From Kaiserreich to Third Reich: Elements of Continuity in German History, 1871 1945

by Fritz Fischer

political cartoon figures on gray cover with red text

Genres: History, Germany, World War I

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Fritz Fischer was a German historian best known for his analysis of the causes of World War I. Fischer has been described by The Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing as the most important German historian of the 20th century.

Reviews

[дечко који не обећава · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Kontinuitet ne znači identitet”

U kratkim, ali izuzetno jasnim crtama, autor objašnjava da je nemačka agrarna i industrijska elita, koja vodi poreklo od brandenburško-pruske države, sa militarističkim državnim vrhom čija su stremljenja bila smanjivanje demokratije unutar Nemačke kao i širenje po Evropi i preko okeana, zapravo kriva za izbijanje oba svetska rata

Fantastično i može se reći klasično delo istoriografije, krajnje osvežavajuće tokom epohe srbofobnog (čitaj rusofobnog) istorijskog revizionizma.

[Avempace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuity of a country's political tradition across apparently disparate regimes is a recurrent theme in history. In the particular case of modern German history, the German historian Fritz Fischer took on the thorny and sensitive issue of German strategy from 1871 to 1945, a period that encompasses the Kaiser Reich through world war I, the Weimar Republic and the rise and ultimate demise of Nazi Germany. With lucid narration, he demonstrates cohesiveness of Germany's strategic goals across these different periods. These aims include the push towards the East (Ukraine, Baltic states), with an explicit policy of Lebensraum that preceded the Nazis by decades, dominance over a European zone that was to form a future common market centered around Germany, and a quest for world hegemony versus England and later the US. The critical element that Fischer has demonstrated in this slim volume and his much longer Germany's Aims in World War I, is relating the internal German politics to its external ambitions. Tensions between German elites (Industrialist, Junkers, labor, petite Bourgeoisie etc) were defused by following an aggressive foreign policy that united those factions. By the same token, racial policies of anti-slavism and anti-semitism found their roots in the very early period of the Kaiser Reich. The first was used to justify imperial expansion to the East (and by extension to other racial groups, also overseas), and the second to blame an internal group for difficulties with those projects.

From Kaiserreich to Third Reich is best read either in conjunction with or as a sequel to his Magnum Opus Germany's Aims in World War I. This is no ancient history, for much the same dynamics are now on display in the Ukraine, with the tug of war between NATO and Russia over the buffer states between the two powers. This is deep political history, written by a master, with every page bringing in an insight or a new idea. It was a pleasure to read, and is highly recommended.

[Sinbad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Klasično delo nemačke istoriografije.

Fišer, iako sažeto, uverljivo prikazuje kontinuitet nemačke agresivne spoljne politike od 1871. do 1945. godine. Na ovu temu sada već postoje kvalitetnija i obimnija dela, međutim, nije zgoreg vratiti se Fišeru koji je prvi uvideo da kajzer Vilhelm II i firer Hitler su dva lica istog novčića.

Ovu kratku knjižicu preporučio bih svima koji se interesuju za nemačku istoriju ili za istoriju dva svetska rata. Takođe, Čigojino izdanje iz 2o23. godine sadrži dobar predgovor u kojem je objašnen značaj tzv. Fišerove kontraverze.

[Andrew Daniels · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bit too light, short and surface
I didn't learn a lot from this 99 page text

Pretty basic