Description

Originally, when the British official historian Sir James Edmonds was planning the Official History series, he foresaw two volumes covering the post-war occupations of former enemy states, namely Germany and Turkey. However, due to Foreign Office objections relating to the possible unlawful actions concerning the occupations, the writing of them was put on hold. Even without the permission to publish, the research for these volumes was still conducted by Edmonds in the 1930s. Interest in the occupation of Germany was revived in 1942 at what was seen to be the turning point of the Second World War and an invasion of mainland Europe possible in the near future. Therefore, the decision was taken to write the German occupation book. Edmonds decided to write both 'occupation' volumes in 1943, even though only the German volume, which was titled 'The Occupation of the Rhineland 1918-1929', was sanctioned. This volume was published in 1944. This book, the second occupation volume, was written during the summer of 1944. On the completion of the draft manuscript, it was stored within the Public Records Office, London. The British Official History set, therefore, remained incomplete until the issue of this work in 2010.