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The Coming of the Third Reich (The History of the Third Reich #1)

4.21 of 5 stars 4.21 · rating details · 1,823 ratings · 176 reviews

There is no story in twentieth-century history more important to understand than Hitler's rise to power and the collapse of civilization in Nazi Germany. 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. A masterful synthesis of a vast body of scholarly work integrated with...more

Paperback, 622 pages

Published January 25th 2005 by Penguin Books (first published February 9th 2004)

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Oct 25, 2012 Riku Sayuj rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Nishant Singh

Many questions perplex us about the Nazis, about the atrocities they committed and about thebeginningsof the Second World War. How could one of the most advanced, highly cultured, industrialized and modern nation states in Europe allow such horrors to come to pass? How could democracy be replaced so easily? 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?...more

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Apr 12, 2012 Maureen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, non-fiction, reference, nazism

Every question I had about how and why Hitler was able to rise to prominence and so swiftly overtake not just the political but also the cultural, educational, and military institutions in Germany has been answered. 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.

Evans demonstrates an ability that every good h...more

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Aug 28, 2012 Mosca rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Mosca by: Lots of Goodreads Reviews

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This work of history takes on the task, in the author’s words: “to recount the Nazi’s rise to power through a combination of electoral success and massive political violence”. It also sets out to clarify “how the Nazis managed to establish a one-party dictatorship in Germany within a very short space of time, and with seemingly little real resistance from the German people.” In this it does an admirable job.

I, for one, have many times puzzled over the moral...more ......................................

This work of history takes on the task, in the author’s words: “to recount the Nazi’s rise to power through a combination of electoral success and massive political violence”. It also sets out to clarify “how the Nazis managed to establish a one-party dictatorship in Germany within a very short space of time, and with seemingly little real resistance from the German people.” In this it does an admirable job.

I, for one, have many times puzzled over the moral and philosophical quandaries presented by the existence and early “success” of the Nazis in 20th century Germany. The Germans that produced Brecht and Kant, Goethe and Hesse, Beethoven and Bach also produced and developed Hitler and the Nazis and Buchenwald and Auschwitz. I’d hoped that a well-written and well-documented history, such as this book, would help me to better understand questions that are, after all, more metaphysical, ontological, and moral--than historical.

But I think that the eternal puzzles posed by any essentially metaphysical or moral question always seem to present “answers” that are so enigmatic, contradictory, and frightening that one is frequently left with a feeling of deep dissatisfaction, fear, and confusion. That, unfortunately, is my problem here.

Richard Evans has indeed produced a formidable work. It is well presented, well documented, and fills a seriously needed gap in modern historical writing. It is not difficult reading; and it clearly places the Nazi’s rise to power in the context of European and World Historical Events of the early twentieth century. It provides an almost step-by-step recounting of each of the events that not only made the Nazi’s rise to power possible, but almost inevitable. Many of my own questions surrounding the facts of importance, such as the Reichstag Fire, are dissected and displayed for “viewing”. This is a service to the historical record that is difficult to overestimate.

And, perhaps, my hope for answers to those metaphysical questions have been confused in my own mind by my hope to better know the chronology of the events as well as facts as they are able to be known. This is a result of a confusion between the metaphysical and the physical.

But the chronology is not the same as the cause. Ontogeny does not really recapitulate phylogeny as expressed in that now discredited theory. In other words one cannot really understand the “cosmic why” of an event by knowing the when of an event. This is why this work is so dissatisfying to me through no flaw in the considerable talents of Richard Evans.

But if a better understanding of the historical record, and the economic tensions of the times, and the historical background of the German peoples’ predispositions, and the pandemic political climate afflicting post-World War One Germany, etc. is your goal—then you can hardly do better than this very admirable work.

But if you want to understand better why we as humans can behave in an organized, barbaric, racist, and criminally political fashion—then maybe God can tell us. But maybe even He (She) doesn’t know.
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Mosca Scribble, Thanks for your perspective.

This book makes very clear how traumatized the entire country was in 1932-33. And how that trauma made the very...more
updated Dec 22, 2012 02:16pm

Lewis Weinstein It is my hope to show in my novel-in progress (CHOOSING HITLER) how and why Germans failed to take advantage of the many opportunities, even into Janu...more
May 11, 2013 08:49am

May 15, 2013 Lewis Weinstein rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, ch-research

A brilliantly clear and comprehensive exposition of the complex events of 1930-32 which led to the appointment of Hitler as Reich Chancellor on January 30, 1933, corresponding exactly to the next chapter(s) I will be writing in my novel-in-progress CHOOSING HITLER.

