This lengthy account traces the history of Germany from defeat in World War I to defeat in World War II.
William L. Shirerhas had a distinguished career as foreign correspondent, news commentator, and historian of the contemporary world. He reported from Berlin for the Universal News Service and for CBS on the rise of the Nazis and he covered their all as a war correspondent. Out of these reports grew his best-sellersBerlin DiaryandThe Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,which has sold more copies for the Book-of-the-Month Club than any other book in the club's history.Shirer is the author of many other best-selling books, includingThe Collapse of the Third Republicand an autobiography,Twentieth Century Journey: A Memoir of a Life and the Times,composed of three volumes --The Start: 1904-1930, The Nightmare Years: 1930-1940,andA Native's Return: 1945-1988.He is at work on a new book about the last two weeks of Tolstoy's life.
Chapter 1 BIRTH OF THE THIRD REICHOn the very eve of the birth of the Third Reich a feverish tension gripped Berlin. The Weimar Republic, it seemed obvious to almost everyonse, was about to expire. For more than a year it had been fast crumbling. General Kurt von Schleicher, who like his immediate predecessor, Franz von Papen, cared little for the Republic and less for its democracy, and who, also like him, had ruled as Chancellor by presidential decree without recourse to Parliament, had come to the end of his rope after fifty-seven days in office.On Saturday, January 28, 1933, he had been abruptly dismissed by the aging President of the Republic, Field Marshal von Hindenburg. Adolf Hitler, leader of the National Socialists, the largest political party in Germany, was demanding for himself the chancellorship of the democratic Republic he had sworn to destroy.The wildest rumors of what might happen were rife in the capital that fateful winter weekend, and the most alarming of them, as it happened, were not without some foundation. There were reports that Schleicher, in collusion with General Kurt von Hammerstein, the Commander in Chief of the Army, was preparing a putsch with the support of the Potsdam garrison for the purpose of arresting the President and establishing a military dictatorship. There was talk of a Nazi putsch. The Berlin storm troopers, aided by Nazi sympathizers in the police, were to seize the Wilhelmstrasse, where the President's Palace and most of the government ministries were located. There was talk also of a general strike. On Sunday, January 29, a hundred thousand workers crowded into the Lustgarten in the center of Berlin to demonstrate their opposition to making Hitler Chancellor. One of their leaders attempted to get in touch with General von Hammerstein to propose joint action by the Army and organized labor should Hitler be named to head a new government. Once before, at the time of the Kapp putsch in 1920, a general strike had saved the Republic after the government had fled the capital.Throughout most of the night from Sunday to Monday Hitler paced up and down his room in the Kaiserhof hotel on the Reichskanzlerplatz, just down the street from the Chancellery. Despite his nervousness he was supremely confident that his hour had struck. For nearly a month he had been secretly negotiating with Papen and the other leaders of the conservative Right. He had had to compromise. He could not have a purely Nazi government. But he could be Chancellor of a coalition government whose members, eight out of eleven of whom were not Nazis, agreed with him on the abolition of the democratic Weimar regime. Only the aged, dour President had seemed to stand in his way. As recently as January 26, two days before the advent of this crucial weekend, the grizzly old Field Marshal had told General von Hammerstein that he had "no intention whatsoever of making that Austrian corporal either Minister of Defense or Chancellor of the Reich."Yet under the influence of his son, Major Oskar von Hindenburg, of Otto von Meissner, the State Secretary to the President, of Papen and other members of the palace camarilla, the President was finally weakening. He was eighty-six and fading into senility. On the afternoon of Sunday, January 29, while Hitler was having coffee and cakes with Goebbels and other aides, Hermann Goering, President of the Reichstag and second to Hitler in the Nazi Party, burst in and informed them categorically that on the morrow Hitler would be named Chancellor.Shortly before noon on Monday, January 30, 1933, Hitler drove over to the Chancellery for an interview with Hindenburg that was to prove fateful for himself, for Germany and for the rest of the world. From a window in the Kaiserhof, Goebbels, Roehm and other Nazi chiefs kept an anxious watch on the door of the Chancellery, where the Fuehrer would shortly be coming out. "We would see from his fa
HISTORY-GENERAL HISTORY
Since its publication in 1960, William L. Shirer's monumental study of Hitler's German Empire has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of this century's blackest hours.The Rise and Fall of the Third Reichoffers an unparalleled and thrillingly told examination of how Adolf Hitler nearly succeeded in conquering the world. With millions of copies in print around the globe, it has attained the status of a vital and enduring classic.
Hailed as "one of the most important works of history of our time" ( The New York Times), this definitive chronicle of Hitler's rise to power is back in hardcover with a new introductory essay by Ron Rosenbaum ( Explaining Hitler and How the End Begins) commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of its National Book Award win. Since its publication in 1960, William L. Shirer's monumental study of Hitler's Nazi Empire has been a perennial international bestseller. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich offers an unparalleled and thrillingly told examination of how Adolf Hitler nearly succeeded in conquering the world. With millions of copies in print around the globe, this is a vital and enduring classica superbly written, unsurpassed record of the last century's darkest hours.
Since its publication in 1960, William L. Shirer's monumental study of Hitler's German Empire has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of this century's blackest hours.The Rise and Fall of the Third Reichoffers an unparalleled and thrillingly told examination of how Adolf Hitler nearly succeeded in conquering the world. With millions of copies in print around the globe, it has attained the status of a vital and enduring classic.
