Synopses & Reviews
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 responsibility of the Army 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 a modern context.
Review
"It is, by its very detail, a fascinating book, and by its scope a majestic book and by its scholarship an illuminating book."--Hugh Trevor-Roper,
Sunday Times "No-one...can rise from The Nemesis of Power without a keen sense of the stature, quality and equipment of [Sir John] Wheeler-Bennett as a contemporary historian."--Lord Longford, Catholic Herald
Synopsis
SIR JOHN W. WHEELER-BENNETT died in 1975. He was Historical Adviser to the Royal Archives, Fellow of St. Antony's College, Oxford, UK and Visiting Lecturer at the University of Arizona. He wrote biographies of King George VI, Hindenburg and Viscount Waverley and several works on Modern German history. His three-volume autobiography is published under the titles Knaves, Fools and Heroes: In Europe Between the Wars, Special Relationships: America in Peace and War and Friends, Enemies and Sovereigns. RICHARD OVERY is Professor of Modern European History in the Department of History, King's College London, UK.
About the Author
John W. Wheeler-Bennett is sometime Honorary Fellow, St Antony' s College, Oxford, and Historical Adviser to the Royal Archives.
Overy Richard is a Professor of Modern European History at King's College London.
Table of Contents
Foreword--R. Overy * Foreword--J. 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