Germany and the Second World War: Volume 1: The Build Up of German Aggression
P. S. Falla, Ewald Osers, Wilhelm Deist, Manfred Messerschmidt, Hans-Erich Volkmann, Wolfram Wette, Dean S. McMurry
Language: English
Pages: 809
ISBN: 2:00285779
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
This is the first of a comprehensive ten-volume history of the Second World War, written from the German perspective and translated for the first time into English. The volumes so far published have achieved international acclaim as a major contribution to historical study. Under the auspices of the Militargeschichtliches Forschungsamt (Research Institute for Military History), a team of renowned historians has combined a full synthesis of existing material with the latest research to produce what will be the definitive history of the Second World War.
This volume, The Build-up of German Aggression, surveys the forces both within and outside Weimar Germany which paved the way for Hitler. The authors examine the systematic preparation for war, from the outset of Nazi rule, through rearmament, economic autarky, diplomacy, and the penetration of German society at all levels. They consider the extent to which the movement can be regarded as a continuation of historic German nationalism; the limits of Hitler's involvement with the army and big business; and the lack of coordination between the administration and the armed services. The book demonstrates that, despite Nazi propaganda and in stark contrast to 1914, most Germans in 1939 opposed a war which they nevertheless endured with such tragic consequences.
Intensively researched and documented, Germany and the Second World War is an undertaking of unparalleled scope and authority. It will prove indispensable to all historians of the twentieth century.
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was, he said, the task of the SS to nip any revolutionary development in the bud. 'One thing I can guarantee-that as long as I am in charge of the SS, in a war at home there won't be any shirkers or anyone who even dreams of making a revolution.'loB Thus, the many terrorist measures of the SS, the Gestapo, and the SD in the last year before the launching of the war against Poland were a sign of the regime's weakness, inasmuch as terror was always resorted to when the political leaders had to
broke out on 1 September 1939 would not have done so but for Hitler. Very probably, sooner or later, a different war would have broken out with the lines differently drawn, but that is not our subject here. The authors of this volume have received help and advice from many colleagues and institutions. Meetings of historians have assisted in the preparation of the work. Special thanks for critical advice and comments are due to Professors Volker R. Berghahn (Warwick), Charles Bloch (Paris, Tel
entirely to the NSDAP. In 1933 Hugenberg joined Hitler's cabinet as minister for the economy and also for food and agriculture. His role as 'economic dictator' lasted only a few months, however. During the world economic conference in London in 1933 there came to light the draft of a speech by Hugenberg in which he sought to overtrump the Nazis by demanding the return of Germany's African colonies and the opening up of 121 122 Nationale Auflenpo/itik (193l), 3, 16. cr. Milatz, Wahler, III
Germany's readmission to the circle of great powers were, in the DVP's view, the proper aims of any German national policy. Stresemann took account of this in an article he wrote for the press in 1925 on the aims and methods of his revisionist policy: The object of German foreign policy . . . must be to work for the revision of our Eastern frontier, the impossibility of which is today recognized on all sides. A further object must be to assert Germany's claim to colonial activity and to posses
ff., and Flechtheim, Die KPD, 329. 387 1928 programme (n. 381 above), in Der deutsche Kommunismus, doc. 4, p. 56. 388 cr. Lenin, Works, xxxi. 448; Stalin, Works, x. 52-3. 389 Stalin, Works, x. 296. 390 Cf. Duhnke, Die KPD, 300; Allard, Stalin, 7 fT. 74 I.r. Militarist and Pacifist Ideologies Communist leader, said at the Moscow congress in 1928 that counter-revolutionary social democracy had adopted a pro-capitalist policy in all matters and fully supported the warlike intentions of the
