The Coming of the Third ReichThe definitive account of Hitler's rise to power and the collapse of civilization in Nazi Germany, from the author of The Third Reich in Power and The Third Reich at War. "The clearest and most gripping account I've read of German life before and during the rise of the Nazis." —A. S Byatt, Times Literary Supplement "Impressive in its command of an immense literature, perceptive in analysis, fluent in style, and humane in judgment, this work could only have been produced by a master historian." —Sir Ian Kershaw "Brilliant." —Richard Cohen, The Washington Post There is no story in twentieth-century history more important to understand than Hitler’s rise to power and the collapse of civilization in Nazi Germany. With The Coming of the Third Reich, Richard J. Evans, one of the world’s most distinguished historians, has written the definitive account for our time. A masterful synthesis of a vast body of scholarly work integrated with important new research and interpretations, Evans’s history restores drama and contingency to the rise to power of Hitler and the Nazis, even as it shows how ready Germany was by the early 1930s for such a takeover to occur. The Coming of the Third Reich is a masterwork of the historian’s art and the book by which all others on the subject will be judged. |
Contents
Preface | xv |
THE LEGACY OF THE PAST | 1 |
GERMAN PECULIARITIES | 2 |
GOSPELS OF HATE | 22 |
THE SPIRIT OF 1914 | 42 |
DESCENT INTO CHAOS | 60 |
THE FAILURE OF DEMOCRACY | 77 |
THE WEAKNESSES OF WEIMAR | 78 |
TOWARDS THE SEIZURE OF POWER | 231 |
THE GREAT DEPRESSION | 232 |
THE CRISIS OF DEMOCRACY | 247 |
THE VICTORY OF VIOLENCE | 266 |
FATEFUL DECISIONS | 289 |
CREATING THE THIRD REICH | 309 |
THE TERROR BEGINS | 310 |
FIRE IN THE REICHSTAG | 328 |
THE GREAT INFLATION | 103 |
CULTURE WARS | 118 |
THE FIT AND THE UNFIT | 139 |
THE RISE OF NAZISM | 155 |
BOHEMIAN REVOLUTIONARIES | 156 |
THE BEERHALL PUTSCH | 176 |
REBUILDING THE MOVEMENT | 195 |
THE ROOTS OF COMMITMENT | 217 |
DEMOCRACY DESTROYED | 350 |
BRINGING GERMANY INTO LINE | 375 |
HITLERS CULTURAL REVOLUTION | 391 |
DISCORDANT NOTES | 392 |
THE PURGE OF THE ARTS | 405 |
AGAINST THE UNGERMAN SPIRIT | 419 |
A REVOLUTION OF DESTRUCTION? | 441 |
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Common terms and phrases
antisemitism army arrested banned Bavarian began Berlin Bismarck Bracher Broszat brownshirts Brüning cabinet campaign Catholic cent Centre Party civil servants coalition Communist conservative cultural declared democracy deputies Deutsche deutschen Deutschland dictatorship Düsseldorf early economic electoral Ernst Evans force Frankfurt am Main Free Corps German history Germany's Geschichte Goebbels Göring groups Hamburg Heinrich Heinrich Brüning Hermann Göring Hindenburg Hitler Hugenberg Ibid inflation institutions Jewish Jews Joseph Goebbels Karl Kershaw Klemperer labour leader leadership League liberal London Ludendorff Machtergreifung majority March mass Matthias and Morsey military million Morsey eds movement Munich National Socialist nationalist Nationalsozialismus Nazi Germany Nazi Party Nazism NSDAP organization Pan-German Papen paramilitary Party's police Political Violence Politik Politische propaganda Prussian putsch racial regime Reich Chancellor Reichstag Election Republik Revolution revolutionary Schleicher Social Democrats society Steel Helmets stormtroopers Strasser Stuttgart Third Reich trade union voted Nazi Weimar Republic Wilhelm workers World