A Perfidious Distortion of History
the Versailles peace treaty and the success of the Nazis
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
A controversial and important work of revisionist history that rebuts the accepted version of the role of the Versailles Peace Treaty in the rise of Nazism and the unleashing of World War II.
The Versailles Peace Treaty, the pact that ended World War I between the German empire and the Allies, has not enjoyed a positive reputation since its signing in June 1919. Conventional wisdom has it that the treaty's requirements for massive reparation payments crippled the economy of the Weimar Republic and destabilised its political life. Ultimately, it is argued, the treaty prevented the seeds of democracy sown in the aftermath of the Great War from flourishing, and drove the German people into the arms of Adolph Hitler.
In this authoritative book, Jurgen Tampke disputes this commonplace view. He argues that Germany got away with its responsibility for World War I and its behaviour during it; that the treaty was nowhere near as punitive as has been long felt; that the German hyper-inflation of the 1920s was at least partly a deliberate policy to minimise the cost of paying reparations; and that World War II was a continuation of Germany's longstanding war aims.
Customer Reviews
An interesting view.
I think for many people of generation x, it is a widely held view, that the causes of World War One, lay directly with increasing German imperialism of the day. A view definitely espoused by this book.
However, it's also true to say I, like most of my peers, believed that the treaty of Versailles imposed onerous obligations upon the German people, forcing them into another war. This book places the aforementioned obligations under the microscope , dispelling much of the myths I seem to have laboured under prior to reading 'a perfidious distortion of history'.
Well written and researched, with a touch of the lyrical artist about it. I'd recommend it to anyone, who consider the reparations handed to the Germany People to be too harsh to form a lasting peace. This book might contain crucial information you may have missed out on, due to biased histories of the past.