The Hitler Years: Disaster 1940-1945

The Hitler Years #2

by Frank McDonough

A new narrative of the rise and catastrophic fall of the Nazi regime: a twelve-year descent into barbarism, genocide and aggressive war that cost over 50 million lives.

The second volume in a new, immensely readable narrative of the rise and catastrophic fall of the Nazi regime by a respected expert on the Third Reich. At the beginning of 1940 Germany was at the pinnacle of its power. By May 1945 Hitler was dead and Germany had suffered a disastrous defeat. Hitler had failed to achieve his aim of making Germany a super power and had left her people to cope with the endless shame of the Holocaust. In The Hitler Years Disaster 1940-1945 , Professor Frank McDonough charts the dramatic change of fortune for the Third Reich, and challenges long-held accounts of the Holocaust and Germany's ultimate defeat. Despite Hitler's grand ambitions and the successful early stages of the Third Reich's advances into Europe, Frank McDonough argues that Germany was only ever a middle-ranking power and never truly stood a chance against the combined forces of the Allies.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, War, Germany, Politics, Audiobook

600 pages, Hardcover

First published September 3, 2020

About the author

Professor Frank McDonough is an internationally renowned expert on the Third Reich. He was born in Liverpool, studied history at Balliol College, Oxford and gained a PhD from Lancaster University.

He has written many critically acclaimed books on the Third Reich, including: The Gestapo: The Myth and Reality of Hitler’s Secret Police (2015). Hitler and the Rise of the Nazi Party (2012), Sophie Scholl: The Woman Who Defied Hitler (2009), The Holocaust (2008), Opposition and Resistance in Nazi Germany (2001), Hitler, Chamberlain and Appeasement (2002), and Hitler and Nazi Germany (1999). He has also published many other books, most notably, The Origins of the Second World War: An International Perspective (2011), The Conservative Party and Anglo-German Relations (2007), Chamberlain, Appeasement and the British Road to War (1998) and The Origins of the First and Second World Wars (1997).

Reviews

[Arianne X · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am obsessed with Hitler – Trump parallels, so here a few.

FYI: Seven factual errors found in the book at the end of this review

Then As Now

Then as now, complicated issues demand simplistic answers, for Hitler it was the Jews, for Trump it is the immigrants. Just as the great majority of Germans accepted Hitler’s false explanations for why Germany went to war, so too most Americans fully accept Trump’s contrived grievances and imagined anxieties as justification for his lawless cruelty. Both are examples of the mystical thinking at the base of all totalitarian regimes. Just as Germany did not lose WWI, it was stabbed in the back, so too Trump did not lose the 2020 election, it was stolen from him. Both are myths spun into reality for followers who want to be fooled. The solution of course was to purge Germany of democracy just as today the solution is to purge America of democracy. To remove the Jewish menace in Germany or the immigrant and LGBTQ menace in America. The driving forces are the same. The desire to be misled and believe in myths over reality, or myths made real, just like all religions, all to affirm one’s prejudices. A leader such as Hitler or Trump internalizes the hatred of their followers making their hate his hate and thus validating and sanctifying the hate as he reflects it back onto the hateful masses who believe they are the persecuted and marginalized minority. Christians are the best at this deception. There is now no effective opposition to being governed by a pernicious clique of brutish and ignorant thugs which has yielded to the basest instincts. Then (Germany) and now (America) there is now broad middle-class support toward cruelty and scapegoating as well as middle-class apathy toward destroying the rule of law and neglect for government run in the public interest. Ending the independence of lawyers, judges and civil servants as Hitler did and Trump is wont to do is the key to creating a genuine totalitarian dictatorship. Hitler brought forward and implemented measures to weaken the Reichstag. No such measures are needed with the U.S. Congress because it willingly cedes its powers to the president since the majority of members are fully compliant, financially intimidated or fooled into ‘business as usual.’ Just as the Nazi regime encroached upon organized religion and used it to provide moral support, so to in the U.S we have Christian Nationalism as a support for a right-wing political movement. Then as now, territorial expansion is a keystone in both cases.

Immigration Policy, For Example

Let’s review the Trump Administration’s imagination policy just for fun. 1) segregate immigrants based mainly on ethnicity, 2) remove and/or ignore citizen status, 3) cut them off or force them to remove themselves from the economy, 4) deport them or force them to self-deport. Oh, wait sorry, those were the first four steps in the ‘Nazi Final Solution of the Jewish question’ followed of course by 5) forced labor, 6) ghettoization and 7) extermination. So, Trump is 4/7 of the way to his final solution to immigrant question in America. (MAGA = NAZI).