Since its publication in 1960, William L. Shirer's monumental study of Hitler's German Empire has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of this century's blackest hours. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reichoffers an unparalleled and thrillingly told examination of how Adolf Hitler nearly succeeded in conquering the world. With millions of copies in print around the globe, it has attained the status of a vital and enduring classic.
Since its publication in 1960, William L. Shirer's monumental study of Hitler's German Empire has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of this century's blackest hours.The Rise and Fall of the Third Reichoffers an unparalleled and thrillingly told examination of how Adolf Hitler nearly succeeded in conquering the world. With millions of copies in print around the globe, it has attained the status of a vital and enduring classic.
"A monumental work, a grisly and thrilling story." --Theodore H. White
Hugh Trevor-RoperThe New York Times Book ReviewA splendid work of scholarship, objective in method, sound in judgment, inescapable in its conclusions.
Hugh Trevor-Roper The New York Times Book ReviewA splendid work of scholarship, objective in method, sound in judgment, inescapable in its conclusions.
Hugh Trevor-RoperThe New York Times Book ReviewA splendid work of scholarship, objective in method, sound in judgment, inescapable in its conclusions.
John GuntherOne of the most spectacular stories ever told.
John GuntherOne of the most spectacular stories ever told.
"One of the most important works of history of our time." -Orville Prescott The New York Times
"One of the most spectacular stories ever told." -John Gunther
Orville PrescottThe New York TimesOne of the most important works of history of our time.
Orville Prescott The New York TimesOne of the most important works of history of our time.
Orville PrescottThe New York TimesOne of the most important works of history of our time.
"The New York Times Book Review A splendid work of scholarship, objective in method, sound in judgment, inescapable in its conclusions." --Hugh Trevor-Roper
Theodore H. WhiteA monumental work, a grisly and thrilling story.
Theodore H. WhiteA monumental work, a grisly and thrilling story.
CONTENTS ForewordBook One: THE RISE OF ADOLF HITLER1. Birth of the Third Reich2. Birth of the Nazi Party3. Versailles, Weimar and the Beer Hall Putsch4. The Mind of Hitler and the Roots of the Third ReichBook Two: TRIUMPH AND CONSOLIDATION5. The Road to Power: 1925-316. The Last Days of the Republic: 1931-337. The Nazification of Germany: 1933-348. Life in the Third Reich: 1933-37Book Three: THE ROAD TO WAR9. The First Steps: 1934-3710. Strange, Fateful Interlude: The Fall of Blomberg, Fritsch, Neurath and Schacht11. Anschluss: The Rape of Austria12. The Road to Munich13. Czechoslovakia Ceases to Exist14. The Turn of Poland15. The Nazi -- Soviet Pact16. The Last Days of Peace17. The Launching of World War IIBook Four: WAR: EARLY VICTORIES AND THE TURNING POINT18. The Fall of Poland19. Sitzkrieg in the West20. The Conquest of Denmark and Norway21. Victory in the West22. Operation Sea Lion: The Thwarted Invasion of Britain23. Barbarossa: The Turn of Russia24. A Turn of the Tide25. The Turn of the United States26. The Great Turning Point: 1942 -- Stalingrad and El AlameinBook Five: BEGINNING OF THE END27. The New Order28. The Fall of Mussolini29. The Allied Invasion of Western Europe and the Attempt to Kill HitlerBook Six: THE FALL OF THE THIRD REICH30. The Conquest of Germany31. Goetterdaemmerung: The Last Days of the Third ReichAfterwordNotesAcknowledgmentsBibliographyIndex
CONTENTS ForewordBook One:THE RISE OF ADOLF HITLER1. Birth of the Third Reich2. Birth of the Nazi Party3. Versailles, Weimar and the Beer Hall Putsch4. The Mind of Hitler and the Roots of the Third ReichBook Two:TRIUMPH AND CONSOLIDATION5. The Road to Power: 1925-316. The Last Days of the Republic: 1931-337. The Nazification of Germany: 1933-348. Life in the Third Reich: 1933-37Book Three:THE ROAD TO WAR9. The First Steps: 1934-3710. Strange, Fateful Interlude: The Fall of Blomberg, Fritsch, Neurath and Schacht11. Anschluss: The Rape of Austria12. The Road to Munich13. Czechoslovakia Ceases to Exist14. The Turn of Poland15. The Nazi -- Soviet Pact16. The Last Days of Peace17. The Launching of World War IIBook Four:WAR: EARLY VICTORIES AND THE TURNING POINT18. The Fall of Poland19. Sitzkrieg in the West20. The Conquest of Denmark and Norway21. Victory in the West22. Operation Sea Lion: The Thwarted Invasion of Britain23. Barbarossa: The Turn of Russia24. A Turn of the Tide25. The Turn of the United States26. The Great Turning Point: 1942 -- Stalingrad and El AlameinBook Five:BEGINNING OF THE END27. The New Order28. The Fall of Mussolini29. The Allied Invasion of Western Europe and the Attempt to Kill HitlerBook Six:THE FALL OF THE THIRD REICH30. The Conquest of Germany31.Goetterdaemmerung:The Last Days of the Third ReichAfterwordNotesAcknowledgmentsBibliographyIndex