Why Did the Rise of the Nazis Happen?

Moments in History

by Charles Freeman

Following their defeat during World War I, the Germans were looking for new leadership. Nazi Germany, also called the Third Reich, began when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany under the National Socialist German Worker's Party (NSDAP) whose followers were called Nazis. Why the Germans embraced the Nazis rise to power is examined in this thoughtful book, which includes panels featuring subject-matter expert opinions to encourage critical thinking.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

48 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Charles Freeman is a freelance academic historian with wide interests in the history of European culture and thought. He is the author of the highly acclaimed Egypt, Greece and Rome, Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean. He has followed this up with The Greek Achievement (Penguin 1999), The Legacy of Ancient Egypt (Facts on File, 1997) and The Closing of the Western Mind, a study of the relationship between Greek philosophy and Christianity in the fourth century and beyond. His The Horses of St. Mark’s (Little Brown, 2004) is a study of these famous works of art in their historical contexts over the centuries. In 2003, Charles Freeman was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Reviews

[Edward · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very informative book. Occasionally, the layout was problematic: extracts from various sources interrupted the main narrative mid-sentence from time to time.

[Lucas Walton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book covers a very historically important and controversial topic. I think that it is a very informative book and it taught me things I had not known before reading it. It is about politics in Germany in the early 1920's through to the late 1930's.

[Laura The Book Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why Did the Rise of the Nazis Happen? by Charles Freeman is part of the Moments in History Series for the youth market but also interesting for adult readers as well. The author used extensive research to study the many economic and political factors that supported the nazi rise to power in Germany. From the 1929 Wall Street Crash and into the 1930s a worldwide Great Depression had destroyed the economies of many countries including Germany and unemployment skyrocketed in an environment of high inflation. People were struggling just to survive. In these challenging times people were open to listening to messages from speeches by Hitler about creating jobs and getting the economy back on its feet. He also blamed Jews and government officials for selling out the German people at the end of the First World War with economy-crushing armistice agreements. This all sounded good and refreshing to people struggling to feed their families. Once Hitler was voted in as chancellor of Germany he began to, secretly at first, rebuild Germany's military, pass restrictions on Jews that opened additional jobs to non-Jews that helped the economy recover. At first the public supported these positive economic developments and the nazis were popular at first.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a useful resource that helps explain the chain of events that led to Hitler taking power. In addition, it has excerpts from speeches and opposing arguments from different historians about what contributed to the Nazis' success.

[Aneesa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I requested this from the library because I thought it was a graphic novel (it is not) so now I guess I just read a book written for middle schoolers 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Basically sounds like what happened was high inflation.