Facts Do Not Matter

I have come to understand that the great majority of people do not form their beliefs and opinions based on facts, rational thought, logic, or reason, not even upon on their own subjective perspective, desires, passions, or whims. For the vast majority of people, their personal opinion is not their own, it is drawn from social context and the prevailing public opinion or social norm. This is why the vast majority of any given population can be easily manipulated into believing things that are not true as in 1930s Germany or 21st Century America. In both examples, demonstrating that a proposition is factually not true is not a sound or valid argument against it because the irritational beliefs have been validated by the propaganda and manipulation used to form public opinion. Imagine it, people for a sophisticated modern culture that produced Beethoven, Goethe, and Einstein, could be convinced with indoctrination and propaganda to believe that human beings are not human beings.

Inverted Populism

This is when the working class is taught to identify, or rather misidentify, its interests with the wealth class. The least well-off are fooled into identifying with the most well-off rather than their true peers. The false narrative is that anyone can get ahead with hard work which just is not reality, but a few success stories keep the myth alive. A false narrative of aspiration and hope can be easily used to overtake a reality of privation and desperation. This results in something I call inverted populism. This is when a populist movement supports or elects elites and plutocrats rather than overthrowing or fighting against them. This I believe describes the current American political paradigm. In an associated inversion, we have Elon Musk, the richest person in the world finding ways of cutting aid to the poorest people in the world.


The Politics of Catastrophe

This is how the political center is hollowed out. Public opinion is fractured, and political parties are polarized causing democracy to fail. This is done with the tools of deception, incendiary news stories, fake news and, fabricated stories such as Hattian immigrants eating cats in the US or the Weimar government of Germany enslaving German teenagers and selling them to the Allies to service its war debt and satisfy its reparations. This strategy is intended to cause confusion and outrage thus making political consensus impossible. Freedom now becomes freedom from democracy. In Germany, the Versailles Treaty signatories were to be arrested and hanged for treason as well as government officials responsible for implementing the Treaty provisions. In America, we have the FBI and the Justice Department ready to persecute and prosecute the members of the J6 Committee of Congress. Many Justice Department lawyers who worked on the J6 cases have already been dismissed as the real criminals and thugs from J6 have been pardoned. Germany of the 1930s and America of the 2020s are both anti-democratic, anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic but with the American twist of Christian Zionism. Hitler and Trump – both are ignorant, inflexible, arrogant, stubborn, and self-righteous thugs who double down when challenged. Mass populism plus money equals fascism just as ignorance plus power equals arrogance. German ministries were purged just as the American government is being purged e.g., firing of executive department Inspector Generals. Tariffs were summarily implemented in Germany in violation of existing trade agreements resulting in inflation and economic disruption. We obviously have Trump doing the same.

Big Business and Fascism

Big business actually combines quite well with the totalitarian state. In Germany, big business had the ideological authority of Nazi Fascism to defend it against the economic failure of the depression in the 1930s. Like Elon Musk in America, in 1930s Germany Alfred Hugenberg emerged with enough money to finance entire political parties. Now the techno oligarchs of America with transnational interests, who once shunned the crass Trump, have now come to embrace him just as the German industrialists who once shunned the crass Hitler came to embrace him as the key to government contracts and big business deals. Companies such as IG Farben who had been staunchly pro-democracy, supporters of the Weimar Republic, and anti-Nazi soon fell into line just as companies such as Amazon, Meta, Apple, and Alphabet are falling into line with new the regime to protect their interests and have a seat at the totalitarian table. Corporate practices easily and naturally adopt to new authoritarian political realities rather than oppose them allowing corporate wealth to support government policies and government policies to support the accumulation of corporate wealth.

The New Danger of Crypto Currency

This is not a real currency, and it represents a new danger to political and economic stability not present in 1930s Germany. But anyway, it is a speculative asset with no intrinsic value. I heard it said, “if crypto currency is a scam, then why isn’t the U.S. dollar a scam?” I heard this on ‘Fast Politics’ podcast. This rhetorical question creates a false equivalency fallacy. I could just as easily ask, why are crypto currency units valued in dollars if the dollar is a scam? How does one state or express the value of the U.S. Dollar? Other than foreign exchange rates, a dollar is a dollar. As a sovereign currency unit, the dollar has a stable and predictable ‘value’, crypto currency values are subject to wide fluctuations in value (as measured in a real currency such as the dollar) due to its speculative nature. The dollar is a value tautology – we accept dollars as dollars because we know other people accept dollars as dollars. Key to the acceptance of the dollar as a sovereign currency is its acceptability for settling tax obligations, interest payments on the national debt, and tariff payments. It does not need to be expressed in any other manner demonstrating that it is a real currency with the properties of a real currency viz., medium of exchange, store of value, measure of value, standard for deferred payments. Crypto currency has none of these properties. Further, the dollar serves as legal tender owing to its status as a sovereign currency. Crypto currency is not tied to a sovereign entity with a definable and stateable fiscal or identifiable monetary policies, nor is it tied to a tangible commodity such as gold or silver. Crypto currency is not connected or tied to anything in the tangible economy or the financial system (apart form a speculative market). That is, we know who issues and controls a sovereign currency, but who issues a crypto currency? In fact, the resource intensive efforts needed to create (mine) crypto currency creates a cost to doing business with crypto currency not present in a sovereign currency system. Crypto currency represents a step backward (the need for mining) in the creation and management of money. Crypto currency value is the product of self-fulfilling expectations for its value. Crypto currency is a new form of capital (cloud capital) that usurps traditional economic relations and provides a powerful tool for financial manipulation and corruption. It is a new tool in the authoritarian toolbox.

