Geschichte des Westens: Die Zeit der Weltkriege 1914 - 1945

Geschichte des Westens

by Heinrich August Winkler

Kriege, Krisen, Katastrophen – die Jahre zwischen 1914 und 1945 erscheinen manchen Zeitgenossen wie ein zweiter dreißigjähriger Krieg. Sie sind das «deutsche Kapitel» in der Geschichte des Westens und das schrecklichste Kapitel in der Geschichte der Menschheit. Heinrich August Winkler schildert mit meisterhafter Darstellungskunst die dramatischsten Jahrzehnte des 20. Jahrhunderts – vom Ausbruch des Ersten Weltkriegs bis zur deutschen Kapitulation im Mai 1945 und den Atombomben von Hiroshima und Nagasaki drei Monate später.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, War, Germany, World War I, European History

1350 pages, Hardcover

First published September 22, 2011

About the author

Heinrich August Winkler is a German historian. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Tübingen. In 1970 he became professor at the Free University of Berlin.

Reviews

[Cold War Conversations Podcast · Rating 4 out of 5]

A monumental but accessible account of Europe and the West 1914-45.

Heinrich August Winkler is one of Germany's leading historians and emeritus professor of history at Humboldt University in Berlin. This excellent translation by Stewart Spencer brings us a brilliant work that English speakers would otherwise not see.

The Age of Catastrophe is the second volume of a trilogy A History of the West. Three have now been published in German, only this one currently in English.

This is not a light read at 1000+ pages, but Winkler’s writing is very accessible for general readers. It’s no mean feat to produce an account of the complex years from 1914 to 1945 that manages to cover military, political and social history in a readable style.

His account is wide ranging covering astutely the dictatorship’s transformation of Europe when many European countries (not just the obvious ones such as Germany, Spain and Italy) turned away from the democratic values of the West.

Winkler is not uncritical of the democracies too, he criticises Roosevelt and Churchill for giving Stalin a free hand in east-central Europe after the defeat of Nazi Germany, forcing many to live under yet another dictatorship.

A fascinating and illuminating read – don’t be put off by the length!

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

[Michael Behrmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ich mach das eigentlich nicht aber hier möchte ich doch einmal einen Kommentar von der Rückseite des Buches zitieren, der britische Historiker Ian Kerschaw schreibt: „Der zweite Band dieses epischen Werkes ist eine außergewöhnliche Tour de force – ein ebenso gewaltiges wie kenntnisreiches Panorama der westlichen Welt im Zeitalter ihrer größten Katastrophe.“
Mehr braucht man fast nicht zu sagen. Das Buch liest sich intensiver und sogar noch spannender als der schon großartige erste Band, was hauptsächlich daran liegt dass hier ein viel kürzerer aber umso ereignisreicher Zeitraum beleuchtet wird. Angesichts der furchtbaren Geschehnisse sind manche Passagen natürlich kein reines Vergnügen und fast schon deprimierend zu lesen, selbst wenn man das alles im Prinzip schon vorher wusste.
Insgesamt gilt: Wer den ersten Teil mit Gewinn gelesen hat wird auch hier ganz sicher nicht enttäuscht werden.

[Andrew Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A magisterial attempt by a German historian to cover the events of two world wars and a period between. In my opinion the scope of this book is too wide, which resulted in making me to downgrade the book to three stars. I have ended up focusing on a set of countries, that are of interest to me personally and treated the other ones with less attention.
The book is interesting, as it presents a slightly different view of the important historical events, this time from a non-English speaking historian. However, it would be overwhelming to anyone who wanted to learn about the history of the first half of 20th century, without having some background knowledge already, as they may struggle to recognise the importance of some among a multitude of presented.

[Jack Shaftoe]

I'm noticing a handful of reviews online criticizing this book for being too detail oriented. Could anyone recommend me a more analytical work on the same topic to accompany it?

[Turgut · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. If you want to know what happened within countries, that is domestic policy as opposed to foreign policy, this is a book for you. Detailed and informative.

[Henri Tournyol du Clos · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a political history, or rather a chronicle, ie it focuses on the froth and not on the infinitely more important underlying forces, which the author seems mentally ill-equipped to understand.

[Ariyasacca · Rating 3 out of 5]

左派的视角与偏见