A DAILY MAIL BOOK OF THE WEEK A SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR A DAILY TELEGRAPH BEST HISTORY BOOK
OF 2023 ASPECTS OF HISTORY BOOKS OF THE YEAR A GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 A DAILY MAIL
BEST CHRISTMAS BOOK OF 2023 'Astonishing. A masterful account of the Weimar Republic that is
the best I have ever read' - Peter Frankopan 'Magisterial terrifyingly relevant and yet also
a celebration of Weimar's delicious decadence' - Simon Sebag Montefiore 'Yet again McDonough
shows why he is one of the best chronicles of 20th century Germany' - Dan Snow The prequel to
Frank McDonough's bestselling Hitler Years series covering the dramatic era of German history
that culminated in the rise to power of Adolf Hitler in 1933. Established in the wake of
German defeat in the First World War the Weimar Republic held out the hope that democracy
stability and prosperity would take root in Germany. From the start however it was beset by
political and economic upheaval and spasms of violence between left and right. Year by year
from 1918 to 1933 Frank McDonough describes the major events in both domestic and foreign
policy and the personalities who shaped them together with developments in Weimar's
flourishing cultural sphere. McDonough places particular focus on the parliamentary history of
Weimar arguing that it was the failure of parliamentary democracy to bring stability that
allowed the power of the elected Reichstag to diminish leading to Hitler's accession to power.
The Weimar Years is the tragic story of a rise and fall as well as a warning of how under
poor leadership economic pressure and unrelenting political instability a democracy can drift
towards a form of authoritarian rule that eventually destroys it.