A Few More Parallels

Purge the country of immigrants.
Withdraw from international treaties.
Assume additional executive powers.
Dismantle the administrative state.
Privatize government services.
Drain the representative swamp.
Go after the enemy within.
Contempt for the truth, obviously. Truth and reality are now held hostage to ideology, religious and political.

Hitler was Right about One Thing

As quoted on page 560, when Traudl Junge asked Hitler if National Socialism would be revived after his death, he answered “No, National Socialism is dead. Perhaps a similar idea will arise in a hundred years’ time.” Well, it turned out to be more like eighty years.

My Same Criticism from Book I applies Here

The book is organized chronologically rather than thematically. The narrative jumps from topic to topic in slavish adherence to strict chronology. For example, in the chapter on 1942, the first paragraph on page 278 is about the Battle of Stalingrad at 10/06/1942. The next paragraph is about a meeting in Rome between Himmler and Mussolini on 10/11/1942. The following (third) paragraph returns to the Battle of Stalingrad at 10/14/1942. A thematic approach to the subject would have maintained the coherence of the narrative about the Battle of Stalingrad rather than breaking away for a one paragraph bulletin describing an unrelated event just because it fit into the chronological date sequence of the events. In keeping with a slavish adherence to chronology, the discussion of the Battle of Kursk leaves off on page 323 and does not pick up again until page 337, then again on page 347, now jump to page 363 for more about Kursk, ugh. I am no military historian or expert, but I think the narrative of this important battle would be much easier for me to follow if it was presented thematically. Since the Battle of Kursk took place from 07/04/43 – 08/01/43, the reader must work through the chronology of intervening events before understanding the Battle of Kursk in full.

Glaring Factual Errors

As an author myself, I take no pleasure in pointing out the errors in another author’s book, but the reader should be aware of the following. Or maybe I am just being too picky.

1. Page 323. The lack of maps is distressing in that there is a factual error on page 323 which can be caught by looking at a map. With respect to the Kursk salient, in the book it is stated “It was demarcated by the towns of Orel in the south and Belgorod in the north. In reality, Orel is in the north and Belgorod is in the south. A subsequent reference to Orel on page 348 correctly places it in the north of the Kursk salient.

2. Another error occurs on page 323 where Gunther von Kluge is listed as the commander of 4th Army at the Battle of Kursk whereas he was actually the commander of Army Group Center. Hermann Hoth was the commander of the 4th Panzer Army at Kursk which makes more sense in that Hoth was Colonel-General and Kluge was a Field Marshall. On page 338, Kluge is correctly referred to as commander of Army Group Center at Kursk. On page 348, Hoth is correctly referred to as commander of the 4th Panzer Army as part of Army Group South under the command of Manstein.

3. On page 328 Jurgen Stroop is referred to as an SS General. On page 339, he is referred to as an SS Major. In fact, he was an SS-Gruppenfuhrer which is the U.S. equivalent of a (two-star) Major General.

4. On page 445, Heinz Brandt is referred to as “General Heinz Brandt” as of 07/20/44, the day of the “Stauffenberg” assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler at the Wolf’s Lair. At this date, Heinz Brandt held the rank of Oberst (Colonel). He was mortally wounded in the assassination attempt and died the next day at which time he was posthumously promoted to the rank of Generalmajor, U.S. equivalent of a (One-Star) Brigadier General. He was not “General Heinz Brandt” on the day of the assassination attempt.

5. Page 520. The last piece of anti-Semitic propaganda written by Joseph Goebbels ‘The Creators of the World’s Misfortunes’ appeared in ‘Das Reich’ on 01/21/1945, but it is mentioned on page 520 with a date of 01/21/1944.

6. Page 560. The commander of the Berlin Defense Area is referred to as “Lieutenant Helmuth Reymann”. On page 550, he is referred to as “General Helmuth Reymann” while in the same command position. Helmuth Reymann was a Generalleutnant, U.S. equivalent of a (Two-Star) Major General.