Evans paints a heartbreaking scenario of the many opportunities (albeit with hindsight) whereby Hitler could have been stopped. These include ...

... Nov 1932 vote was a disappointment to NS leaders … they had gathered splinter party v...more A brilliantly clear and comprehensive exposition of the complex events of 1930-32 which led to the appointment of Hitler as Reich Chancellor on January 30, 1933, corresponding exactly to the next chapter(s) I will be writing in my novel-in-progress CHOOSING HITLER.

Evans paints a heartbreaking scenario of the many opportunities (albeit with hindsight) whereby Hitler could have been stopped. These include ...

... Nov 1932 vote was a disappointment to NS leaders … they had gathered splinter party votes but had not made inroads into Social Democrat or Centre Party voters … a feeling (among NS leaders) that NS vote may have peaked … Goebbels: "we won't get to an absolute majority this way ... something must happen ... the time for (electoral) opposition is over ... now deeds!" ... Goebbels and Hitler agreed that, if they stuck to a parliamentary route to power, the stagnation of their vote suggested that the situation might start to slip out of their grasp ... Hitler's only open route to power was to get appointed Chancellor

... the unwillingness of the Centre Party (Catholic) and the Social Democrats (socialist) to work together ... NS now (Nov 1932) had less seats (196) than the combined two Marxist parties - Communists (100) + Social Democrats (121) = 221 … Centre Party had 70 seats ... the Nazis were jubilant at the failure of the Social Democrats and trade unions to respond to the Papen coup … Goebbels wrote in his diary … "They have missed their big chance. It's never going to come again."

... the arrogant assumptions by the military and some industrialists that Hitler could be used but also controlled ... Schleicher: if Hitler establishes a dictatorship in Germany, the army will be the dictatorship within the dictatorship ... Papen: within two months we will have pushed Hitler so far into a corner that he'll squeak

... the evident peaking of the Nazi electorate ... the NS vote (Nov 1932) fell from 13.7 million to 11.7 … seats fell from 230 to 196 ... in local elections held in Thuringia (in Dec 1932) the NS vote plummeted by 40% from the previous July … NS was virtually bankrupt

This is where the Nazis stood on Jan 1 1933. Yet just 30 days later, Hitler was Chancellor.

What made this turnaround possible was the fact that parliamentary government no longer functioned in Germany. The country was run by Presidential decree, exercised through an appointed Chancellor. Hindenburg, in his 80s and after 7 years as President, was tired and declining. He never considered democratic alternatives. There was no effective leadership from the more moderate parties.

... after 1930 election, Reichstag virtually unmanageable … 107 brown-shirted, uniformed Nazis joined 77 well-organized Communists … raising incessant points of order, chanting, shouting, interrupting, demonstrating their total contempt for the legislature at every juncture ... power drained from the Reichstag ... every session ended in an uproar ... soon came to seem pointless to meet at all ... after Sept 1930 only negative majorities were possible .. in Feb 1931, Reichstag adjourned itself for 6 months - did not return until Oct ... from July 1932 to Feb 1933, Reichstag convened for 3 days in 6 months

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May 11, 2013 Craig rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

A good and very thoroughly researched and written account of the political, social, economic and religious events leading up to Hitler's rise to power and appointment as Chancellor of Germany in early 1933. The author begins with Germany during the rise of Bismark in the mid to late 19th century. He discusses the yearn of the German speaking peoples to come together and establish a Germanic empire (the second Reich - the first Reich having been established under Charlemagne centuries before). Th...more

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Jul 29, 2011 Nilesh rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: good-history-etc

For a variety of reasons, this unique book is perhaps much more important than other books on Third Reich or WW2.

