Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer

Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

Birth of the Third Reich

In this chapter, Shirer set the mood of the book towards his discussion of the future of Adolf Hitler as the leader of the Third Reich. The book portrayed Hitler as far from the powerful individual who had orchestrated World War II: as a young boy, Hitler was considered as already ambitious, yet seemed to not have extraordinary talent and ability to fully become remarkable in his chosen career as an artist. What Shirer made clear was that during his teen years, Hitler had already developed political ideas and ambitions that shaped his staunch belief that Germans were the superior race and the Jews, "the cold-hearted, shameless and calculating director of this revolting vice traffic in the scum of the big city."

Birth of the Nazi Party

With an already developed hatred for the Jews and belief that the Germans were the superior race, Hitler, in the midst of the World War I, had strengthened his political ideology. Disillusioned by the loss of the Germans in the war, Hitler began boldly expressing his views against anti-Semitism. As a young soldier, he was given the opportunity to share with his fellow soldiers his political thinking and beliefs as he was appointed as an educational officer for the German Army. Shirer also disclosed how Hitler's investigation of the German Workers' Party led to his becoming a member of the said party, then eventually conjoined this part with that of the National Socialism. Hitler's active role and participation in the Socialist Party, and his being a "powerful speaker" and "best organizer and propagandist" elevated him to the position of the "Fuehrer," or the "would-be dictator" of the Nazi Party, and eventually, the Third Reich.

Chapter 3: Versailles, Weimar and the Beer Hall Putsch

Inevitably, the election of the would-be dictator of the Third Reich and the formation of the Nazi Party led to a rebellion that split Germany into two factions: the Nazi and democratic factions. The disillusionment of most Germans after losing the World War I strengthened the Nazi Party and created an antagonist attitude toward the democratic Republic. Through a legitimate procedure -- the election -- the Social Democrats won leadership of the Republic, but as Shirer noted, they won by votes that were "considerably less than a majority. Obviously the new Germany was not going to be built by the working class alone." Despite the unstable new Republic led by Hitler, it gradually strengthened as Germany plunged deeper into economic and civil crises: "the fall of the mark and the French occupation of the Ruhr." These crises were manipulated by Hitler's Republic in order to plunger Germany deeper into debt, making it no longer responsible to its debts because of the worthless value of the country's currency. His eventual imprisonment by the democratic Republic made him "a patriot and hero" for the German people, thereby re-instilling his influence and power in re-establishing again a new social order in the country.

Chapter 4: The mind of Hitler and the roots of the Third Reich

Looking into the foundations in which Hitler's leadership and the Third Reich were found, Shirer delved into the motivations and plans of Hitler for this newfound German Republic. His political plan involved 'occupying' first the nations in Eastern Europe, wherein majority of the Germans were found. These East European nations included Austria, Sudetenland, and Poland. Hitler considered this step strategic in that it prepared the Third Reich's way in occupying a far greater and stronger nation, Russia. Upon the accomplishment of this strategy, he planned to establish a "folkish state," a kind of nation which was made up of the superior race alone (Germans), hinting at eugenics as one way of achieving this. Moreover, Hitler's grand design would only come to reality if this 'folkish state' would be ruled by an individual who have no "private virtues" nor "irrelevant moral claims." Thus, for the Fuehrer, Shirer stated that sadism (as well as masochism) is the only way to obtain power and rule over the Aryan race.

Chapter 5: The Road to Power: 1925-31

The emergence of the 1930s marked as one of the pivotal events that solidified Hitler's hold over Germany. Where before majority of his fellowmen considered him only as a fanatic of his propaganda of the superiority of the Aryan race, the Depression that greeted the '30s had become the catalyst for Hitler to reign over Germany, with the help of the Nazi Party. The Nazi Party won majority of the votes in September 1930 due to its popularity and growing sentiment of patriotism and nationalism in Germany. During this period, remarkable events in Hitler's life also occurred, wherein he experienced his first love and heartbreak through the person of Geli Raubal and her purported murder because she rejected Hitler. There were also rumors about his unexplained wealth and income, as well as the establishment of personal ties with Joseph Goebbels, who became the propaganda leader for the Nazi Party.