7. On page 558, the date listed for the winter battle and failure of the German Army to take Moscow is December 1940. Obviously, since Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, commenced on June 22, 1941, the correct date for the winter battle and failure to take Moscow is December 1941.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having the read the first book chronicling the ‘Hitler Years,’ in the previous volume, ‘Triumph’, which covered the years 1933 to 1939, this volume moves onto the war years 1940-1945.

Hitler wanted territory and resources and, even early on, had wanted to go to war with the Soviets, rather than England. McDonough states that Hitler did not understand England and underestimated what it would mean if the US entered the war. However, certainly in the early years of the war, German advances were swift and successful.

This book covers dissatisfaction with Chamberlain – including Leo Amery’s speech in the House of Commons, which helped lead to Churchill’s becoming Prime Minister. Without Chamberlain or Halifax in the lead; both of whom wanted peace, things changed. With Britain in a precarious position in mid-1940, Churchill helped rally support with his ‘Never Surrender,’ speech. France fell and the Battle of Britain began.

Initially, Hitler was jubilant – insisting the French armistice was signed in the same railway car where Germany was forced to surrender during WWI, visiting Paris and unleashing the Blitz on the UK. Indeed, he was confident enough that the war in Western Europe was already won and planned to attack Russia and then invade Britain the following Spring, However, these initial successes led to Hitler retreating, becoming detached and making too many decisions alone.

This then sees Triumph turning to Disaster. The Siege of Leningrad, along with the conference at Wannsee, Auschwitz, British air raids on Germany and Stalingrad. In Russia, German troops had low rations and insufficient equipment and winter clothing. As resistance grew in Germany and there were attempts on Hitler’s life, the war turned in the Allies favour and Hitler deteriorated mentally and physically into paranoia, blame, self-pity and drug dependence.

Together, these two volumes are an excellent history of the rise of Hitler and the war years; taking the reader through all the major events and giving plenty of details as Germany headed for defeat and Hitler retreated to a besieged Berlin. A very comprehensive account of the war years, which always keeps Hitler central to events.

[Dimitri · Rating 3 out of 5]

A German, chronological look at WWII lets us feel the creeping crumble around Hitler's empire.
Yet it made it plans, prepared its attacks & shuffled its defenders to a measure of internal logic to the very end. In between Kursk & the Ardennes , there are many gradations of (non) surprise.

[Maine Colonial · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a free digital advance review copy from the publisher, via Netgalley.

This is the second in Frank McDonough’s masterful two-volume survey of the “Hitler Years.” Volume one covers the pre-war period from 1933-1939, while this book covers the war years. That being the case, this is necessarily heavily focused on military history. Of course, it also devotes significant attention to the so-called Final Solution.

I appreciate McDonough’s chronological approach in these books. For me, it helps contextualize the history better. While I have read many thematic books on the Nazi era, an overview is always a good book to add to the library. .

McDonough doesn’t just describe; he has a point of view. He persuasively argues that Hitler never wanted to fight the British. He was consumed by the desire to conquer the USSR and achieve the vast living space needed to fulfill his fantasy of a self-sufficient economic superpower to rival the United States. His preoccupation with this desire and his obsessive hatred of Jews and Bolsheviks, together with his feeing that Germany and Britain were natural racial friends, took his attention away from the military opportunities the Germans had against Britain early in the war.

McDonough also argues against the viewpoint that Hitler directed the military to its doom, against the wishes of its career military officers. McDonough points out that military officers strongly supported all of Hitler’s war-making—right up until Germany began to lose. At the same time, McDonough doesn’t stint on coverage of the military plots to remove Hitler and negotiate a peace with the Allies—sometimes just he western Allies. There were a lot of plots, and it’s stunning to read about the ways each one failed

McDonough disagrees with the conventional wisdom that on the Eastern Front the efficient and technologically advanced Germans were ultimately defeated by Russians simply throwing seemingly limitless bodies into battle. McDonough’s view is that the Russians improved both tactically and technologically as the war went on, significantly reducing their casualty rate.

McDonough’s final chapter includes some interesting remarks about postwar Germany. In particular, he notes that while the Allies allowed former Nazis to go right back to work in leading positions in industry, medicine, science and the judiciary (likely contributing to Germany’s notorious reticence to prosecute war criminals), East Germany strenuously worked to keep former Nazis out of any positions of authority. For example, McDonough denies the claim that East Germany’s Stasi included former Nazis.