If we do not ever want to see genocide or state murder perpetuated by a government elected by an educated democratic society, this book is a must. We often forget the blindsides of a democracy not supported by undemocratic basic or constitutionally protected principles. After reading this book, one may be able to realize why everything can not simply be left to majority - there are so...more

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Sep 23, 2011 Jeffrey Owens rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is the first book in Richard J Evan's Third Reich trilogy, and it is a brilliantly written, thoroughly researched, and engrossing journey through the history of Germany from the nineteenth century to 1933 when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor. Evans has a particularily unique backstory as a historian. 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...more This is the first book in Richard J Evan's Third Reich trilogy, and it is a brilliantly written, thoroughly researched, and engrossing journey through the history of Germany from the nineteenth century to 1933 when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor. Evans has a particularily unique backstory as a historian. 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 asked by the court to be the expert witness for the plantiff in the case. 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. Evans then completed his task and even underwent cross examination in court, quite literally defending history, and Irving lost his defamation suit. 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.

Unlike William Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, this is not a biographical study of the rise of the Nazis with Hitler as the central character, rather it is a thorough history of Germany, and how Nazi ideology weaved its way into this highly cultured, industrialized, moderan nation. Hitler doesn't even appear until page 165. In this volume, Evans takes the reader through the German unification under Bismark, the development of the underground racist volkish movement resulting from both the emancipation of Europe's Jewry coupled with the 1873 economic depression, to the Spirit of 1914, and through the shock of Germany's defeat in the First World War. Then with the stage set, Evans takes you to the southern German state of Bavaria, where the fear of the spread of Communism from the Russian revolution, merged with the rising ideolgies of the volkish movement, coupled with bitterness over Germany's loss of the war, which produced an environment of nationalist extremism and racism, perfect for the Nazi movement to grow. Evans then closes his story in 1933, with Hitler as Germany's Chancellor. (less)

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Jul 14, 2008 Erik Simon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Reading Furst's novels set in Europe before and during WWII reminded me that I read this book last winter and liked it quite enough that I should have read the second volume in the proposed trilogy by now. It is very readable, very accessible. Too, Evans traces the roots of Naziism back to Bismarck in such a way that convinced me. Scholars haggle over whether the Nazis were inevitable; Evans seems to think not but that the Depression coupled with the failure of Weimar made them inescapable. I'm...more

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Nov 21, 2010 Ray rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Many people must have wondered how a Country such as Germany ended up with the Nazi's in power with a leader such as Hitler. If so, this is a great book to read. Evans provides a very detailed review of German politics, economics, and leadership in the 1920's through the 1930's. With a suffering economy and a succession of ineffective governments, Hitler was able to gradually build a base of protest voters. While never gaining a majority, Hitler was able to ultimately gain power and then impleme...more

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Dec 29, 2010 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A nicely written book that goes into some detail giving the context and conditions that allowed the Nazi party's rise to power. Many aspects of the political and societal impact were covered, including the immediate attacks on the arts and culture in general that were carried out by the Nazis and other citizens (esp. university students!) This book aptly conveys the loss that these events betokened -- even before they started exterminating people en masse. The rich and literate culture of German...more

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May 13, 2013 Ed Schofield rated it 5 of 5 stars

I gave this book a five star rating because the authour impressed me with his level of research. The book is plodding at first, with a lengthy preface and struggles to find it's feet, but like a boxer who has discovered a winning strategy, given a few rounds, he begins to hammer home one blow after another. Several hundred pages just fly away after he hits his stride. I have studied WWII and the Nazis for years but this is new and revealing information in its scope and detail. It's obvious from...more I gave this book a five star rating because the authour impressed me with his level of research. The book is plodding at first, with a lengthy preface and struggles to find it's feet, but like a boxer who has discovered a winning strategy, given a few rounds, he begins to hammer home one blow after another. Several hundred pages just fly away after he hits his stride. I have studied WWII and the Nazis for years but this is new and revealing information in its scope and detail. It's obvious from his telling that the Nazis came to power through violence which Evans illustrates with precision. Democracy in Weimar Germany was stillborn due to the thousands of incidents of violence perpetrated by the SA, Freikorps, and Steel Helmets, fully sanctioned by the courts and police turning a blind eye. The story of Nazi Germany is slightly more complicated than we allow when we summarize them condescendingly with pithy statements and arrogant ridicule. Germany was on the front lines in a war against Communism, so the parallel for Americans would be as though Senator Joseph McCarthy had become Supreme Ruler of the United States through violent suppression of free speech. If the Great Depression had been much worse and more prolonged with Communists electing one third of the House & Senate then the events taking place in Germany in the 20's would be comparable. What's difficult to understand is how it lead to the bestiality that was to follow. But that's a tall order for anyone to explain, if indeed, it should be.

