Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich: A History of Nazi GermanyHitler boasted that The Third Reich would last a thousand years. It lasted only 12. But those 12 years contained some of the most catastrophic events Western civilization has ever known. No other powerful empire ever bequeathed such mountains of evidence about its birth and destruction as the Third Reich. When the bitter war was over, and before the Nazis could destroy their files, the Allied demand for unconditional surrender produced an almost hour-by-hour record of the nightmare empire built by Adolph Hitler. This record included the testimony of Nazi leaders and of concentration camp inmates, the diaries of officials, transcripts of secret conferences, army orders, private letters--all the vast paperwork behind Hitler's drive to conquer the world. The famed foreign correspondent and historian William L. Shirer, who had watched and reported on the Nazis since 1925, spent five and a half years sifting through this massive documentation. The result is a monumental study that has been widely acclaimed as the definitive record of one of the most frightening chapters in the history of mankind. This worldwide bestseller has been acclaimed as the definitive book on Nazi Germany; it is a classic work. The accounts of how the United States got involved and how Hitler used Mussolini and Japan are astonishing, and the coverage of the war-from Germany's early successes to her eventual defeat-is must reading. |
Contents
BIRTH OF THE THIRD REICH | 3 |
BIRTH OF THE NAZI PARTY | 29 |
VERSAILLES WEIMAR AND The Beer HALL PUTSCH | 52 |
THE MIND OF HITLER AND THE ROOTS OF THE THIRD REICH | 80 |
192531 | 117 |
193133 | 150 |
193334 | 188 |
193337 | 231 |
SITZKRIEG IN THE WEST | 633 |
THE CONQuest of Denmark and NORWAY | 673 |
VICTORY IN THE WEST | 713 |
THE THWARTED INVASION OF BRITAIN | 758 |
THE TURN OF RUSSIA | 793 |
A TURN OF THE TIDE | 853 |
THE TURN OF The United STATES | 871 |
1942STALINGRAD | 903 |
193437 | 279 |
THE FALL OF BLOMBERG FRITSCH NEURATH AND SCHACHT | 309 |
THE RAPE OF AUSTRIA | 322 |
THE ROAD TO MUNICH | 357 |
CZECHOSLOVAKIA Ceases TO EXIST | 428 |
THE TURN OF POLAND | 455 |
THE NAZISOVIET PACT | 513 |
THE LAST DAYS OF PEACE | 545 |
THE LAUNCHING OF WORLD WAR II | 597 |
THE FALL OF POLAND | 625 |
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Common terms and phrases
Adolf Hitler Allied ambassador armed attack August August 26 Austria Beck Berlin Brauchitsch Britain and France cabinet Chamberlain Chancellor Churchill Ciano Commander in Chief Czech Czechoslovakia Dahlerus Danzig decision declared diary dictator dispatch Duce England Europe Field Marshal fight forces Foreign Minister Foreign Office French frontier Fuehrer German Army German Foreign German troops Germany's Gestapo Goebbels Goering Halder Halifax Henderson Himmler Hindenburg Italian Italy Jews Jodl June Keitel later leaders London Luftwaffe March meeting Mein Kampf ment military Molotov Moscow Munich Mussolini National Socialist naval Navy negotiations night November Nuremberg Obersalzberg pact Papen peace plans Poland Polish political President Prime Minister proposals Raeder Reichstag Reichswehr replied reported Republic Ribbentrop Roehm Russia says Schleicher Schulenburg Schuschnigg secret September Soviet Union speech Staff Stalin Strasser Sudetenland talk telegram Third Reich tion told treaty Vienna wanted Weizsaecker West Wilhelmstrasse wrote