I highly recommend McDonough’s two Hitler Years books and I think they are likely to become the recommended standard for those looking for a history of the Nazi era

[James Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

McDonough crafts a truly brilliant narrative of Hitler and the Nazi’s ultimate downfall. It is excellently researched and doesn’t resort to overstating or hyperbole, McDonough seems to recognise the story being told is fascinating, poignant and terrifying enough in of itself. He manages to truly capture the total and absolute madness of the Nazi hierarchy as their empire crumbled around them, an element that I find fascinating and almost Shakespearean in its portrayal. Even to extensive readers of World War Two, this Nazi-focused, concise and orderly in its chronological retelling, will offer a vast amount of insight and room for further thought and discussion.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb and unputdownable history of the Hitler years 1933-45. The story is told chronologically, mainly from the perspective of Germany and Hitler as Nazi power was consolidated and the war pursued. It was particularly useful to me in getting major events in order, forming a better understanding of the development and dynamics of the Axis and Allied powers. The second volume ends with a conclusion that summarizes events and recaps the many lies that sustained the Nazis and were the foremost weapon in their project to dominate the world and reality.

The book is clearly written and the Audible reading is excellent. I highly recommend.

[Toni Osborne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Volume 2: Disaster, 1940-1945

The huge canvas this book covers is vividly written and beautifully presented with a body of illustrations, a time machine told in a narrative free of academic jargon, one giving us just enough details into the experiences of Germans during this frightening period: The Times of the Gestapo.

In volume 2, the companion to “The Hitler Years” Triumph, 1933-1939 is not an easy read it tells of the rise and catastrophic fall of the Nazi regime, a descent into barbarism, genocide and war that cost millions of lives. “Disaster” charts the dramatic changes for the Third Reich despite Hitler’s grand ambitions. This book focuses heavily on military campaigns, carefully analyzing each major battle and the turning points they represented. It makes it clear the importance to understand that Nazi Germany was in search of living space and for this to be achieved was through expansion taking lands from racially inferior nations.

Given the scope of the book (656 pages) some may say more attention could have been given to some aspects instead of others: ex. German massacres of prisoners of war. How does one condense satisfactorily so many elements in a single book? ”Disaster” is well-researched, well- structured and well-written.

If you are interested in this period of time both volumes are combinations of expert historical analysis.

Thank you St-martin press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book, this is the way I see it.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not think anything would rival Max Hastings’ All Hell Let Loose’ for my preferred approach to the ‘big story’ of WW2, but this does. I also didn’t expect to like McDonough‘s chronological approach, but it works exceptionally well. The result is an engrossing read, where it is easy to find yourself in the middle of the maelstrom. The first volume was excellent, but I found the second even better. McDonough presents ‘the story’ in a well paced way, making clear some of the wider arguments as you go, but in a way that leaves you open to forming your own interpretations. I read the conclusion section twice, it was so thought provoking.

[AC · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Hitler Years: Disaster 1940-1945 is the companion to The Hitler Years: Triumph 1933-1939, which I previously reviewed.

As with 'Triumph', Disaster is a strict, chronologically presented layout of the events from 1940, when Hitler was at the apex of his power, to 1945, when Germany was defeated and Hitler committed suicide in Berlin.

I'll caution that this is not a narrative nonfiction work. The two books taken together could form a large collection of references about what was happening on what day in what year in (primarily) Germany's sphere between 1933 and 1945. If you haven't read the first volume,it isn't a huge issue as long as you have some kind of base understanding as to how the world got to where it was in 1940.

It's a terrific addition to the field, and I'm giving it five stars, just as I did with the first volume.

One note I will make is that the e-ARC was a terrible mess. Letters are missing from words, entire dates are left out, and it was a tremendously difficult and tedious read to get through it. I'm not dinging it for this, as it is an advanced copy, and it comes with the territory. It was, however, disappointing that it was so very, very bad in this regard.

Thanks to St Martin's Press and NetGalley for the reading copy.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolutely brilliant book, well-written and highly detailed. I cannot say enough good things about it. It was an absolute treat to read as it was clear that the author spent many years researching and writing it. I give it my strongest recommendation.

This book follows Adolf Hitler’s decisions and actions chronologically for the years 1940 to 1945, as well as his interactions with and the reactions of other world leaders. Many different types of sources are used to recount well-known as well as many previously unreported facts, including quotes from his followers’ journals. The author endnotes his sources and has a substantial bibliography and index at the end of the book.

I learned a lot about the battles on the Russian front, especially the Battle of Stalingrad. Much of the facts about Germany’s war with the Soviet Union contained in this text are either not included in or are glossed over in other discussions. I also more clearly understood the events of the Battle of the Bulge. Notably, I found many new facts about how Hitler’s inner circle viewed him and his decisions. Overall, a very interesting and enlightening book that was hard to put down. 10 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to Apollo Publishing, Frank McDonough, and NetGalley for letting me read this terrific book pre-publication in the U.S. I did not receive anything for this review and my opinions are my own.

[Tim Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this one to be better than the first book in the duology, but it's always good when Nazi's are defeated. Overall, I feel it was just a more interesting, dynamic book. It's a well trod topic though, and I am not sure if anything new or wildly radical has been presented here.