I give Evans a slight stroke of the blue pencil for his arguable English translations of the German. For example he says 'Volkischer Beobachter' means 'Racial Reporter'. I am of the understanding that it means 'Peoples Witness' or 'People's Observer', based on my knowledge of German and the many citations in other esteemed works. If the intended meaning of race was implied,(which might very well have been the case) he should have stated that with a nudge and a wink. It's a small point, but it's a historian's duty to the facts not to overstate or manage them to his/her liking, however small.

I have to re-iterate, though, as fine a body of work as I have ever read on the topic. I look forward to the next two volumes. (less)

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Jan 17, 2013 David Becker rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is the way popular history should be written. Not only is Evans' writing lively and full of telling anecdotes, his work bears the authority of serious research and thoughtful analysis. In the end, you get a book that is not only a gripping read but one that explains serious and timely matters.

Evans carefully and powerfully builds a case for the Nazis being different from other autocratic regimes (at a time when autocratic regimes were flourishing in Europe and elsewhere) in the cunning way...more

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Jul 20, 2012 Richard rated it 5 of 5 stars

Erudite. Interesting. While reading it I couldnt get the dim words of Goldberg and other conservatives who insist that the Nazis were "socialists" because 1) Its in their name and 2) They were statists
What these "thinkers" forget is that all ideaologies evolve. The conservative movement in 1905 is not the same one it is today; fads come and go. In 1905 it was progressivism, today its Randism and the delusional idea that any conservative, even far right conservative movements in the past are NOT...more Erudite. Interesting. While reading it I couldnt get the dim words of Goldberg and other conservatives who insist that the Nazis were "socialists" because 1) Its in their name and 2) They were statists
What these "thinkers" forget is that all ideaologies evolve. The conservative movement in 1905 is not the same one it is today; fads come and go. In 1905 it was progressivism, today its Randism and the delusional idea that any conservative, even far right conservative movements in the past are NOT right wing simply because today the face of conservativism is Ayn Rand, not many faces, def not monarchists or paleocons, no moderates, no Eisenhowers or Nixons. Then, Germany at that time !A madhouse. The entire conservative movement was fearful of another Bolshevik revolution, it was conservatives, albeit ones who supported an authoritarian Bismarch type figure who put Hitler in power. But, even before Hitler the conservative movement saw its entire world being threatened. The laissez faire cons had no answers, democratic republicanists had no answers---almost all Germany, left and right , wanted a strong leader. Enter Hitler who tried to be all things to all people, ergo the impossible name of his party. The "socialist" part of the Nazi Party was erased, killed, purged. Industrialists wanted assurances that he was , in fact, NOT a socialist. He therefore performed his patriotic duty. Germany ran red with blood. Brownshirts and Steel Helmets went wild. Against? Against leftists, then Jews, trade unions, gays.
This is the second time Ive read this. Amazing.The last chapter he sums up what happened and repeatedly points out, like Griffin and other experts on fascism and Nazism, that it was an outgrowth of conservative ideas, not leftist ones, that propelled the Nazis forward. They wanted a return to the mythical Germany of the past, not a glorious radical future world unconnected to the past. With the French Rev and the 1917 Rev, the old order was thrown out, with 1933 in Germany, alien influences(Marxism, political correctness, Germanys version of Planned Parenthood, unions, leftist teachers) were purged, millions were fired, thousands perished. (less)

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May 13, 2012 Brian rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: european-history-germany

The Coming of the Third Reich is the first of three by Richard Evans in his attempt to track the rise and fall of the Third Reich. The book starts out with an overview of German history from Bismarck to the end of World War 1 and provides a look at the factors that led to the identity of the Reich. Evans calls upon a tremendous amount of sources and summarizes them very well capturing the salient points. As always Evans is very fair in his treatment of the Nazi's and looks at their rise through...more

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Mar 14, 2012 Loring Wirbel rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm taking a slow tour through Evans' three-part series on the Third Reich, based on the suggestions of many that it is more comprehensive and detailed than "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich." Based on the first book of the trilogy, I am willing to believe that is right.

