I read
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich in the early 1990s.
Even though I'd already read quite a few books on the
Second World War, I found this book to be a major contribution to my knowledge
and understanding of the Second World War in particular and war in general.
Some of the things that make me recommend this book to anyone interested in the
Second World War are:
- the book shows and tries to explain the war from the German perspective.
Although it is true that "history is written by the victors", it is important to also understand events from the perspective of the vanquished if one truly hopes
to comprehend any war.
- The book does an excellent job of explaining why the war happened.
For example, the reader sees the effect that the Treaty of Versailles had on Germany's view of the world and will come to understand the process by which
Hitler came to power.
- The book deals with each of the fronts of the European conflict in a reasonably balanced way.
There were
at least three major victors at the end of the Second World War (the U.S., Britain and the U.S.S.R.) and each of them had a distinctly different perspective which tends to bias books written from their perspective(s).
For example, the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 tends to be more important to a Soviet author than to an American or British author.
In contrast, the Germans were involved in all of the major events of the war so a book from their perspective must deal with them all.
- It provides coverage of the key human participants including far broader coverage of the German participants than one usually gets in Second World War history.
- It covers the Nazi party from its founding right through to the end of the war.
- It deals with the Holocaust (including the causes, the key decisions (e.g. the Wannsee Conference), the evolution and mechanics, and the scale).
It makes it clear that the Holocaust was government sanctioned and supported industrial scale murder.
- The book deals with the interactions between the various themes of the war (e.g. how the Holocaust consumed resources that were needed by the war effort).
- It provides solid coverage of the Nuremburg war crimes trial (the real "trial of the century"; i.e. not that over-hyped murder trial fiasco in Los Angeles in the early 1990s involving a washed up ex-football star).
- It provides the viewpoint of someone actually living in Germany and listening to or even attending Hitler's speeches during the 1930s.
- It is not even remotely sympathetic to the Nazis or their cause.
Probably most important of all, the book always tries to answer the "why" question as it deals with the "who", "what", "when" and "where" questions of the war.
The book is definitely a must read for anyone interested in the Second World War and/or interested in the causes, means and effects of war.
Sadly, once you read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, you'll find it just a little bit easier to understand how events like the slaughters in Rwanda and Yugoslavia happened.