The New Order was the term the Japanese, German and Italian governments used for their expansive strategies and spheres of influence during the eve and course of the Second World War. Their attack against the status quo was initiated by Japan occupying Mandchuria, preceding Hitler’s rise to power. Subsequently Italian agression against Ethiopia shows that the first military adventures of the emerging New Order occurred outside Europe. A main issue in this account is the lack of coordination between the German and Japanese approaches towards the USSR. Consequently the Anti-Komintern-Pact, an overwhelmingly ideological cover-up, implied meagre strategic significance. The Tripartite Treaty, on the contrary, provided Germany with some East European allies in its warfare against the USSR. In contrast to German and Japan the Italian military performance was in all the stages of the Second World War so poor, that Mussolini’s Fascism was downgraded to a humiliating position within the New Order. The author concludes, that the common strategy came to naught on different interest and mentalities. Fascist ‘internationalism’ proved to be a sheer impossibility. Dr. Stam, a pensioned librarian, completed his study in sociology and history at Utrecht University with a thesis on the communist revision of Marxism. Later on he published some books and articles on contemporary history, remaining mainly concerned with communist policies. The book was translated by Cees Endlich.