Some writers chronicling the rise of Hitler treat the beer-hall putsch as an amateur anomaly, something divorced in time and professionalism from the later rise of the Nazi Party. Evans makes the more convincing case that the put...more

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Apr 02, 2011 Marks54 rated it 5 of 5 stars

I had been wanting to read the three book series by Evans on the Third Reich and when I saw Audible.com had a new membership program with two free credits, I decided to attack the series on my Ipod Classic. This book is the first volume. It is very well done and very thorough in its depiction of how the Nazis came to power in Germany. This book takes the story up to the point where Hitler becomes Chancellor, so it goes from some general historical background, through the 1920's, and up through t...more

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Apr 08, 2009 Nick Black rated it 4 of 5 stars

Much better than the second book in the series, an expert, bone-rattling survey of the years prior to the Enabling Act. Excellent coverage of the Weimar's economic problems during the years of Versailles, the Young Plan and the hyperinflationary era. The preface is also noteworthy, explaining Evans's plan and answering (what seemed to me an important question) why these books are necessary despite epics like Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and Kerhsaw's biography Hitler.
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Bord...more

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Dec 23, 2010 Tom Loftus rated it 4 of 5 stars

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. Less Hitler-centric than Shirer's "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich;" provides a more comprehensive treatment of the various factors (many that pre-date WW1) that ultimately led to the collapse of Weimar democracy.

It's amazing how many of the tactics perfected by the NSDAP are still in use today: rallying voters around vague nationa...more

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Dec 05, 2010 Becky rated it 4 of 5 stars

I selected this book because of being curious how the Nazi's gained power and how such insanity took over. I was not disappointed. This is the first of a trilogy about Nazi Germany written by an English history professor. It's fairly new (2004) and examines many aspects of German politics, society, art, education, science leading up to and post World War I. I knew that the WWI defeat of Germany and the subsequent treatment, followed by the Great Depression were part of what enabled Hitler and hi...more

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May 03, 2010 Greg rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, life-is-shit

This book is an overview of how or why the Third Reich happened. It's a great big sweeping survey with like a hundred pages of footnotes and a bibliography to point readers towards just about every fact and source Evans used.

It's a complicated story. Unlike what my (and maybe your) high school teacher said, it wasn't inflation. It wasn't because the Germans hate Jews, it wasn't because of the Treaty of Versailles, or any other one reason. It was a whole slew of reasons that all came together wi...more

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Feb 04, 2013 Mcgyver5 rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: wwii, favorites

This was easily the best of the trilogy for me, perhaps because it went over ground I wasn't familiar with. It does a wonderful job of making the political culture of Weimar Germany come to life.

This trilogy supplants "The Rise and Fall of the Third Riech".

the author goes further back into German history and tracks various movements from their infancy, makes the sting of Versailles more understandable, and shows how the instability of post-WWI Germany affected ordinary people. Then, he ties the...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Savio rated it 4 of 5 stars

Very impressive. Evans used simple language and an easily understandable tone to illustrate the socioeconomic background of German society from the late 1800s to the 1930s. He examined the social factors and the general German psyche during the early years that planted the seeds for Nazism's rise. Evans gave a satisfying account of the German view of the Second Reich under Bismarck, and subsequently the defeat of Germany in WWI, and the bitter aftertaste suffered after 1918, and how these events...more

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Mar 04, 2013 Stuart rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: civilizations, christianity, europe, fundamentalism, government, leadership, law, history, totalitarianism

Compelling overview of the political, economic and social circumstances surrounding the rise of the Nazi Party to power in 20th century Germany. An ideal amount of background history is provided so the Third Reich can be understood within the context of German unification, the First World War, and the emergence of authoritarian regimes, of all political stripes, in interwar Europe. The fall of democracy and creation of Hitler's one-party state is convincingly portrayed as a unique yet often mirr...more

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Jan 25, 2010 Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a deftly constructed, comprehensive survey of German history from approximately the First World War to the ascension of Hitler as chancellor in 1933. Writing for the general reader with little or no familiarity with the subject, Evans has set out to synthesize a variety of historical perspectives in the existing literature on the subject. The consequence is a welcome achievement. If nothing else, this compendium ("The Coming of the Third Reich" is the first of three books in a narrative...more

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Oct 05, 2011 Eric Bauman rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2011

I have always been interested in World War II (almost said a fan, but I realized that really doesn’t sound right). I have read a few histories of the war in general (usually centering on the war in Europe) and a couple of biographies of Hitler himself (including taking a class at UVa on the subject). In all of these histories, however, the story of the rise and fall of the Third Reich have usually been treated at a high level, with no real detail of what happened, why and how. More importantly,...more I have always been interested in World War II (almost said a fan, but I realized that really doesn’t sound right). I have read a few histories of the war in general (usually centering on the war in Europe) and a couple of biographies of Hitler himself (including taking a class at UVa on the subject). In all of these histories, however, the story of the rise and fall of the Third Reich have usually been treated at a high level, with no real detail of what happened, why and how. More importantly, and the reason that I picked up this first book in a trilogy, none of them dealt with Germany before the Nazis came to be and, even after the Beer Hall Putsch (the first event covered usually), the narrative would then concentrate on them and gloss over the other political parties, almost as if once the Nazis arose, every other party ceased to exist.

