Sir John W. Wheeler-Bennett tells the story of how the German Army, having survived the disaster of 1918, proceeded to dominate the political life of the German Republic, exercising a virtually paramount degree of power and influence by its very withdrawal from the active arena of politics: and of how, when later it was mistaken enough to play politics instead of controlling them, it began a descent which only ended in abject defeat - militarily, politically and spiritually. The author reveals the extent of the Army's responsibility for bringing the Nazi regime to power, for tolerating the infamies of that regime once it had attained power, and for not taking the measures - at a time when only the Army could have taken them - to remove it from power. In this second edition a new foreword by Professor Richard Overy sets Wheeler-Bennett's classic text in context.Foreword; R.Overy Foreword; J.W.Wheeler-Bennett Introduction PART I: THE ARMY AND THE REICH, 1918-1926 From Spa to Kapp (November 1918-March 1920) The Seeckt Period (1920-1926) PART II: THE ARMY AND HITLER, 1920-1933 Courtship, Honeymoon and Separation (1920-1926) The Schleicher Period (1926-1933) PART III: HITLER AND THE ARMY, 1933-1945 From the Seizure of Power to the Death of Hindenburg (January 1933-1934) From the Death of Hindenburg to the Fritsch Crisis (August 1934-February 1938) From the Fritsch Crisis to the Outbreak of War (February 1938-September 1939) Victory in the East and the 'Phoney War' (September 1939-June 1940) From the Blitzkrieg to Stalingrad (July 1940-February 1943) From Stalingrad to Normandy (February 1943-July 1944) July 20, 1944 Epilogue APPENDICES Text of Draft Basic Law proposed by Popitz, Jessen and von Hassell, 1942 Documents of the 'Free Germany' Committee in Moscow, 1943 Documents of the Putsch of July 20, 1944 List of Victims of July 20 1944 Tables to Illustrate Organization of the German High Command, 1919-1945 Chronology Bibliography Index
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