And that the country's leadership was determined to go to war to redress the penalties and humiliations forced on Germany at the end of WWI made the slide to the far right a critical event in European history. Book Summary The final volume in Richard J. Evans's masterly trilogy on the history of Nazi Germany traces the rise and fall of German military might, the mobilization of a "people's community" to serve a war of conquest, and Hitler’s campaign of racial subjugation and genocide. Evans does a good job of tracing the development of the Nazi movement in Germany. My inclination is that it is because so much more has been revealed in the intervening years and because Evans has left out much drama and personality to focus on the facts of the events themselves. It is also somewhat frightening to read this while the RNC was on. As a reader of this book, The Coming of the Third Reich, will quickly figure out, such comparisons are both vicious and ignorant. He was born in London, of Welsh parentage, and is now Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Gonville & Caius College. I'm sure this is a treasure for academics and history buffs. We might be leaving the EU but we’re very much part of Europe. Hi! Only in the last chapter does Evans address how Nazism could have taken root. We’d love your help. I am reading the Kindle edition right now. There was nothing inevitable about the coming of the Third Reich. When I didn’t fall asleep outright, I found myself constantly ch. Buy a cheap copy of The Coming of the Third Reich book . MICHAEL BURLEIGH. For the past few months, we have been subjected to a tedious, hysterical stream of comparisons of Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. While many of the facts are known, Evans rekindles a sense of. useful, if rather dry. Ceaselessly inventive, in many ways at the cutting edge of social and welfare reform, Germany was the one country in Europe to rival the United States as a beacon for future growth and change. Over the past seven years, historian and broadcaster... London Evening Standard, 25 August 2016, p. 16. I wanted to read this for a variety of reasons, but the main reason was that I wanted to get a clearer picture of how a Western democracy - 1920s Germany in this instance - could devolve into a violent terroristic regime like the Nazis. A fairly straightforward narration, he saves analysis until the final chapter, where it's beautifully detailed. 1st American ed. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published Quickly thereafter, Evans was elavated to being regarded as one of, if not the world's leading scholar on the Third Reich, and has now presented us with this remarkable trilogy. You can think of Book One of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich as laying the intellectual groundwork for the pages that follow. The book starts 60 years before the rise of Hitler to the Chancellorship so that the reader gets a feeling for the political and cultural environment that led to the rise of this terrible movement. As long as the German Army had been scoring easy victories, to the glory of the Third Reich, the conspirators couldn't interest many people in overthrowing Hitler. The several maps the author has included so far are converted well and easy to understand. KIRKUS REVIEW. The official version, basically; doesn't add all that much to our knowledge, For the past few months, we have been subjected to a tedious, hysterical stream of comparisons of Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. Search Tips. Shirer begins the book's twenty-sixth chapter by recapping the activities of the ineffective band of men who, throughout the past three years, had been conspiring to take Hitler down. I am reading the Kindle edition right now. The Great Dep. That opus is in my distant teenaged past, and for that reason it's hard for me to say definitely that Evans's work is an improvement on the understanding of those tumultuous years. The book starts 60 years before the rise of Hitler to the Chancellorship so that the reader gets a feeling for the political and cultural environment that led to the rise of this terrible movement. The Third Reich was rooted in … By David Cesarani. 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. Publisher's Summary. I wanted to read this for a variety of reasons, but the main reason was that I wanted to get a clearer picture of how a Western democracy - 1920s Germany in this instance - could devolve into a violent terroristic regime like the Nazis. The consequences of this assault would change the world in ways that we will always have to live with. Evans writes: "Shirer's book was universally panned by historians. Perhaps the most shocking thing about the way they seized and held onto power is the speed with which they managed to silence any opposition - within just weeks of assuming power they had established the notorious Dachau concentration camp along with several others to detain their political opponents. In