Republican and Fascist Germany

ISBN-13: 9781138425354 / Angielski / Twarda / 2023 / 280 str.

John Hiden

Opis

This important addition to modern German studies treats the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich as a continuum, exploring its themes through the 1920s and 1930s without artificial breaks. John Hiden looks at key issues in political, social and economic history, and in international relations. He highlights Germany's potentially constructive role in Europe before Hitler; analyses the country's structural problems; considers the importance of personalities and personal responsibility in the period; and examines the legacy of the Third Reich to postwar Germany. Filled with energy and ideas, the book has an intellectual substance far beyond its relatively modest length.

This study treats the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich as a continuum, exploring a series of key themes through the 1920s and 1930s, without artificial breaks. It considers political, economic, social and foreign policy issues across the period and examines the legacy of the Third Reich.

Spis treści

Acknowledgements Abbreviations and Acronyms Introduction 1. Policy for the sake of the Republic The conditions of peace A note on German 'revisionism' The illusion of East-West choices 1921-23 Stresemann and the primacy of Westpolitik Stresemann and Russia Trade and Ostpolitik The role of the Auslandsdeutsche 2. Democratic Prospects The Weimar constitution 3. The Parties The German Socialist Party The Centre Party The German Democratic Party The German People's Party The German Nationalist People's Party The German Communist Party The National Socialist German Workers' Party 4. The Practice of Parliament Coalition patterns Interlude - the election of President Hindenburg Sectional interests in politics An indecent burial 1930-33 5. Governmental Plurality in the 'Single-Party State' The debate on polycracy The practice of polycracy Hitler in government 6. Life at the Top; State Economic Policy and Big Business Some economic facts of life Governmental strategies in the Weimar Republic Briining's economic policy The view from the board room; big business, the Republic and the rise of Hitler ' Governmental strategies in the Third Reich Big business and 'full fascism' The economy and war preparations 7. Drudgery for Germany; The Path from Worker to Soldier of Labour Trade unions and the law The decline of the unions The German Labour Front The conditions of work Labour in the Third Reich 8. Feeding the Reich; Farmers and Politics The strains within German agriculture NSDAP and agriculture before 1933 Darn 's work and ideas The Reich Food Estate and the Law of Hereditary Entailment The burdens of honour 9. The Middle Classes; Angst and Reality Case study - civil servants The NSDAP's appeal to the Mittelstand Expectation and coordination 10. Policing the 'People's Community' The Gestapo; Limits to policing lV Qualifying the 'SS State' The Volksgemeinschaft Resistance without the people 11. The 'Racial War' and its Legacy The genesis of the 'Final Solution' The challenge of explaining genocide Living with genocide 12. The Quest for German Hegemony in Europe Policy before power The vain pursuit of Britain The imperatives of foreign trade Hitler's obsession with Russia Strategy and foreign policy The limits to 'opportunism' Bibliographical Essay Index

O autorze

John Hiden