This book begins telling the story of Germany with the rise of Otto von Bismarck in the 1870s and ends with the tumultuous year of 1933. The book details what Germany was like during these years and traces the rise of ideas and beliefs that almost seemed to make the ascent of the Nazis inevitable (although the book does make it clear that this was not the case). Anti-Semitism, which most other books seem to think was an invention of the Nazis, had actually been a belief that began to really grow throughout Europe (especially in Germany and France) in the 1880s and did indeed reach a fever pitch in the 1920s and early 1930s when, with the Nazis, it went from conspiracy theory to force of law.

The Weimar Republic years are discussed in details and the only conclusion one can draw is that this idea seemed doomed from the start. With the hyperinflation brought about by the forced reparation payments in the main and its “solution” followed soon after by the worldwide Depression, one sees the rise of a party that speaks plainly about what’s wrong and who’s to blame, and the reception by people who are angry and looking for answers (whether they’ll actually work or not) and for people to blame (whether it’s really their fault or not).

As I read it, I couldn’t help but compare the situation to another party in America that rose suddenly among angry people and gained some power. Does this mean that I’m calling the Tea Party Nazis? No, I’m just pointing out historical parallels, so calm down.

I am anxious to read the second volume, which traces the Nazis and Germany from 1933 through the start of the war in 1939. However, I have a lot of other books to get through, so it will have to wait for a while.

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Apr 09, 2013 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

From the beginning let me say that I'm not one of those history nerds who obsesses about Nazi Germany. This is my first book on it, okay? That said, it was really good. This book is VERY thorough, almost overwhelming, but it's well-written so that it's easy to follow along and stay engaged. I could never understand before how a government like the Third Reich could come into power without a full military coup; this book made it clear both how cultural and historical factors created a society in...more

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Jun 30, 2012 Justin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history

The History of the Third Reich is one of terror, utter hatred, and destruction. However, most people overlook the decades of German history BEFORE 1933. These years are just as crucial as the years of the Third Reich to understand. Evans does a remarkable job at expressing the state Germany was in to allow such a rule to come to power. He starts where all good historians know to start, 1871, with the unification of the German Kingdoms. This book is a must read for anyone with an interest in how...more

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Mar 03, 2013 Albert Lusnia rated it 5 of 5 stars

The next time someone comes into the library and asks for a book that "talks about all the good the Nazis did, you know, in the early years," this will be the one I recommend. If you do not read German and you do not have a specialized interest in the roots of Nazism and their seizure of power this work is the best resource available. If you are a specialist, I would suggest that this is an excellent summary of developments with and amply sourced survey of the secondary literature in German and...more

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Oct 03, 2009 Mark rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a great book on how Hitler and the Nazis came to power. It places that event within the politics and culture of Germany of the time. I was shocked to learn how the Nazis were abetted by parties that were conservative or anti-democratic or pro-monarchist and even Catholic.

Our era has so many parallels to the Weimar Republic era - harsh political rhetoric, a disrespect for reasoned dialogue, the conservative use of the "big lie", violent overtones (like people showing up with guns when th...more

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Jul 03, 2011 Bill rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed

