'A vivid, crisp, impressively sustained narrative' Financial Times
'Riveting' Irish Independent
'Refreshing and readable' Irish Times 
'Gripping . . . thoroughly researched and beautifully written . . . a warning for our times' Alex Watson, author of Ring of Steel
'Fascinating . . . shows powerfully that there was nothing inevitable about the survival of Germany's young democracy in that year - nor about its death a decade later. A timely reminder' Katja Hoyer, author of Beyond the Wall
The astonishing year when German democracy faced crisis and near destruction.
1923 was one of the most remarkable   years of modern European history. In January, France and Belgium militarily occupied   Germany's economic heartland, the Ruhr; triggering a series of crises that   almost spiralled out of control. Hyperinflation plunged millions into   poverty. The search for scapegoats empowered political extremes. Hitler's   populism ascended to national prominence. Communists, Nazis, separatists all   thought that they could use the crises to destroy democracy. 
None succeeded. 1923 was the year of   Hitler's first victory - and his first defeat. Fanning the flames of instability,   anti-government and antisemitic sentiment, the Nazis' abortive yet pivotal   putsch in a Munich beer hall failed when they were abandoned by their   likeminded conservative allies. 
Drawing on previously unseen sources,   Mark Jones weaves together a thrilling and resonant narrative of German lives   in this turbulent time. Tracing Hitler's rise, we see how political pragmatism   and international cooperation eventually steered the nation away from total   insurrection. A decade later, when Weimar democracy eventually succumbed to   tyranny, the warnings from 1923 - rising of nationalist rhetoric, fragile European   consensus, and underestimation the of the enemies of liberalism - became only   too apparent.
This account of the republic's convulsions   and survival offers a gripping image of a modern society in extreme crisis.




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