ABSTRACT

The Third Reich is a succinct, comprehensive examination of the major debates surrounding this crucial period in modern German history. The character and operation of the Nazi state, and of its global consequences, have been discussed and disputed since 1933. David G. Williamson’s Seminar Studies text, now in its fifth edition, provides students with a lucid introduction to the Third Reich and highlights the relevant research, scholarship and controversies.

The new edition has been expanded to give increased coverage to such topics as: ethnic cleansing in Poland and Russia, the role of the Wehrmacht, the Holocaust, attitudes of ordinary Germans to the Third Reich, the German opposition, Nazi foreign policy and the German economy.

Accompanied by a wide range of primary sources, a timeline, maps and a glossary, The Third Reich remains the best available introduction to this short-lived but enormously impactful period in world history.

part I|8 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|7 pages

The historical debate

part II|138 pages

Analysis

chapter 2|16 pages

The origins and rise of National Socialism

chapter 4|12 pages

State, party and Führer

The government of Nazi Germany, 1933–39

chapter 5|11 pages

The economy, 1933–39

chapter 6|15 pages

The people’s community

German society and the Third Reich, 1933–39

chapter 7|10 pages

The racial state, 1933–41

chapter 8|14 pages

Foreign policy, 1933–39

chapter 9|10 pages

Germany, Europe and the world, 1939–45

chapter 11|15 pages

The home front, 1939–45

chapter 12|13 pages

The German opposition

part III|8 pages

Assessment

chapter 13|7 pages

The Third Reich in retrospect

part IV|68 pages

Documents

chapter |2 pages

Document 1

The nature of fascism

chapter |1 pages

Document 2

Hermann Rauschning on the aims of Nazism, 1938

chapter |3 pages

Document 3

The party programme

chapter |1 pages

Document 4

Hitler’s powers as an orator

chapter |1 pages

Document 5

Working within the constitution

chapter |2 pages

Document 6

The charismatic Führer

chapter |1 pages

Document 7

Why the Centre Party voted for the Enabling Bill

chapter |1 pages

Document 8

Goebbels and the Reich Ministry of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda

chapter |1 pages

Document 9

Hitler’s speech to the Reichsstatthalter, 6 July 1933

chapter |1 pages

Document 10

Hitler’s plans for the army

chapter |1 pages

Document 11

Papen warns Hitler on 17 June 1934

chapter |1 pages

Document 12

Hitler’s lifestyle

chapter |1 pages

Document 13

‘Working towards the Führer’

chapter |1 pages

Document 14

A British view of Hitler

chapter |1 pages

Document 15

The number of unemployed (in millions)

chapter |3 pages

Document 16

The Four Year Plan

chapter |1 pages

Document 17

Achievements of the Four Year Plan, 1936–42

chapter |2 pages

Document 18

Poster for the Nazi film, The Eternal Jew

chapter |2 pages

Document 19

A Nazi history syllabus

chapter |1 pages

Document 20

The League of German Girls

chapter |1 pages

Document 21

Women’s place in the Nazi state

chapter |1 pages

Document 22

Population statistics

chapter |1 pages

Document 23

The egalitarian state

chapter |1 pages

Document 24

‘Do-it-yourself’ wage bargaining

chapter |1 pages

Document 25

Labour relations and the Gestapo

chapter |1 pages

Document 26

The impact of the ‘Beauty of Labour’ and ‘Strength through Joy’ schemes

chapter |1 pages

Document 27(A)

Development of wages and cost of living index, 1929–40

chapter |1 pages

Document 27(B)

Average gross hourly earnings in selected industries, 1935–38

chapter |2 pages

Document 28

Hitler on the racial state

chapter |1 pages

Document 29

Himmler’s circular on the ‘Gypsy Nuisance’

chapter |2 pages

Document 30

Hitler and the Jews

chapter |1 pages

Document 31

Hitler threatens the Jews with annihilation

chapter |2 pages

Document 32

Hitler’s thinking on foreign policy in Mein Kampf

chapter |2 pages

Document 33

The Hossbach Memorandum

chapter |2 pages

Document 34

Hitler surveys the international situation, 22 August 1939

chapter |2 pages

Document 35

Hitler gives the order to prepare for an attack on the USSR

chapter |1 pages

Document 36

The Einsatzgruppen

chapter |1 pages

Document 37

German treatment of Russian prisoners of war

chapter |1 pages

Document 38

Resettlement policies in Poland

chapter |1 pages

Document 39

Hitler’s racial priorities

chapter |1 pages

Document 40

The Wannsee Conference

chapter |1 pages

Document 41

Comparison between the British and German war efforts

chapter |1 pages

Document 42

The inefficiencies of labour conscription

chapter |2 pages

Document 43

The strains of war on the family

chapter |1 pages

Document 44

The Swing Movement

chapter |1 pages

Document 45

The Confessing Church emphasises the Fifth Commandment, 1943

chapter |2 pages

Document 46

Individual acts of opposition

chapter |1 pages

Document 47

General von Tresckow on the significance of the opposition

chapter |3 pages

Document 48

Contrasting attitudes towards Hitler in March 1945