Martin Kitchen

A new biography of Albert Speer, Adolf Hitler's chief architect and trusted confidant, reveals the subject's deeper involvement in Nazi atrocities In his best-selling autobiography, Albert Speer, Minister of Armaments and chief architect of Nazi Germany, repeatedly insisted he knew nothing of the genocidal crimes of Hitler's Third Reich. In this revealing new biography, author Martin Kitchen disputes Speer's lifelong assertions of ignorance and innocence, portraying a far darker figure who was deeply implicated in the appalling crimes committed by the regime he served so well. Kitchen reconstructs Speer's life with what we now know, including information from valuable new sources that have come to light only in recent years, challenging the portrait presented by earlier biographers and by Speer himself of a cultured technocrat devoted to his country while completely uninvolved in Nazi politics and crimes. The result is the first truly serious accounting of the man, his beliefs, and his actions during one of the darkest epochs in modern history, not only countering Speer's claims of non-culpability but also disputing the commonly held misconception that it was his unique genius alone that kept the German military armed and fighting long after its defeat was inevitable.

Hitler's Architect

Speer

This book shows how a charismatic leader preyed on ordinary Germans yearning for stability in a time of economic, political and social crisis. It goes on to give a complete and up-to-date analysis of The Third Reich; its implications for and place in history.

Charisma and Community

The Third Reich

A concise account of the war - including the war in Asia and the Pacific as well as the European arena. Covers the formation of the victorious Grand Alliance and to the problems that beset it, and to Nazi Germany's relations with its allies.

A Short History of the Second World War in Europe and Asia 1939-1945

A World in Flames

This concise and lucidly written book is designed as an introduction to theories of fascism. Martin Kitchen, a distinguished scholar of German history and politics, assesses the rival claims of the main theories. These include those of the Communist International (which had such a significant political impact at the time), the more important of the psychological explanations of fascism, the theories of totalitarianism which dominated western political science in the 1950s and 1960s, the attempt by Ernst Nolte to find a way out of the impasse in which the theory of totalitarianism found itself, theories of fascism as an independent movement of the disgruntled middle classes and, lastly, fascism as a new form of Bonapartism. There is also discussion of the important question of the relationships between fascism and industry, using the examples of Italy and Germany. The various theories are discussed under two headings - 'heteronomic' and 'autonomic', the former asserting that fascism is directly produced and determined by capitalism, and the latter arguing that fascism is an independent force. In his final chapter, Martin Kitchen shows how neither sort of theory alone is satisfactory, and that both must play a part in producing a helpful theory. That this can be done is shown in the conclusion where a tentative answer is given to the question 'What is Fascism?'

Fascism

In February 1934 fighting broke out in Linz between government forces and the Social Democratic Party. Within hours Vienna was up in arms and the fighting soon spread to other parts of Austria. A few days later the party was destroyed and Austria seemed to many observers to have joined the ranks of fascist states. The violence of the fighting, particularly the shelling of the vast workers’ housing complex, the Karl-Marx-Hof, and the summary execution of a number of leading figures in the fighting horrified the civilised world. This book, first published in 1980, looks at the importance of Austrian social democracy as one of the pillars of European Marxism and shows how it became a victim of the spread of fascism. The radical right and the peculiarities of Austrian varieties of fascism are given particular attention, and Dollfuss’s own brand of fascistic state is analysed in terms of classic forms of fascism. Particular emphasis is placed on the economic and social problems of the Austrian Republic which led to a deepening of the political crisis and also to the foreign political ramifications of the problem. Although Dollfuss appeared to be determinedly anti-Nazi it was he who finally gave the order to destroy the Social Democratic Party little realising he was destroying himself. Thus, this study illustrates how socialism was strengthened rather than weakened by the fighting in February, and Austrian fascism far from halting German fascism, paved the way for its final triumph.

The Coming of Austrian Fascism

Volker R. Berghahn

Originally published in 1981 and now re-issued with a new Preface, this book contains contributions on key issues such as the origins of the First World War, the psychological impact of that war on the Germans, the enigmatic personality of Walter Rathenau, anti-semitism and paramilitarism, as well as German Ostpolitik during the Weimar period. The collapse of the Weimar Republic is re-examined and this is followed by an analysis of the social basis of the SS leadership corps, German reactions to the defeat in 1945 as observed by the British authorities and finally a wide-ranging comparatiste essay on why Germany did not experience a 20th century revolution in spite of the tremendous upheavals it suffered.