Chapter 6: The Last Days of the Republic: 1931-33

This period proved to be pivotal to the establishment of Hitler's leadership in Germany. Shirer reported about the Kurt von Schleicher's treachery of Hitler's using only his popularity and charisma over the German people as a means to propel himself (Schleicher) as political leader of the army. Hitler's eventual appointment as chancellor of Germany became a fatal mistake for Schleicher, for he had given him a legitimate entry towards establishing his path towards acquiring supreme leadership of the country.

Chapter 7: The Nazification of Germany: 1933-34

Shirer had given a detailed account on how Hitler achieved the solid leadership of Germany with the staging of the Reichstag Fire. Upon his appointment as chancellor of Germany, Hitler set his political machinery in motion by eliminating first his opponents, the Communist and Democratic Socialist parties, in order to pave the way for the Nazi Party to gain a stronghold in the German government. The terror that Reichstag Fire elicited led to the downfall of Hitler's opponents and strengthened the country's support to the Nazi Party with Hitler as its leader. With the country's president, Hindenburg, and the backing of the German Army and laborers of the country, Hitler became the leader of the Third Reich.

Chapter 8: Life in the Third Reich: 1933-37

As the new leader of Germany, Hitler set out to accomplish the initial steps that he intended to do in order to ensure the elimination of Jews in his country. He began by eliminating the participation of Jews from public office, civil service, and business activities. They were likewise banned from having any access to any form of communications, such as print and radio. He had also included Christian Churches in his persecution for their "failure to recognize the racial problem."

Chapter 9: The First Steps: 1934-37

What defined this period for the Third Reich was its program of increasing armaments and weaponry in preparation for Hitler's anticipation of a new world war as he intended to establish a new social order. His foreign policies involved violating all the treatises between Germany and other nations by creating a new, stronger, and bigger army, while at the same time promoting a "peace propaganda" all over nations of Eastern Europe. This was in connection with Hitler's objective to create a stronger Germany with the East European nations at its side while battling other nations where numerous Jews live and establish the Aryan race's power all over the world.

Chapter 10: Strange, Fateful Interlude: The Fall of Bloomberg, Fritsch, Neurath and Schacht

As an aside from reports about the destruction of the socio-political structures of Eastern European nations, this chapter focused on the chaotic state of relations that Hitler had with his closest officers of the Third Reich. Narrating the story of General von Fritsch, wherein he was framed by Heinrich Himmler, the chief of police, primarily because he was a strong antagonist of the Nazi Party. A look into von Fritsch's case reflected the presence of deception and injustice during the Third Reich, wherein opposition against the Nazi Party was considered a threat to the Nazi government, and extreme measures were observed to ensure that there will be no opposition to the incumbent, the Fuehrer himself, Hitler.

Chapter 11: Anschluss: The Rape of Austria

While Third Reich officers were busy 'eliminating' Hitler's opponents and purported traitors to the Nazi Party, Hitler was engaged in fulfilling his plan of gaining control of Austria, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. The elimination of von Fritsch in the German Army further strengthened his hold over the military. Furthermore, Hitler was gradually seeing his dream to rule over the world as becoming a reality when he was able to control Vienna, which Shirer considered as the "center of communications and trading systems of Central and Southeast Europe." Moreover, Hitler's success was also due to the lack of apparent opposition from these countries' allies, Britain and France. Thus, Hitler's program launched without any problems, thereby making it easier for him to go forward his next step towards eliminating Jews and occupying Russia and the rest of Europe.

Chapter 12: The Road to Munich

Through the Munich Agreement, Czechoslovakia ceded to Germany, thereby giving him control to two nations in Eastern Europe by this time. In 1938, as Czechoslovakia lost to Germany, its former allies, Hungary and Poland, switched its alliance to support Germany instead in controlling the said nation. However, one discovery that Shirer disclosed was that the war against Czechoslovakia was actually a lost had Germany pursued to wage war against Britain, France, and Russia. This was due to the relatively weak military force of Germany against these nations despite its victory against other Eastern European nations.

Chapter 13: Czechoslovakia ceases to exist

In this chapter, Shirer recounted how all of Czechoslovakia was occupied by the Nazi government, a move that negated Hitler's assurance that the attack would only include Bohemia and Moravia, and not Sudetenland. His occupation of these key states negated Hitler's earlier claim that it would give independence to some of the towns in Czechoslovakia, thereby threatening the world about Germany's plans to expand its control and territories rather than create an alliance among nations in Eastern Europe.

