Professor Richard Overy

Research Interests

Research interests have included many aspects of the history of the Third Reich and the Second World War and, more recently, of Stalin's Soviet Union and the Soviet war effort. He is currently working on a book which explores the development of a morbid culture in inter-war and wartime Europe and examines the links between that culture and the nature of war, civil war and genocide. He is currently preparing a research project on bombing and its impact during the Second World War which will look comparatively at the experience of bombed communities in Britain, France, Italy, Germany and the Soviet Union. He is also continuing research on aspects of the German economy under Hitler.

Research Supervision

Research supervision can be offered generally in the field of the Hitler and Stalin dictatorships, the Second World War (causes, course and consequences - any aspect of its history), air power history, German history from c.1900.

Research Students

Recently supervised theses include: a study of German/British Catholic anti-Semitism; exploitation of Soviet manpower on the eastern front; German conservative intellectuals in 1920s Germany; eco-fascism in Britain and Germany. Current supervision at Exeter includes: a study of the Soviet-German friendship society.