Environmental Dimensions of the Second World War

Historians continue to take deep interest in assessing the Second World War's environmental aspects. There were constraints of topography, natural resources, climate, and disease, in the prosecution of the war itself. Politicians adopted differing views on wildlife, resource conservation, and environmental purity. There were short- and long-term impacts of the war on natural landscapes, from bombing, construction, or large-scale manipulations terrain. The war itself was a catalyst for later environmental science and social thought. The present essay is a revised historiographic discussion that introduces key issues around which scholars have situated their work, with updates since the original 2012 publication.