fact, this book may have been the most disappointed in a book I’ve felt so far this year. “Recounting the experience of individuals brings home, as nothing else can, the sheer complexity of the choices they had to make, and the difficult and often opaque nature of the situations they confronted. When the so-called historian David Irving, who was a blatent Holocaust denier, sued some of his collegues for accusing him skuing historical sources to make his arguments, Richard J. Evans was a. Summary. Inside the Third Reich: Memoirs Summary & Study Guide Albert Speer This Study Guide consists of approximately 45 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Inside the Third Reich. There is no story in 20th-century history more important to understand than Hitler’s rise to power and the collapse of civilization in Nazi Germany. This is the first book in a trilogy by Evans about the Third Reich which was clearly written with the layman in mind. I an a newcomer of the history of The Third Reich,and I want to read The Third Reich Trilogy(these three books) and Ian Kershaw's two-volume biography of Hitler during my period of undergraduate.Which should I read firstly? The Coming of the Third Reich By Richard J. Evans This first part of what will be Evans' three-volume history of Hitler's regime is the most comprehensive and convincing work so far on the fall of Weimar and Hitler's rise to power. Though I'd long been away from a general history of Germany between the wars, I found the basic facts still familiar. The bulk of this is a synthesis of Germany's increasingly horrifying history from 1919 to 1933. Why was Germany such fertile soil? I have the impression that the book contains a lot of maps and some illustrations and photos? With Richard Basehart, Ernst Hanfstaengl, Erich Kempka, Hjalmar Schacht. BUY NOW FROM. The Coming of the Third Reich by Richard J Evans charts the forces at work in Germany from the end of the Bismarck era, through the Wilhelmine period which led up to the end of WWI, then on through the years of the Weimar Republic and the rise of the Nazis from fringe group to power. The first of three books on Germany’s Third Reich. Evans balances several factors in his narrative - the expected story of political struggles in Berlin and the economic crises of hyperinflation and the Great Depression - he also includes some sections on personal diaries and narratives. Well that explains quite a bit. Democracies were failing in Europe, he writes. Drawing upon documents that were only released after the downfall of the U.S.S.R. as well as other newly discovered source materials, Evans has written a new benchmark by which all other histories of the rise of Nazism will be measured. I've read many diffe. It is beautifully accessible in its writing and Evans’ scholarship gives a superb overview of this terrible period in European history. Evans has a particularily unique backstory as a historian. The seeds of the Third Reich’s rise to power may have been sown in Bismarck’s Germany, but it required a devastating sequence of events before they were reaped in the Nazi seizure of control with which Evans ends his sweeping and dramatic narrative. Only in the last chapter does Evans address how Nazism could have taken root. This pedestrian work is by far the weakest volume in Richard Evan's otherwise excellent trilogy on the Reich. New (for me) insights into the general features of ultra right-wing or nationalist movements and the unfortunate social / economic forces that enable them to thrive. How did an extremist party lurking at the fringes of political life take over the entire government in such a shot time without ever raising the wrath of the bigger parties or of the people? The biography of Hitler won't really mean much without the context of surrounding events. But, this book fell flat for me for two reasons. How could one of the most advanced, highly cultured, industrialized and modern nation states in Europe allow such horrors to come to pass? $18.00, paper, ISBN 978-0-14-303469-8. How could one of the most advanced, highly cultured, industrialized and modern nation states in Europe allow such horrors to come to pass? Not for me. Ceaselessly inventive, in many ways at the cutting edge of social and welfare reform, Germany was the one country in Europe to rival the United States as a beacon for future growth and change. Richard J. Evans’s major new book unfolds perhaps the single most important story of the twentieth century: how in less than a lifetime this stable and modern country led Europe into moral, physical and cultural ruin and despair. In 1900 Germany was generally viewed as one of the world’s most progressive, dynamic and impressive nations. The Great Depression and the unemployment it brought; the failures of the Weimar Republic on so many levels - many people despised it, and the Nazis nurtured this hatred; Hitler's enormous charisma; Germany's humiliation in losing the First World War, and the extremely onerous economic reparations meant the populace was hugely nationalistic; Hitler's political deals with other German leaders like Hindenburg and von Papen, who thought they could control him when of course it was he who would do the controlling. One thing is clear to the reader of this book, the first of massive trilogy covering the Third Reich, and that is there is little evidence that we are heading the way of 1920s and 1930s Germany—but that if we are, it has nothing at all to do. First, I found it deadly dull. I was really looking forward to reading this book since I find the formation of the Third Reich an interesting subject. do we need another book on the rise of Hitler? 