The devil's disciples : Hitler's inner circle / Anthony Read.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Read, Anthony.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945--Friends and associates.

Hitler, Adolf.

Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945.

Nazis--Biography.

Nazis.

Friends and associates.

Germany--Politics and government--1933-1945.

Germany.

Politics and government.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

viii, 984 pages, 16 unnumbered pages : illustrations, plates ; 25 cm

Edition:

First American edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : W.W. Norton, 2004.

Summary:

The Nazi Regime was essentially a religious cult relying on the hypnotic personality of Adolf Hitler, and it was fated to die with him. But while it lasted, his closest lieutenants competed ferociously for power and position as his chosen successor. This peculiar leadership dynamic resulted in millions of deaths and some of the worst excesses of World War II. The Devil's Disciples is the first major book for a general readership to examine those lieutenants, not only as individuals but also as a group. It focuses on the three most important Nazi paladins -- Goring, Goebbels, and Himmler -- with their nearest rivals -- Bormann, Speer, and Ribbentrop -- in close attendance. Others who were removed in various ways -- like Gregor Strasser, Ernst Rohm, Heydrich, and Hess -- play supporting roles. Making the fullest use of diaries, documents, and memoirs, The Devil's Disciples offers fresh insights into their characters and their relationships to one another and to Hitler. Perceptive, illuminating, and grandly ambitious, The Devil's Disciples is above all a powerful chronological narrative, showing how the personalities of Hitler's inner circle developed and how their jealousies and constant intrigues affected the regime, the war, and Hitler himself. It is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the Nazi period, or the workings of a dictatorship.

Contents:

Part 1 Roots 1918-1923

I 'Our time will come again' 13

II 'If only there could be fighting again' 39

III Fighting the November Criminals 61

IV Beer Hall Revolution 85

Part 2 The Years of Struggle 1924-1933

V Regrouping 105

VI A Star in the Making 126

VII 'Chief Bandit of Berlin' 154

VIII 'We come as enemies' 176

IX 'SS-Man, your loyalty is your honour' 202

X 'Now the chess game for power begins' 223

XI The Turning Point 248

Part 3 Power and Revolution 1933-1936

XII Power 275

XIII Co-ordination 292

XIV The End of the Brown Revolution 317

XV Night of the Long Knives 345

XVI 'We always approve everything our Fuhrer does' 375

XVII The Four-Year Plan 404

Part 4 Expansion: The Greater German Reich 1937-1939

XVIII The Blomberg

Fritsch Affair 431

XIX Anschluss 456

XX The Sudetenland Crisis 480

XXI Kristallnacht 505

XXII 'I'll cook them a stew that they'll choke on' 528

XXIII 'I have the world in my pocket' 554

XXIV 'If we lose this war, then God have mercy on us' 574

Part 5 War: Germany Triumphant

XXV Blitzkrieg 595

XXVI 'Yellow' 614

XXVII Eagles and Sea Lions 641

XXVIII 'The whole world will hold its breath' 664

XXIX 'The greatest deception operation in military history' 693

XXX Barbarossa 710

Part 6 War: Defeat

XXXI The Final Solution 737

XXXII The Beginning of the End 761

XXXIII 'Do you want total war?' 783

XXXIV 'Call Me Meier!' 809

XXXV Last Throw of the Dice 831

XXXVI Gotterdammerung 860

XXXVII The End of the Road 891.

Notes:

"Originally published in Great Britain under the title The devil's disciples: the lives and times of Hitler's inner circle"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [948]-956) and index.

ISBN:

0393048004

OCLC:

54392637