[Monica · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read The Hitler Years: Triumph and really enjoyed it. This one I couldn't finish. I really think I got a bad copy of an ARC Kindle. McDonough's books are always well written and researched. I barely made it through the introduction and part of chapter one. There were missing dates, which I understand that with my copy being an ARC. But, there were missing letters of words on every page of my copy. Hopefully, all will be fixed in the final copy.

Thanks to Netgalley, McDonough and the publisher for the Kindle Version of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always been fascinated with WWII especially the battles at the Eastern Front, and I thought having gone through a number of books that I might not enjoy this book as much; however, both volumes of Frank McDonough's Hitler Years were absolutely spell bounding and are a must-read for any WW2 history fan. The insights and chronological presentation of the Hitler years, especially in the 1st volume with his consolidation of power and destruction of communism, democracy, the German conservatives and thereafter the well-known 'appeasement' episodes in Austria, Czechoslovakia, and then Poland... just fascinating.

The most fascinating parts of the 'Disaster' volume is how lucky Hitler was to escape being assassinated multiple times, and how many countless lives could have probably been saved if that had happened 1939 or even during Valkyrie later on.....

[David Valentino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly Recommended, Especially for Coverage of the Eastern Front and Holocaust

In Volume I of The Hitler Years, Frank McDonough covered in detail how Hitler maneuvered to become chancellor, rebuilt German military power, intimidated and defied the West, won the loyalty of average Germans (though not the aristocracy and hardcore conservatives), and launched his twin campaigns of Lebensraum and antisemitic murder. Prior to September 1, 1939, he had achieved a good deal of success internally and internationally. And then he set out on his main objective explicitly foreshadowed innumerable times in his writings and speeches, the military seizure of living space in the East. As McDonough chronicles so thoroughly in Volume II, Hitler, through a series of terrible diplomatic, military, and human rights decisions, blew everything, and then projected his failure as a leader on the German people and utterly destroyed them. Readers will find no better single volume covering the war years, and no better two-volume set delineating the rise and fall of Hitler and the Third Reich.

Many may find some of the historical information in Volume II revelatory. That’s because most readers are most familiar with the African and West European campaigns conducted by the Allied Forces of the United State, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the displaced continental armies. McDonough devotes more space to the German-Soviet War, and for good reason; it was Hitler’s major strategic diplomatic and military error and it accounted for his ultimate defeat, in combination with the strain on resources diverted to the destruction of the European Jews. As McDonough states in his concluding remarks:

“The Red Army was undoubtedly the main force behind the destruction of the German army on the battlefield….[T]he monumental battles on the Eastern Front were on a completely different scale to the conflict on the Western Front. Out of every five German soldiers who died in the Second World War, four were killed by a solider of the Red Army. By 1941, 75 per cent of all Germany’s fighting troops were fighting against the Soviet Union. Even in August 1944, toward the end of the Battle of Normandy, 66 per cent of all German’s troops were still fighting bloody battles on the Eastern Front.”

As to the Holocaust, this, too, readers will find both revelatory and a lesson. A familiar term today, Holocaust didn’t even enter the German or world’s vocabulary until the creation of Israel and most dramatically the capture and public trial of Adolf Eichmann. It has only been with the reunification and the rise of the younger generation that Germany has begun to address the German nation under Hitler and the Nazis. There’s a lesson here for us, the United States, as well as other states that have inflicted their own horrors on classes of citizens viewed and treated as inferior. You might think about this, then, in terms of your own nation:

“There’s now a Holocaust memorial in the centre of Berlin. In 2001, a Jewish Museum opened and is now one of the city’s leading tourist attractions. The German democratic government now makes frequent payments to former slave laborers of the Nazi era and to victims of the Holocaust. The heroism of those who stood up to the Nazis is also celebrated in Berlin’s German Resistance Memorial Centre. It’s now generally accepted most German people during the Nazi era were not just taking orders, but were enthusiastic supporters of Hitler and fought to the bitter end to preserve his criminal regime.”

Both Volume I and II of The Hitler Years are highly recommended to all, from the casual reader of history to the more serious.

[Titus Hjelm · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid chronological history of the turning point and downfall of Hitler's Reich. It's not McDonough's fault that the war just isn't as interesting as the reasons as to why Hitler rose to power in the first place and the pre-war years of Nazi Germany, both discussed in the first installment. (Most people probably think the opposite!) There is little new info here for anyone acquainted with war-time Germany previously, but there are a couple of instances of interesting historiographical discussion. A good book to begin for those previously unfamiliar with 20th century German history.