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. Chapter 13- Leading Personalities of the Third Reich Summary and Analysis Hitler- Hitler used to be able to talk to everyone according to Guderian but later turns against experts and establishment advisers. First, I found it deadly dull. A series of decrees culminating in the Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich (January 30, 1934) abolished the Land (state) diets and transferred the sovereign powers of the Länder to the Reich. With The Coming of the Third Reich, Richard Evans, one of the world’s most distinguished historians, has written the definitive account for our time. This wasn’t the case; he was installed as Chancellor through a deal with some right-wing politicians who were under the woeful misapprehension t. The Coming of the Third Reich by Richard J Evans charts the forces at work in Germany from the end of the Bismarck era, through the Wilhelmine period which led up to the end of WWI, then on through the years of the Weimar Republic and the rise of the Nazis from fringe group to power. Not for me. It's far easier to understand a genocide occurring thousands of years ago - far harder when we have grandparents which remember it. But a variety of recent, large-scale narrative histories have shown that it can be done without sacrificing analytical rigour or explanatory power.”. THE COMING OF THE THIRD REICH Richard J. Evans, Author. This book is an overview of how or why the Third Reich happened. Evans then completed his task and even underwent cross examination in court, quite literally defending history, and Irving lost his defamation suit. A bevy of other European nations became authoritarian dictatorships in this period, so Germans looking outside would have seen other countries behaving badly, too. The Coming of the Third Reich by Richard J Evans Penguin/Allen Lane £25, pp480. I read a lot about Germany and WWII, so I was really looking forward to this book! Developments that seem inevitable in retrospect were by no means so at the time, and in writing this book I have tried to remind the reader repeatedly that things could easily have turned out very differently to the way they did at a number of points in the history of Germany in the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth. I always believed Hitler was elected Reich Chancellor by popular vote. One thing is clear to the reader of this book, the first of massive trilogy covering the Third Reich, and that is there is little evidence that we are heading the way of 1920s and 1930s Germany—but that if we are, it has nothing at all to do with Donald Trump. What's surprising, and what informs my new understanding, is Evans's idea that what happened in Germany wasn't unique at all. The bulk of this is a synthesis of Germany's increasingly horrifying history from 1919 to 1933. Evans was then tasked with reading all of Irving's books, tracing back all of the sources that he was citing, and writing a memorandum for the court detailing all of the instances in which Irving skued valid historical sources in order to back up his Holocaust denying arguments. It is a terrible story not least because, as Evans makes abundantly clear, there were so many other ways in which Germany’s history could have been played out. THE COMING OF THE THIRD REICH. Actually, with the arrogance of youth, I thought I’d never come to that point. How could democracy be replaced so easily? The Coming of the Third Reich In 1900 Germany was generally viewed as one of the world’s most progressive, dynamic and impressive nations. This, the 1st volume of the celebrated trilogy by Richard J Evans, is a long way from my reading of William L Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. This is hubris ind. The Coming of the Third Reich by Richard J Evans The resistible rise of a demagogue. If they had known, doubtless the choices they made would have been different. How could the German people have been so accepting of Hitler? The current gold-standard survey. One by one these disasters ruined or pushed aside almost everything admirable about Germany, leaving the way clear for a truly horrifying ideology to take command. The Coming of the Third Reich covers events in Germany from the late 19th century through mid-1933. 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