Nemesis of Power: The German Army in Politics 1918-1945, 2nd Edition [Paperback]

John W. Wheeler-Bennett (Author), Richard Overy (Introduction)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1403918120 | ISBN-13: 978-1403918123 | Publication Date: April 21, 2005 | Edition: 2nd

Sir John W. Wheeler-Bennett tells the story of how the German Army, having survived the disaster of 1918, proceeded to dominate the political life of the German Republic, exercising a virtually paramount degree of power and influence by its very withdrawal from the active arena of politics: and of how, when later it was mistaken enough to play politics instead of controlling them, it began a descent which only ended in abject defeat - militarily, politically and spiritually. The author reveals the extent of the responsibility of the Army for bringing the Nazi regime to power, for tolerating the infamies of that regime once it had attained power, and for not taking the measures - at a time when only the Army could have taken them - to remove it from power. In this second edition a new foreword by Professor Richard Overy sets Wheeler-Bennett's classic text in a modern context.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It is, by its very detail, a fascinating book, and by its scope a majestic book and by its scholarship an illuminating book."--Hugh Trevor-Roper, Sunday Times
"No-one...can rise from The Nemesis of Power without a keen sense of the stature, quality and equipment of [Sir John] Wheeler-Bennett as a contemporary historian."--Lord Longford, Catholic Herald

About the Author

John W. Wheeler-Bennett is sometime Honorary Fellow, St Antony' s College, Oxford, and Historical Adviser to the Royal Archives.

Overy Richard is a Professor of Modern European History at King's College London.

Product Details

• Paperback: 864 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 2nd edition (April 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1403918120
• ISBN-13: 978-1403918123
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #740,198 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE book to read on the German army in the inter-war period, July 19, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Nemesis of Power: The German Army in Politics 1918-1945 (Paperback)

I was privileged to know and study under Sir John Wheeler-Bennett in the last six years of his life, when he taught at New York University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. He was a charming, courtly, witty and brilliant man, a thoroughly-trained historian and diplomat, who lived through the period he studied and knew most of the great figures of his time. That is a very rare combination.

Wheeler-Bennett was an insider, a member of the Duff Cooper-Winston Churchill group, who lived in Germany for a considerable part of the inter-war period, until a fortuitous combination of a trip and a warning enabled him to escape being killed during the "Night of the Long Knives." He maintained clandestine ties with some dissident members of the German General Staff through the war, and directed the Allies' organization and publication of the German Archives thereafter.

"Nemesis of Power" is not a quick read, but it is absolutely fascinating, and it still has a great deal of invaluable information more than forty-five years after its writing.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Relationship Between Adolf Hitler and the German Army, June 26, 2009

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This review is from: Nemesis of Power: The German Army in Politics 1918-1945, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

Sir John Wheeler-Bennett served the British government in Germany during the 1920s and early 1930s and knew many of the key figures in this narrative personally. He barely escaped Hitler's wrath during the 1934 "Night of the Long Knives" when he was targeted for murder by an SS death squad.

Yet despite his personal involvement in these events, (or perhaps because of them), Wheeler-Bennett offers an amazing and exhaustively detailed account of the political-military nexus in Germany from the end of World War I until the end of World War II. Originally intended to be only a history of the anti-Nazi resistance within the military, Wheeler-Bennett wisely extended his scope to deal with all facets of the political-military relationship.

This is a dense book, and not one for the casual reader or student just beginning his studies on Nazi Germany or the Second World War in Europe. But for those seeking a truly detailed and informative narrative of this topic, Wheeler-Bennett's "The Nemesis of Power, The German Army in Politics, 1918-1945" is sure to prove informative.