Germany in the Age of Total War

The spectacular murders of a distinguished British scientist, his wife, and their young daughter in the depths of rural France in 1952 prompted one of the most notorious criminal investigations in postwar Europe. It is still a matter of passionate debate in France. Sir Jack Drummond, with his wife, Lady Anne, and their ten-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, were on holiday on the French Riviera when they stopped to make camp just off the road near a farm called La Grand’ Terre in Provence. The family was found murdered the next morning. More than two years later, the barely literate, seventy-five-year-old proprietor of La Grand’ Terre, Gaston Dominici, was brought to trial, convicted, and condemned to death by guillotine. When Dominici was convicted, there was general agreement that the ignorant, pitiless, and depraved old peasant had gotten what he deserved. At the time, he stood for everything backward and brutish about a peasantry left behind in the wake of France’s postwar transformation and burgeoning prosperity. But with time perspectives changed. Subsequent inquiries coupled with widespread doubts and misgivings prompted President de Gaulle to order his release from prison in 1960, and by the 1980s many in France came to believe—against all evidence—that Gaston Dominici was innocent. He had become a romanticized symbol of a simpler, genuine, and somehow more honest life from a bygone era. Reconstructing the facts of the Drummond murders, The Dominici Affair redefines one of France’s most puzzling crimes and illustrates the profound changes in French society that took place following the Second World War.

Murder and Mystery in Provence

The Dominici Affair

Originally published in 1976 and based upon the extensive use of original archival material, this book provides a detailed account of the 2 years in which the German army enjoyed unprecedented power and influence. The rise of Hindenburg and Ludendorff is seen against the background of the failure of the army to win a decisive victory in the early stages of the war. The book provides insights into the dynamics of German militarism and imperialism, and is an important contribution to the discussion of the continuity of German history.

The Politics of the German High Command under Hindenburg and Ludendorff, 1916-1918

The Silent Dictatorship

Featuring revised and extended coverage, the second edition of A History of Modern Germany offers an accessible and engagingly written account of German history from 1800 to the present. Provides readers with a long view of modern German history, revealing its continuities and changes Features updated and extended coverage of German social change and modernization, class, religion, and gender Includes more in depth coverage of the German Democratic Republic Examines Germany's social, political, and economic history Covers the unification of Germany, the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, post-war division, the collapse of Communism, and developments since re-unification Addresses regional history rather than focusing on the dominant role of Prussia

1800 to the Present

A History of Modern Germany

Traducere și note de Mugur Butuza „O istorie a Germaniei moderne scrisă de Kitchen oferă o relatare cuprinzătoare și vie a evenimentelor-cheie din istoria Germaniei, de la începutul secolului XIX la perioada de după unificare.“ — STUART TABERNER, Universitatea din Leeds „Martin Kitchen oferă o lucrare lucidă și documentată axată pe formarea Germaniei ca stat național de la situația sa fragmentată de la începutul secolului XIX până în deceniile de după 1945. De-a lungul expozeului, autorul a împletit firele politice, economice, sociale și culturale necesare pentru a prezenta complexitatea care marchează istoria Germaniei până la Angela Merkel.“ — DONALD DIETRICH, Boston College

O istorie a Germaniei moderne de la 1800 pana in prezent

Martin Kitchen’s compelling account of Europe between the wars sets the twenty-year crisis within the context of the profound sense of cultural malaise shared by many philosophers and artists, the economic crises that plagued a Europe ruined by war and the social upheavals caused by widespread unemployment and grinding poverty amid a noticeable improvement of living standards. This thoroughly revised edition, with completely new sections on intellectual, cultural and social history is richly illustrated with contemporary photographs. It is an up-to-date and lively account of a critical period of European history when the old world collapsed, the dictators offered seemingly exciting alternatives, and democracies were put to the supreme test. Written for undergraduate students studying 20th century European history, this new edition of a classic will challenge and provoke a deeper understanding of the interwar years.

Europe Between the Wars

At the height of his power in January 1941 Hitler made the fateful decision to send troops to North Africa to save the beleaguered Italian army from defeat. Martin Kitchen's masterful history of the Axis campaign provides a fundamental reassessment of the key battles of 1941-3, Rommel's generalship, and the campaign's place within the broader strategic context of the war. He shows that the British were initially helpless against the operational brilliance of Rommel's Panzer divisions. However Rommel's initial successes and refusal to follow orders committed the Axis to a campaign well beyond their means. Without the reinforcements or supplies he needed to deliver a knockout blow, Rommel was forced onto the defensive and Hitler's Mediterranean strategy began to unravel. The result was the loss of an entire army which together with defeat at Stalingrad signalled a decisive shift in the course of the war.

Waging World War II in North Africa, 1941-1943

Rommel's Desert War

A campaign history of the Kaiser's 1918 Western front offensives - attacks that very nearly won the first world war for imperial Germany.

The German Offensives of 1918

The twelve years of the Third Reich casts a dark shadow over history. Fierce debates still rage over many of the hows, whys and wherefores of this perplexing period. Leading expert on German history, Martin Kitchen, provides a concise, accessible and provocative account of Nazi Germany. It takes into account the political, social, economic and cultural ramifications, and sets it within the context of the times, while pointing out those areas that still defy our understanding. This lively account addresses major issues such as the reasons for Hitler’s extraordinary popularity, his hold over the German people even when all seemed lost, the role of ideology, the cooption of the elites, and the descent into war for race and space, culminating in the horrors of the holocaust.

Martin Kitchen

Books

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