November 1918

The German Revolution

De: Robert Gerwarth

Narrado por: Michael Page

The German Revolution of November 1918 is nowadays largely forgotten outside Germany. It is generally regarded as a failure even by those who have heard of it, a missed opportunity that paved the way for the rise of the Nazis and the catastrophe to come.

Robert Gerwarth argues here that to view the German Revolution in this way is a serious misjudgment. Not only did it bring down the authoritarian monarchy of the Hohenzollern, it also brought into being the first ever German democracy in an amazingly bloodless way.

Focusing on the dramatic events between the last months of the First World War in 1918 and Hitler's Munich Putsch of 1923, Robert Gerwarth illuminates the fundamental and deep-seated ways in which the November Revolution changed Germany. In doing so, he reminds us that, while it is easy with the benefit of hindsight to write off the 1918 Revolution as a "failure", this failure was not somehow preordained. In 1918, the fate of the German Revolution remained very much an open book.

©2020 Robert Gerwarth (P)2020 Tantor

A weak defense of Weimar

Thesis is Weimar Republic was actually a sort of success. Good overall chronologically. Uses many of the usual translated into English sources. A few modern, trendy musings but very weak on KPD doings and the destabilizing role of violent proto Nazi groups. VERY weak on economic history.

more info than I have seen elsewhere

I have seen a review or two which fault his book for not delving into the subject sufficiently. I would have appreciated knowing which books treat this subject better as I have not run across them. Personally, I did learn a lot, and this despite the fact that the last book that I read was by Gerwarth as well: "The Vanquished." Chapters 3, 4, and 12 (if I remember the numbers correctly) are almost word for word what I read in "The Vanquished." It was a bit disappointing to read the same rlrlwords again, but then Gerwarth did a fantastic job with "The Vanquished," so that repeating the earlier thoughts simply drove those thoughts deeper into my consciousness. Most books that I have read that deal with the inter war years in Europe treat the years covered from the vantage of hindsight rather than those same years as a result of the past of WW I years. Gerwarth did an excellent job of relating the thoughts and actions of those who lived through the period. Gerwarth makes it clear that the Weimar Republic was one of the most successful democracies in Europe at a time when the most vocal groups were either on the left or right - not in a democratic middle. Gerwarth points out that the 1918 Revolution itself was virtually non- violent although the ensuing onslaughts of both the left and right did result in casualties.
I thought that Gerwarth did a very good job of showing how the 1918 Revolution produced a government that was pretty much successful in dealing with the post-was years until the Great Depression overwhelmed most governments.

Fresh Historical Perspective

This was an informative and interesting narrative. I learned a great deal about WWI and the Central Powers, and of course, German history. The case for a stable Democracy during Weimar was not as strong as I hoped, but also not unreasonable. Economic Depression can kill any political gains, even when they are externally imposed. I think we have more to learn about international politics and would have liked more discussion on this area.

Thought provoking and informative

In the past few years, there have been a lot of great books dealing with the period before, during and after the First World War, in tribute to its centenary. This story of the fate of Germany in the wake of defeat, fits nicely with those other books regarding Austria-Hungary, the Ottomans, Balkans, etc. I suppose it's my own fault if my education of the era had been as reductive as Franz Ferdinand-> trenches-> mustard gas-> Treaty of Versailles-> beer hall putsch-> rise of the Nazis. And it wouldn't do these histories justice to call them merely gap fillers. Altogether they give a very rich, enlightening view on a massively complex story. Even in this book, the various motivations of Wilson, Clemenceau and Lloyd George, are investigated, as well as the hypocrisy of the collective Allied moralizing to defeated Germany about colonialism and self-determination. In addition, there's a strain of 'what could have been' with Weimar. Even surviving numerous challenges, there seems always to be endless bad actors seeking to undermine and ultimately destroy any progressive governments. We still see it today.

Restoring Contingency to Weimar

This valuable work goes far to challenging the long prevailing view of the German Revolution and the Weimar Republic as "stillborn." In fact, the author clearly demonstrates both the widespread support and the wide ranging consequences of the German Revolution between 1918 and 1923. Knowing what we do about Germany's Nazi future, reading Nazism backwards into the "failed" or "doomed republic" of Weimar, it is far too easy to forget that it represented (arguably) the most democratic republic in Europe in its time. Weimar survived crises that would have (and did) topple other regimes, from significant loss of national territory to unprecedented inflation to would be Revolution from both the left and right to persist for nearly 15 years--longer than it's Nazi German successor. While clearly not without its problems, this work successfully argues that, once stabilized in 1923 with the end of hyper-inflation and restructuring of reparations to the Allies, Weimar stood a reasonable chance of success. Restoring historical contingency, this study makes clear that without the enormous disruption of an unprecedented economic disaster in the form of the Great Depression and the resulting political collapse and rise of the radical political right and left that resulted in large part from it, Weimar may well have survived to leave a far different legacy to the one it is often unfairly ascribed. Highly recommended.

He phoned this one in

There were some good parts, but he seemed to just be reviewing the revolution for people who already understood it. He kept coming back to the point the Weimar was not doomed from the start, but he didn’t convince me of that. Maybe one shouldn’t expect much from a relatively short book, but he finds space to include extraneous material, such as the effect of defeat on Germany’s allies. He also went off on tangents such as abortion and gay rights that were interesting in themselves, but were of limited value in explaining the revolution.