Heinrich Bruning and the Dissolution of the Weimar Republic

ISBN-13: 9780521624220 / Angielski / Twarda / 1998 / 372 str.

Jr. William L. Patch

Opis

This is the first scholarly biography of Heinrich BrUning, chancellor of Germany from 1930 to 1932, and the last politican with a real chance to prevent the Nazi seizure of power. This book analyzes BrUning's cabinet's economic and fiscal policies for coping with the Great Depression, the diplomatic campaign to redress Germany's grievances against the Treaty of Versailles, and his thoughtful strategy for creating a broad anti-fascist political coalition. Finally it seeks to explain why President Hindenburg and his reactionary advisers decided to topple BrUning, with disastrous consequences.

Recenzje

"As a work of empirical history, Patch's book leaves the reader with yet another impression, namely, that Weimar politics had become chaotic and meandering in the early 1930s. One is almost overwhelmed by the detailed descriptions of political moves and countermoves, of schemes and counterschemes, of intrigues and counterintrigues. It is in this maze of tactical maneuvering by many other individuals that not only Br^D''uningbut also larger strategic questions become miniaturized. Maybe some day historians will go back to the bold structuralism of Bracher or - dare I mention the name? - of David Abraham. Until then Patch's important book stands as an impressive achievement in political history of the most meticulous kind." Journal of Modern History

Spis treści

Acknowledgments; Introduction: Brüning and the Prussian tradition; 1. Brüning's political apprenticeship; 2. The establishment of semi-parlimentary government; 3. Foreign policy and the 'National Opposition'; 4. Economics and politics in the shadow of the bank crisis; 5. Brüning's fall; 6. The destruction of the rule of law; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.