Chapter 14: The Turn of Poland

Germany's attempt to gain control over Poland had not been an easy endeavor as compared with its experience in Austria and Czechoslovakia. Finally, Britain, France, and Russia had made a move to prevent Germany from controlling Poland by civilly offering a 'warning' to Germany that its unhindered march towards occupying nations in Eastern Europe should not be a move to establish a world war. Even United States took part in preventing Germany's aggressive moves, warning the country and Hitler's Nazi government that "You have repeatedly asserted that you and the German people have no desire for war. If this is true there need be no war." In this chapter, Hitler's strategic plan in forming an alliance with Russia proved to be successful, as he was able to put up a challenge against Britain and France, nations that Hitler deemed unbeatable if Russia would team up with them. Thus, Hitler aimed to keep Russia on its side, and successfully achieved this plan.

Chapter 15: The Nazi-Soviet Pact

The details of the German and Russian alliance were exposed as a product of a 'tempting' offer that Hitler presented to Stalin: the formation of their alliance would mean Russia will be able to 'partake' Germany's plan to control all nations in the Eastern Europe bloc. This means that apart from sharing Poland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia with Germany, Russia was able to hold control over other nations, such as Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Bessarabia. As Shirer analyzed, the Germany-Russia (or Soviet Union) partnership was an ideal one, for "there exist no real conflicts of interests" between the two countries. Moreover, Hitler's offer to share its power in Eastern Europe with Stalin was something that neither Britain nor France, said Schirer, could and would offer. The alliance was considered a smart strategy that Hitler created in order to strengthen its power against Britain and France.

Chapter 16: The Last Days of Peace

This chapter provided the details that led to formation of the Allied and Axis power relations between warring nations that signified the already impending World War. Stalin's defection from the Britain and France forced Britain to create an Anglo-Polish treaty in which it promised to provide assistance to Poland should Germany decide to attack the said East European nation. This prompted Hitler to decide upon declaring and initiating a world war, despite his officers' belief that he would not dare launch a war against Britain and its allies. Apart from these developments, Shirer also delved into the 11th hour, the crucial period in which Hitler tried, and failed, to commit Britain as an ally. Apparently, Hitler's plans to ally with Britain was anything but a hoax, meant to 'fool' the German people from thinking that Hitler exhausted all his efforts to gain peace with Britain, and failing to do so, had no recourse but to declare war against it and its allies.

Chapter 17: The Launching of World War II

Alliance between Britain and France became definite when the latter heard of the already formal Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact, which confirmed that indeed, Stalin was on Germany's side in this brewing war. Indeed, the "Polish War becomes World War II," an inevitable outcome of the strained relations between the allies and the axis powers. Evidently, it was only Hitler who seemed to be resolute enough to go into a world war, while other nations were only confirming through Germany's moves whether or not they would launch a defensive assault against Hitler's Nazi government and army. When world war was declared on September 3, 1939, Hitler kept on his ruse for the German people that he had no choice but to launch war against Britain, thereby winning and sustaining their support and loyalty.

Chapter 18: The Fall of Poland

Shirer brought into fore a brewing antagonism between German and Soviet relations as Stalin abused what he considered as a favor that he did for Hitler by fighting the war by his side. Stalin abused this favor by making the Baltic states as Soviet ownership while he left Hitler to deal with Poland, knowing very well that the Poles, as Shirer described, "would never peacefully submit to the loss of their independence." Thus, despite the apparent victory on Germany's part, treachery prevailed, and this was an important detail that was noted in giving light to other developments that occurred among the warring nations during World War II.

Chapter 19: Sitzkrieg in the West

Two important revelations about Hitler's war against the allies were discussed in this chapter. The first revelation was the fact that Hitler did attempt to propose peace with Britain and its allies, but it nevertheless emphasized Germany's prime role in rehabilitating and controlling Eastern Europe once a resolution is formulated. Germany proposed that Hitler "can guarantee the status quo 'of the rest of Europe,' as well as its relations with Western countries like Britain, France, and United States. Another revelation that was exposed was that in the midst of the war, Hitler was facing tremendous pressure from its own allies because of Stalin's great demands in establishing trade relations with Germany. Gradually, Hitler realized that pressure did not only come from his enemies, but from his allies as well. He thus resolved that when "we are free in the West," Germany would make the move to disengage itself from its alliance with Soviet Union.

