The Weimar Republic: Germany 1918-33 - Softcover

Heiber, Helmut

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0631186999 ISBN 13: 9780631186991

Publisher: Wiley–Blackwell, 1993

Synopsis

In this clear yet vivid narrative, Helmut Heiber cuts through accepted ideas and presents the period in its own terms. Focusing on the dramatic succession of political and social events, he throws new light on the vexing problems of hyperinflation, national apathy, economic collapse and political disorder. In doing so he provides a searching analysis of why the German people should have tolerated and largely embraced the pagan, racialist and anti–democratic ideology inculcated and ruthlessly enforced by Hitler′s National Socialists.

About this title

Review:

"It is very much a narrative political history and its strength lies precisely in the fact that it is an excellent example of such a book, which would provide any student of Weimar Germany with an encyclopaedic chronological account of the history of the Republic from its birth until its death." History Today

"It is, however, a lively and excellently–translated political history of interest to students and general readers alike." Political Studies

From the Back Cover:

In 1918 with the allied victory the defeated German regime collapsed, and with it the monarchy. In its place a bewildered German people were offered, and somewhat half–heartedly accepted, their first democratic constitution. For fifteen years this was the basis of government: from the place of its birth it has since been known as the Weimar Republic.

The 1920s in Germany were a period of intense activity: on the one hand political parties of all complexions intrigued and campaigned, at the extremes of right and left often violently; on the other, there was a rich flowering of the arts, architecture and intellectual endeavor. Political instability was exacerbated by hyperinflation, and social uncertainty fuelled by national shame at the loss of empire and by the humiliating reparations enforced by the Allies through the Treaty of Versailles. It is here that convention seeks the origins – even the justification – of the Nazi regime.

In this clear yet vivid narrative, Helmut Heiber cuts through accepted ideas and presents the period in its own terms. Focusing on the dramatic succession of political and social events, he throws new light on the vexing problems of hyperinflation, national apathy, economic collapse and political disorder. In doing so he provides a searching analysis of why the German people should have tolerated and largely embraced the pagan, racialist and anti–democratic ideology inculcated and ruthlessly enforced by Hitler′s National Socialists.

This is a provocative account of one of the most extraordinary and puzzling periods of European history.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley–Blackwell
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0631186999
• ISBN 13: 9780631186991
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240