This is the first volume in a three volume series. The author has succeeded in writing a comprehensive history that in my opinion will replace The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich as the most authoritative source for an horrific and fascinating era. This book can easily be read by the general audience with little knowledge of the topic and at the same time is full of detail based upon the extensive research shown in eighty pages of footnotes and a fifty page bibliography. The author's analysis o...more This is the first volume in a three volume series. The author has succeeded in writing a comprehensive history that in my opinion will replace The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich as the most authoritative source for an horrific and fascinating era. This book can easily be read by the general audience with little knowledge of the topic and at the same time is full of detail based upon the extensive research shown in eighty pages of footnotes and a fifty page bibliography. The author's analysis of the factors that brought the Third Reich into power is best part of his achievement.
The book begins with a discussion of the unification of Germany in 1871. This was brought about by Bismarck whose conservative nationalism set the tone for German politics for years to come. The author shows how these ideas served as the foundation for the Third Reich.
The humiliation of the German defeat in World War I was an important factor in the rise of the Nazis to power. I have always thought it was significant that when Germany signed the armistice in 1918 there were no foreign troops on German soil. The German people never felt that they had been defeated and the myth of the "November criminals" and the "stab in the back" crippled the legitimacy of the Wiemar Republic from it's beginning.
Beginning with the Spartacist uprising in 1919 Germany experienced a series of crises until the end of the Wiemar Republic in 1933. In 1923 French and Belgian troops occupied the leading industrial district because Germany had fallen behind on reparation payments. The inflation that began mildly in 1918 became hyperinflation by 1923. The price of a rail ticket could go up while you stood in line. The Great Depression devastated the German economy. The growth of the German economy had been based on borrowing and when there was no money to borrow the economy collapsed.
Beginning in the early 1920's the Nazis had a simple message. Down with the Wiemar Republic, overthrow the Versailles Treaty, make Germany strong again. The Nazis opposed the Communist Party who gained strength in Germany from the ranks of the poor. Beginning in 1930 the country was in constant crisis. The governments of the Republic ruled by Presidential decree further weakening the process of democratic government.
The last third of the book is a detailed narrative of how the Nazis came to power. In the elections of 1930 and 1932 extremist parties, Communists and Nazis gained seats while those in the center lost. All during this time violence increased as the political parties bully boys engaged in pitched battles in the streets. The government was disintegrating and President von Hindenburg, a relic from World War I, allowed his cronies to rule by decree. On January 30, 1933 Franz von Papen persuaded von Hindenburg to form a government with Hitler as Chancellor. The conservative nationalists planned to manipulate Hitler and use the power of the Nazis.
On February 27, 1933 Marinus van der Lubbe a young Dutch construction worker, who was quite insane, set fire to the Reichstag. The Nazis portrayed this as an act of the Communists and Hitler used it to grab for power. Immediately a decree was signed and the stormtroopers and SS took over the streets of Germany. The Communists were outlawed and when the jails became full the first concentration camp at Dachau was created to hold the excess prisoners. One more election without the Communists and on March 23, 1933 an Enabling Act was passed by the Reichstag and Hitler became the dictator of Germany. The Nazis became the sole political power in Germany. As the book ends they are imposing their ideology upon the country.
In his summing up the author shows how the elites in Germany were predisposed to accept the nationalistic ideas of the Nazi Party. The Nazis were a party of protest. From the end of World War I and throughout the period of the Weimar Republic the German people felt humiliated and betrayed. They still sought their "place in the sun" and that is what Hitler and the Nazis promised them.
This was an excellent book. The author told a fascinating story with great skill. He artfully portrayed the tension and suspense of the final days of the Nazi takeover.(less)

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About Richard J. Evans

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. Evans has also taught at the University of Stirling, University of East Anglia and Birkbeck College, London. Having been a Visiting Professor in History at Gresham College during 2008/09, he is now the Gresham Professor of Rhetoric.

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“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. Contemporaries could not see things as clearly as we can, with the gift of hindsight: they could not know in 1930 what was to come in 1933, they could not know in 1933 what was to come in 1939 or 1942 or 1945. If they had known, doubtless the choices they made would have been different. One of the greatest problems in writing history is to imagine oneself back in the world of the past, with all the doubts and uncertianties people faced in dealing with a future that for the historian has also become the past. 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. People make their own history, as Karl Marx once memorably observed, but not under conditions of their own choosing. These conditions included not only the historical context in which they lived, but also the way in which they thought, the assumptions they acted upon, and the principles and beliefs that informed their behavior. A central aim of this book is to re-create all these things for a modern readership, and to remind readers that, to quote another well-known aphorism about history, 'the past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.” — 2 people liked it

“Narrative history fell out of fashion for many years in the 1970s and 1980s, as historians everywhere focused on analytical approaches derived mainly from the social sciences. But a variety of recent, large-scale narrative histories have shown that it can be done without sacrificing analytical rigour or explanatory power.” — 1 person liked it

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