Chapter 20: The Conquest of Denmark and Norway

At this point in the World War, Germany still did not think of the United States as a serious threat to the war. Hitler's focus remained on Britain and France. Meanwhile, Italy was expressing its "annoyance" to Stalin's demanding relations with Hitler; it thus threatened Germany that negotiations between Italy and Germany be made since there had been marked 'improvement' in Anglo-Italian relations. Eventually, Italy became Germany's ally and adopted a pro-war stance after meeting with Hitler. Strengthened with these developments, the German Army prepared its way to curbing Britain and France by going north and in the process, controlled Norway and Denmark as well.

Chapter 21: Victory in the West

Shirer noted that on May 26, 1940, a "miracle" happened at Dunkirk, wherein Hitler had ordered evacuation of its troops against British troops in what was another display of the Fuehrer's attempt to make peace with the country. Unfortunately, a British strategy under the name "Operation Dynamo" proved to be fatal to Hitler's actions, giving the British forces leverage over the war in the West. As it turned out, Hitler's attempt had once again failed; as Shirer stated, Hitler's offer of peace to Britain "worked with the German people, but not with the British," further increasing Germany's belief that the consequences of the war should be blamed on Britain and not Germany.

Chapter 22: Operation Sea Lion: the Thwarted Invasion of Britain

Disclosed in this chapter was Hitler's supposed invasion of Britain, a plan that had not been operationalized due to the lack of German sea power, which were exhausted after the battle against Norway. Shirer contemplated what would have happened had this planned invasion was realized. Surely, had the invasion took place, there would have been massive utilization of Britain's male population, a massive preparation that would have resulted to a most destructive war. The thwarting of the invasion of Britain was perhaps an intervention that eventually benefited both Germany and Britain through the further decrease of its water and air forces and destruction of its country, respectively.

Chapter 23: Barbarossa: The Turn of Russia

The increasing antagonism between Germany and Soviet Union reached its peak as the war now concentrated on the west. As of August 1940, German-Soviet relations were strained with the increased pressure that Hitler's territories had been demanding from him. Apparently, apart from Soviet Union, it seemed that Hunagry and Bulgaria also wanted to have a share of the Balkan states that Soviet Union was increasingly controlling. With Hitler's fear of a direct war against Britain, these strains on his territories had been detrimental than beneficial to his objective of obtaining expanded power all over the world. After much deliberation, Hitler decided to declare war against Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, officially severing its ties from the ally that had brought more difficulties than help for Germany.

Chapter 24: A turn of the tide

This chapter chronicled the events that occurred with the supposed victory of Germany over its invasion of Soviet Union. However, as winter set in the country in 1941, the German troops proved themselves incompetent to fight against the Soviet troops, who were well-equipped and trained to fight under the said conditions. The Soviet invasion by Germany had led to the generalization that "[t]he myth of the invincibility of the German Army was broken." The loss of the German Army began with the loss of an ally and from its war against Soviet Union.

Chapter 25: The Turn of the United States

Throughout the war, Hitler had not seriously considered the role of the United States as a powerful enemy that can cripple Germany's war efforts. However, after Germany's loss to Soviet Union, the role of the United States as a participant of the war gradually increased, especially with the increasing power that Japan had wielded in the Asian and Pacific rim regions. Thus, another surprise for Hitler was the seemingly powerful military force of the United States, and though Japan was considered as U.S.'s direct enemy in the war, Germany's attention shifted from Britain to United States due to the increased attacks between Japan and U.S. after the Pearl Harbor attack.

Chapter 26: The great turning point: 1942 -- Stalingrad and El Alamein

This "turning point," as Shirer termed this chapter, marked the downfall of Hitler's Nazi Party and Army on both the Soviet Union and British fronts. With Germany losing a valuable ally in Soviet Union and operating in both the Asian and Western regions, it soon became impossible for Hitler's Nazi to overcome the tremendous military force build-up that began forming right after the German Army's invincibility was destroyed during its war against the Soviets. With the emergence of the United States as a potential military power against Japan, and the British and French alliance against the German and Italian efforts, the axis power began losing its stronghold. Soviet Union was gradually claiming on its own the occupied East European nations, while Britain and France put on a staunch fight in preventing Italy and Germany to occupy the Western region of Europe. These problems were set in the midst of conspiracies alleging that officers of the Third Reich were planning to murder Hitler.