I was planning on reading Mein Kampf but someone told me that one needs to have a strong understanding of 20th-century history as context is crucial to avoid misinterpreting Hitler’s ideas.
Any books (preferably not too educational) that could help me with that??
by idiedfromaids
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I’ve only got educational recs, but:
The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman is a good overview of WW1
Weimar Germany by Eric Weitz covers all aspects of the interwar period (this one’s pretty dry, but you can pick and choose the chapters that interest you)
The Death of Democracy by Benjamin Hett is a good overview of the fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Naziism
Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire by Katja Hoyer – fairly short at around 256 pages.
Key here is understanding Otto von Bismarck, who some consider the greatest Statesman of all time, and his role and strategy in founding the German Empire (2nd Reich) in 1870 by getting France to declare war and using this to unify the various German independent states into an Empire under the control of Berlin (Prussia).
Bismarck had a King/Emperor who was willing to hand all the boring parts of state craft to his top minister. The grandson to become Emperor, Wilhelm II, wanted all the power and glory for himself and got rid of Bismarck. Wilhelm II was more of a hot head unlike Bismarck who wanted to guarantee and reassure the other European powers that Germany was done growing. Bismarck understand the problem of the balance of powers.
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany is a book by American journalist William L. Shirer
This is a very long book, but considered a classic on how Hitler came to power covering the time from his birth.
World Order by Henry Kissinger
Not about Germany specifically but a great introduction to realist geopolitics and how European countries behaved in relation to one another, including war, since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Otto von Bismarck, intuitively understood these concepts where Wilhelm II and Hitler did not.
This will cover Balance of Powers and how coalitions and wars are born. Once a nation begins to look too powerful other nations align against it. Kissinger covers the exceptions to what otherwise kept the peace in Europe.