[Margot Frye · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book as an ARC and this is my review. This is Part Two of The Hitler Years and this book is amazing! I loved it! McDonough has meticulously researched the full history of Hitler’s battles, his state of mind, the state of mind of his subordinates, as well as the progress of each country in preparation for and defense of each skirmish. There is also detailed information about the concentration camps: their beginnings and operations. This is THE definitive account of the Third Reich and all its participants. I totally recommend this dramatic, historic documentation to any reader who is interested in history and its aftermath.

[Josef · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book although my only issue with it is the almost 600 pages. I wish I had taken more time to learn about WWII in HS and the early years of undergrad but with books like this I may still be able to catch up. I never thought the history of these wars could be so interesting. McDonough is a vivid writer but it also helps how he told the story consistently from one side of the story (the Axis side). This shed more light on what they had to go through both in terms of their military actions but also the psychological impacts this had on both sides, and the eventual surrender in 1945. Overall I think anyone would like this book as long as they have a little interest in world history and a lot of time on their hands to get through it.

[Ed · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

This is a truly magnificent book. Unlike some history books this is so readable, reads more like a novel . If you want to know about the fall of hitlers Germany read it.

[Brenda]

Frank McDonough writes brilliantly with great conviction, including facts and his point of view. He has something to say and I am so grateful for his insight. The subject matter is clearly not enjoyable but talk about an absorbing and riveting book! It has increased my knowledge and made me smarter. Though the first book is remarkable, this one is even more so. A crucial read in my opinion.

One of the most striking things I learned was about the Allies and in particular the Mussolini association. Prior to this book I did not know about Case Yellow, Case Red, the "Mechelen Incident" or much about the Norway and Denmark links. I learned more about the role of Pervitin, Goebbel's horrific antisemitism, anti-Jewish propaganda, Spain's vacillation, "clean sweep" of Yugoslavia and Greece, relations between Hitler and other leaders, the Wolf's Lair, killing experiments and termination camps including Treblinka, massacres, cannibalism rumours amongst starving German soldiers, Soviet Bolshevism and rapes, the surrender of Paulus, the courageous White Rose group, the utter devastation of Dresden and the failed assassination attempt on Hitler. What stood out the most for me is the level of sheer and utter relentless apathetic depravity, unspeakable atrocities captured in words and photographs. What people suffered through is sobering and downright despicable. Looking at most of the pictures is difficult as you are looking into the cold eyes of pure evil.

This is a must read for anyone intrigued by this era and with Hitler and those surrounding him. One of the most memorable books (and I have read over 400 so far) of the year. Memorable not only for the geopolitics and atrocities but also for the thoughtfully-presented thorough research and the man who was Hitler, powerful yet a coward.

My sincere thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this thoughtful and highly informative book. Kudos to the author for this important undertaking!

[Adam Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a one-volume history of the downfall of Nazi Germany, this is probably the most readable and comprehensive treatment you could hope for, although sometimes lacking in dramatic tension.

That's probably unfair as McDonough's argument is that Nazi Germany was doomed to defeat against the combined force of the Allies, at least after Hitler decided to invade the Soviet Union. For the full dramatic arc I imagine you have to read the first volume covering 1933-1939 but this is still a clear chronological narrative with key correctives to some misunderstandings likely common for both Brits and Americans.

There are convincing conclusions to a number of key questions. Above all, McDonough stresses that the war with Germany was largely won on the Eastern Front, where the conflict was both larger in scale and more brutal. Hitler's strategic decision making, including the decision to invade the USSR, was fatally undermined by his ideological obsessions but German generals subsequently also made tactical errors which they sought to blame on him.

McDonough also deals clearly with responsibility for the Holocaust, in no way absolving Hitler but noting the culpability of the Wehrmacht, German capitalists and locals in occupied areas. While sometimes the narrative can seem overly dispassionate, the horror of the increasing scale of mass murder even as the Nazi German position became hopeless is effective in its own way.

[David Corleto-Bales]

A monumental second volume of the Nazi era by Oxford's Frank McDonough deals with the war, from the beginning of January, 1940 until the end in 1945, plus an analysis of post-war Germany and how it dealt with the Nazi era, (spoiler alert, it mostly didn't; thousands of Nazi officials got off scot free.) Like in Volume 1, McDonough details Hitler's bizarre behavior and quirks with all of his military moves, (he changed generals more than Trump did members of his cabinet) and asserts that although Hitler's decisions were catastrophic, he always found somebody in the military to fanatically go along with him. Its's startling to read that while Germany was involved in a cataclysmic war and run by terrorists, many elements of German society were generally untouched until the last two years of the war: the civil service, private industry, the universities, and until Stauffenberg's bomb plot, the military, which in a warped way made it much freer than the Soviet Union of the time. Of course, the Nazi era involved thousands if not millions of complicit people, but it all comes back to who Churchill called "that bad, bad, bad, man!" Hitler is unquestionably the original villain. A classic with a few typos. It needs a section at the end where all the hundreds of historical figures that McDonough mentions throughout the book have a summary about how they ended up. Well recommended.

