The German War: A Nation Under Arms, 1939-45
- ISBN-10
- 009953987X
- ISBN-13
- 9780099539872
- Series
- The German War
- Category
- Germany
- Pages
- 738
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2016-09-01
- Publisher
- Random House
- Author
- Nicholas Stargardt
Description
WINNER OF THE 2016 PEN HESSELL-TILTMAN PRIZE The Second World War was a German war like no other. The Nazi regime, having started the conflict, turned it into the most horrific war in European history, resorting to genocidal methods well before building the first gas chambers. Over its course, the Third Reich expended and exhausted all its moral and physical reserves, leading to total defeat in 1945. Yet 70 years on - despite whole libraries of books about the war's origins, course and atrocities - we still do not know what Germans thought they were fighting for and how they experienced and sustained the war until the bitter end. When war broke out in September 1939, it was deeply unpopular in Germany. Yet without the active participation and commitment of the German people, it could not have continued for almost six years. What, then, was the war Germans thought they were fighting? How did the changing course of the conflict - the victories of the Blitzkrieg, the first defeats in the east, the bombing of Germany's cities - change their views and expectations? And when did Germans first realise that they were fighting a genocidal war? Drawing on a wealth of first-hand testimony, The German War is the first foray for many decades into how the German people experienced the Second World War. Told from the perspective of those who lived through it - soldiers, schoolteachers and housewives; Nazis, Christians and Jews - its masterful historical narrative sheds fresh and disturbing light on the beliefs, hopes and fears of a people who embarked on, continued and fought to the end a brutal war of conquest and genocide.
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
Germany
By Rodney Boltand damp in summer , and stark and misty in the winter , when flocks of whitegeese fly in from Scandinavia and strut about in the mud . The people have a reputation for shyness and melancholy . Local cabaret artist Hanns Dieter Hüsch ...
-
Kein' Angst, Baby: A Singer's Guide to German Operatic Auditions in the 1990s
By Dorothy Maddison, Gail SullivanThis singers' guide to German operatic auditions in the 1990s provides information for the planning of an audition tour in Germany with comprehensive details on the Fach System, repertoire lists and general advice on how best to succeed.
-
"We are Here": New Approaches to Jewish Displaced Persons in Postwar Germany
By Michael Berkowitz, Avinoam J. PattDespite their unique position in the postwar period , these two communities and Hesse have been understudied within DP literature . Hesse was the only one of the three states in the U.S. zone of occupation that shared borders with all ...
-
Magdalena and Balthasar: An Intimate Portrait of Life in Sixteenth-century Europe Revealed in the Letters of a Nuremberg Husband and...
By Steven E. Ozment, Magdalena Balthasar PaumgartnerAutobiographical letters by a sixteenth century Lutheran couple much concerned with their health, their business, the small luxuries of life, and the inscrutable ways of God.
-
Great Elector: Frederick William of Brandenburg-Prussia
By Derek McKayGreat Elector: Frederick William of Brandenburg-Prussia
-
Germany, 1848-1914
By Bob WhitfieldA study of Germany between 1848 and 1890 for AS and A Level History students.
-
Soziale Gerechtigkeit - ein magisches Viereck: Zieldimensionen, Politikanalysen und empirische Befunde
By Irene Becker, Richard HauserSoziale Gerechtigkeit - ein magisches Viereck: Zieldimensionen, Politikanalysen und empirische Befunde
-
Karen Brown's Germany: Charming Inns and Itineraries, 1997
By Karen Brown, June Brown, Clare BrownYour genial hosts , Erich and Gerhild Kunz , will probably be there to welcome you . Although their English is limited , warm smiles and exuberant gestures overcome any language barrier . Several lovely bedrooms are found in the inn ...
-
Die Geschichte der FDP: Metamorphosen einer Partei zwischen rechts, sozialliberal und neokonservativ
By Udo LeuschnerBeide verband auch der schroffe Gegensatz zur oppositionellen SPD unter Kurt Schumacher. Unterschiede zur Union gab es vor allem in Fragen der Schul-, Wirtschafts-, Sozial- und Deutschlandpolitik. Während die Unionsparteien die ...
-
Germany 1918-1945: From Days of Hope to Years of Horror
By Douglas J. NewtonGermany 1918-1945: From Days of Hope to Years of Horror