From Weimar to Hitler: Germany, 1918-33

by Edgar Feuchtwanger

`The extraordinary amount of new research relating to the Weimar Republic in the last two decades has created the need for a new survey of that period. Feuchtwanger...responds admirably to that need.' - C.R.Lovin, Choice `E.J. Feuchtwanger is such a good historian... Despite its prestigious critics and its inborn failings, Feuchtwanger writes, Weimar government was better than its reputation, establishing precedents that would benefit a German democracy yet to come. Boris Yeltsin might be well advised to consider some of Feuchtwanger's remarks about the openness of history. A humbled great power stripped of its colonies, an infant democracy prey to extremes on right and left, hyperinflation, roving paramilitaries, woozy racialist theories in the air - Yeltsin's Russia and Weimar Germany have a few too many similarities for comfort.' - Christian Caryl, Guardian 'Robert Langbaum's ability to react directly and independently to his reading of Hardy's work is evident on every page...This is a Thomas Hardy for our time.' - J. Hillis Miller Weimar has become synonymous with catastrophic political failure, the prelude to the greatest moral and material disasters of the twentieth century. This book shows that such failure was never inevitable and that options remained tantalisingly open right up to Hitler's assumption of power. The democratic regime was saddled with heavy burdens stemming from defeat and never enjoyed general acceptance and legitimacy. On the other hand, it encouraged for the first time in German history expectations of a high level of welfare, individual rights and modern social practices, which were at least partially fulfilled. The period of relative prosperity was, however, too short, the return of crisis too severe and the resulting demoralisation too profound to save democracy. The author draws a compelling picture of a society frequently in turmoil, yet remarkably creative and innovative, but finally overwhelmed by a tide of irrationality and barbarism. He makes full use of the extensive sources and secondary literature available in German.

Genres: History

388 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Edgar Joseph Feuchtwanger is a German-British historian. born in Germany, as a boy Feuchtwanger escaped with his family to Britain prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. From 1944 to 1947, Edgar studied at Magdalene College in Cambridge, where he received his doctorate in 1958. From 1959, he taught history at University of Southampton, until he retired in 1989.

Reviews

[Prussian Wrestler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book, but with very heavy political orientation. That means you will understand a lot from the mechanics of Weimar politics, its main players, issues and why it fell/failed, but all international, economical, social topics are treated as a background. (You will also never again have issues to tell DDP, DVP and DNVP apart). It also quite shockingly shows that in 1932 basically everybody wanted some sort of change and chancellors that followed Hermann Müller hopelessly tried to create a working, stable coalition just to find out that everything is spinning out of control. How ironic is that last guarantor of the Republic stability became Marshall Von Hindenburg, who despite his shortcomings really didn't want to grant power to Hitler. And that the last bastion of democracy, after Preußenschlag was Bavaria - I actually had a bitter laugh about that.

PS. Reviews printed on the cover of my 1995 edition were alluding to the current situation in Yeltsin's Russia, that young Russian democracy is also at the crossroads... Well, somebody clearly didn't read this book.