomatic and ideological disputes without reference to the systemic problems that provoked them, Paul Hehn focuses on the fierce rivalries among the Great Powers in the relentless search for markets in during the world depression of the 1930's, particularly in southeastern Europe where Germany created a semi-colonial , economic and trade hegemony. In all, the book deals with the five Major Powers and all the Eastern European countries from the Baltic to Turkey but focuses primarily on Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Yugoslavia.