Germany Tried Democracy

“Teachers of courses in twentieth-century German history will welcome the reprinting of this book, which has held its position as the best of the single-volume histories of the Weimar Republic in English.” ―Gordon A. Craig This book takes a good long look at that chaotic brand of democracy that characterized the Weimar Republic. It opens with a chapter on Bismarck’s empire of 1871-1914, when Wagner was glorifying everything German, Nietzche was developing the German power complex, and depressions were already being blamed on the Jews. From that point there is a play-by-play description of the political happenings: the formation of innumerable parties; the influence of dozens of leaders from the right, the left, and the center; the making of the peace; the dictates of Wilson; the establishing of the Republic; civil war; Versailles; the first sounds from Adolf Hitler; the Dawes Plan; the presidency of von Hindenburg; the Young Plan; the Great Depression; the first major triumph of the Nazis; Hitler’s Dusseldorf speech; von Hindenburg’s re-election and the advance of the Nazi tide; and finally the advent of Adolf Hitler himself.