IB History: Hitler's Rule

The book covers the whole of Hitler's life, from his obscure beginnings through his advance to supreme absolute power and then his final decline and suicide in the bunker as Russian shells fell around him. Bullock divides the narrative into three main sections, and it is the second which describes how Hitler consolidated his position and extended his power once he was in office.

Alan Bullock studied at Oxford University and served as a research assistant to Winston Churchill.

The focus of this book is on the persecution and destruction of the Jews, and Hitler's role in the Holocaust.

Robert Wistrich is Professor of Modern Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and is widely recognised as one of the world's foremost authorities on the history of anti-Semitism.

A book in the Pathfinder series, this volume presents a structured route through the topic covering the essential information and presenting additional material alongside. Several aspects of Nazi rule are covered in separate chapters, including foreign policy, race, religion, agriculture and industry, and the economy.

Few, if any, 20th Century leaders have enjoyed greater popularity among their own people than Hitler did in the decade or so following his rise to power in 1933. The personality of Hitler himself, however, hardly explains his immense popularity. His hold over the German people lay rather in the hopes and perceptions of the millions who adored him. Based largely on the reports of government officials, party agencies, and political opponents, Ian Kershaw's study charts the creation, growth, and decline of the "Hitler myth." He shows how the manufactured "Fuhrer-cult" served as a crucial integrating force within the Third Reich and a vital element in the attainment of Nazi political aims. Masters of the new techniques of propaganda, the Nazis used "image-building" to exploit the beliefs, phobias, and prejudices of the day. Kershaw greatly enhances our understanding of the German people's attitudes and behavior under Nazi rule and the psychology behind their adulation of Hitler.

A highly controversial book, written by a self-proclaimed historian, who seeks to exonerate Hitler from the Holocaust: Irving claims that Hitler had no knowledge of the murder of millions of Jews. This book portrays Hitler as rational and well-meaning, only concerned with improving Germany's prosperity and influence.

The book is mentioned here to illustrate how easily history may be distorted by a writer who tampers subtly with fact and opinion. Irving's later works are even more at odds with the historical record. He claims that the Jews were imprisoned and gassed by the Allies, and that the Auschwiz death camps were built after the war by Polish Jews.

This book is part of the World Leaders - Past and Present series, and discusses the man who became the leader of Nazi Germany. Chapter titles include:
The Führer
The Empire Builder
The Victor

There is also an introductory essay, On Leadership, by the noted historian Arthur M. Schlesinger.

Based on a wide-ranging synthesis of specialist sources, this account explores the flaws in Hitler's character and how they translated into military blunders and compound failures. Lewin explains how Hitler's policy of carving up the responsibilities of his minions produced a system riddled with inefficiency. The author shows how the course of the war may have been remarkably different had Hitler handled issues of the church and minority groups more wisely. There are also explanations given for why it took the Allies so long to depose such an incompetent opponent.

Evans tells the story of Germany's reshaping under Nazi rule. Every area of life, from literature, culture and the arts to religion, education and science, was subordinated to the relentless drive to prepare Germany for war. "Those who were seen as unworthy to be counted among the German people were dealt with in increasingly brutal terms. After six years of foreign policy brinkmanship that took the Nazi regime from success to success, Hitler's drive to prepare Germany for the war that he saw as its destiny reached its fateful hour in September 1939. The war he unleashed was to plunge the world into a maelstrom of genocide and destruction. The Third Reich in Power is the fullest and most authoritative account yet written of how, in six years, Germany was brought to the edge of that terrible abyss."--BOOK JACKET

A forgotten eyewitness book about Hitler's rise to power, by his foreign press secretary Ernst (Putzi) Hanfstaengl. The author was a powerful influence on Hitler, discouraging him from suicide and introducing him to American-style presidential election techniques. This chilling account, by an author hunted by both Nazis and Allies, has the advantage of first-hand knowledge of Hitler and those around him as he rose to power.

In the first full comparative history of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia, Overy clearly conveys the workings of these two bloody regimes. His portraits of Hitler and Stalin take in their private and public selves, their ascents to power, and their consolidation of absolute rule. He shows us the use of terror in each system; the ways in which the party dominated politics, culture, and the economy in each; and how each waged total war. He details the creation of the Nazi extermination camps and the vast Soviet Gulag - the two dictatorships in their most inhuman forms."--BOOK JACKET