[Jasminegalsreadinglog · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Hitler Years: Disaster is the continuation of the volume 1 titled The Hitler Years: Triumph. It can be read as a standalone but it is better to read the volume one before. This is a huge book and needs to be read with lot of concentration as the author has chronologically taken us through the whole second world war events. I am a history buff and this book was excellent and well written. Wars are never pretty and some of the events mentioned in this book might be hard to read. One of the images used in the book could be a little triggering to some people.
The author has tried to be non objective while stating as to how the events enfolded but the subject matter of this book is such that it's impossible to be neutral and the after thoughts of the book does reflect that. Having said that this book does an excellent job of recreating the history for people like me who are not of that era.
The book makes you sit and think that how could humanity stoop so low where cost of human life was worth nothing and violating women and children were of no consequence in the bigger scheme of things. It is a disturbing book but everyone needs to read it so that our and future generations do not repeat the same mistakes.

[Jodi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow - this is a lot to digest, and understand... it's a BIG book. I received an advanced readers copy from the publishers, in return for this review. I did enjoy parts of it, because I am a big history buff, but it was a lot to take in, and I had to skip some pages (ok, a LOT of pages). Perhaps if I had read the prior book in this duology, I might have been a little more ready for this one, but I haven't, and I wasn't. I am not a professor of history, by any means - this book DID teach me a few things I didn't know, but most of it was not new to me, so that might just color my rating and review a bit. Professor McDonough's style is pretty dry and it felt at times, as if "there will be a test at the end of the semester". I thought I left that behind me many years ago... Anyway, I might have bought this in a bookstore, if I had seen it, and been somewhat disappointed. Thanks to Goodreads and the giveaway by St. Martin's Press, I saved the $.

[Jack Neylon · Rating 4 out of 5]

By presenting the Second World War in a chronological narrative framework, the author provides an immense amount of detail from a macro German perspective. The book’s main focus is to provide a general history which emphasises Hitler’s direct influence on the German War Machine, from its successes and early good fortunate to ultimately its disasters and downfall.

Whilst I enjoyed the book, I did feel it lacked something, mainly due to its limited historiographical discussion and there were certain themes I would have liked to see explored more. Sadly, I also noticed a number of typos.

As a side note, Frank taught me at university and it was interesting to see his unique style and thoughts I observed in the lecture hall written down. There were a number of phrases he used in the book that I vividly recall him using with his strong Liverpudlian accent that brought back good memories.

[Hamid · Rating 3 out of 5]

As before with The Hitler Years: Triumph, 1933-1939, this is a perfectly competent and enjoyable narrative history but offers nothing particularly new and falls into a couple of historical traps (eg repeating without discussion the claim that Hitler's corpse was identified by a missing left testicle). The conclusion of the book would have been much more interesting if it tackled head on the themes from Nazism that continued in history: colonialism, eugenics, racism and the ongoing disintegration of the post-war consensus.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a good overview of Hitler’s rise and fall during World War II. It does cover some new ground, but also provides a good summary of the events and what happened as a result of his orders. It does hopefully put to rest some of the ongoing dialogue of what happened at the end of the war. I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in World War II.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon, Facebook and my nonfiction book review blog

[George Cowley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I find audiobooks hard to listen to. It’s hard to maintain concentration and you never feel like you go too deeply inside them. But you can get around it to a large degree by listening to a book about a subject you have some familiarity with. I am quite familiar with Word War 2 but by no means an expert. This meant that I was largely familiar with the names, places , dates and events but still wanting to know more.
As such, this was by far my most satisfying audiobook ever. A magnificent book. Well written. Detailed, yet concise. And beautifully narrated. Highly recommended.

[Jordan Ayres · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic account of the Nazi regime from 1940 - 1945. McDonough gives you a clear and chronological timeline of the Second World War and Hitler’s downfall. Enjoyable follow on from his previous book ‘The Hitler Years: Triumph’. A must read for anyone interested in this field of history and wants to read the most up to date perspectives on Hitler’s last five years and the collapse of Nazi Germany.

[Aaron Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first volume was fantastic and definitely should be read first. This second volume continues the story, incisively scrutinizing the major events of Nazism and Hitler's collapse and fall. New and interesting insights are found throughout its pages and should be added to the shelves of anyone with an interest in Hitler, Nazism, World War II, Germany or, frankly, just history in general. Highly recommended.

[Nina.Albulushigmail.Com · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read; combination of expert historical analysis and effective narrative

Excellent follow up to Volume 1. Mcdonough is not only a thorough historian but excellent story teller. His use of the narrative brings a disturbing history to a new audience. Very enjoyable read, albeit harrowing at times. Looking forward to his work on Weimar