1938: Hitler's Gamble

This book is not your usual historical treatise but more of an historical memoir. It is a memoir of the year 1938 in Central Europe. Unlike a good history which is an accounting of what happened during a specific time, a memoir is much more opinionated (and brother, MacDonogh has enough for two books). In this case we get to see the 'other' side of history, the parts that are usually left out of the "history books". The reporting on Hitler's moods, many taken from the diaries of his 'inner circle' give a better idea of not only what Hitler was thinking but how he came to his opinions. After the Anschluss he felt that he was infallible (move over Pope Pius XI) and that the 'old line' Generals were a bunch of 'old woman'. One of the more interesting sidelights of the book is the feuds between Goring and Ribbentrop and Himmler and Goebels. The Propaganda Minister was constantly in hot water for cheating on his wife, the Fuhrer turns out to be quite the prude. On the other hand we have Goring trying to put into his Four Year Plan to gear up the Third Reich for war production, while Hitler is dreaming of rebuilding Berlin and Linz. Goring goes into eclipse over the 'war' for the Sudetenland. Goring knows that the army is not ready but Ribbentrop is there egging on the Fuhrer. When the British cave in to his 'demands', Goring and the Generals are left with egg on their faces. The marginalization of first the German and then Austrian Jews, while everyone in the world turns their backs is the most powerful image of the book. Little by little, week by week, Jews lose more and more civil rights, the right to ownership of businesses, buildings, livelihoods, while they are expected to pay their way out of the Greater Reich and into other countries. MacDonogh describes the brutality of the first Concentration Camps (Dachau and Buchenwald) without making excuses for those who built them or ran them. His information is taken from the testimony of former inmates (at this time people were still being released after serving their time). MacDonogh gives credit to those who tried to help Jews get out of Austria and Germany as well as holding to the light those miscreants who persecuted and robbed Jews seeking to emigrates. He does a yeoman's job of covering the Protestant and Catholic Churches without any 'Mia Culpas' and/or excuses. He also points out who stayed away out of fear and who out of complacence. His coverage of the reaction to "Kristallnacht" is worth the price of the book alone. That the Oster Conspiracy was ready to overthrow Hitler should the British and French stand up to him over Czechoslovakia, make Neville Chamberlain the man who truly 'caused' World War Two. This is a well done book with being a polemic on either side of the issue. The one thing missing is some maps that would show the geographic areas he was talking about since many of us are not geography majors. Besides that, pretty good. Zeb Kantrowitz

Giles MacDonogh is quickly becoming a must-read historian for me. I read and thoroughly enjoyed (if that can be said about a very downbeat book) his previous book, After the Reich, so I knew I had to pick up his latest, 1938: Hitler's Gamble. I've read a lot of World War II history books, as well as some history of Nazism books, but I don't think I've seen anything in such great detail on the year leading up to the outbreak of the war. MacDonogh covers this extensively, bringing up some details that don't generally make it into the history books, or at least things that aren't that prominent. It was a fascinating read. MacDonogh takes 1938 month by month, discussing various scandals that broke out among the German military, the in-fighting between members of the Nazi party, like that of Goering and Goebbels, who hated each other. There is the annexation of Austria in a nearly bloodless fashion, at least militarily and if the Jews of Austria aren't counted. We see behind the scenes for the discussions of the Sudetenland annexation and the final invasion of Czechoslovakia. The book culminates in the infamous Kristallnacht, two nights of murder and mayhem that brought the Nazi hatred of the Jews to the forefront. While many think that the Nazis were always determined to exterminate the Jews, MacDonogh shows that this isn't truly the case. The Nazis did their best to cleanse the greater German nation of all traces of Jewish influence, but they spent most of 1938 getting as many Jews deported as they could. MacDonogh spends a lot of time dwelling on the Jewish situation, both in Austria, Germany itself and eventually in Czechoslovakia. Through a process of intimidation, governmental confiscation of property (which was necessary because the creation of Hitler's war machine was draining the German economy dry) and the gradual enforcement of laws that removed the ability for Jews to operate anywhere in society, the Nazis forced the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Jews from Central Europe. The Jewish situation was not helped by the unwillingness of many Western countries to assume Germany's "problem." Great restrictions were placed on Jewish emigration. Great Britain limited both how many Jews they would take as well as how many Jews could emigrate to Palestine. Other countries would take only so many and no more. Some of them blatantly said they did not want to create a "Jewish problem" of their own. By the end of 1938, the Jews of Europe were running out of places to go. While MacDonogh does spend an inordinate amount of time on the Jewish situation, he doesn't hold back on discussing other issues as well. For each of Hitler's plans to be implemented during this crucial year, whether it's the annexation of Austria (the "Anschluss") or the eventual invasion of Czech territory, there was great debate amongst Hitler's advisors on whether or not such a plan was too risky, that it may bring France and Great Britain into a war for whic

This book is an eye-opener to me. VERY interesting! VERY informative! The Author does a great job in description and flow. It is still amazing today how one mans greed to succeed, was succesful, in the eyes of so many. A great book.

Giles Mac Donogh author of numerous books on Germany, like the award winning AFTER THE REICH, leads us through the rise to power of Hitler's regime. He shows us that 1938 was the pivotal year, the invasion of Austria and the Sudetenlands, the purges, rallies and propaganda machines within Germany and the reluctance of the west to move against Hitler when it could have, all lead to WWII. This is a great book to get an overview from a real authority about the menace that came from Germany. It is wonderfully written and easy to follow and understand. Recommended.

The author sees 1938 as a cataclysmic and pivotal year whose events will foreshadow the coming of war the following year. Hitler wasn't a long term master planner but he was smart enough to know that he and his Nazi party had to be in firm control of the government and country before he could successfully begin waging war and mayhem on Europe. With the help of Goring and a few other dedicated Nazis, Hitler escalated his efforts to remove non Nazis from office and the military command and replace them with dedicated or at least sympathetic people who would do Hitler's bidding. Besides regaining the Rhineland, Hitler also wanted Austria, Danzig, Sudetenland and eventually most of Czechoslovakia. It will be imperative to control the natural resources of Czechoslovakia if Hitler was going to wage war. The closing down of the governing body and raising himself to Dictator was necessary also. The confiscation of Jewish assets and the deporting of or the internment of Jews in camps was another high priority of the dictator. The author, in a concise manner, will described the above events and many more that will take place in 1938 that will galvanize Hitler to close down the ruling government in Germany, terrorize and eliminate the freedom of its people and the freedom of many people in Austria, Czechoslovakia and much of Europe over the next two years. Mr MacDonogh will also discuss Hitler as not a master planner but a gambler who knows how to play the hands he's dealt as well as the players at the table. The way he played the Anschluss and the plebiscite and later in the year the vom Rath incident was clever. The way Hitler with the help of Mussolini, using the threat of war, intimidated Chamberlain and Daladier to sacrifice Czechoslovakia for the sake of peace was masterful. As Hitler's confidence that Britain and France would not intercede, his armament program became more bold and obvious. The author clearly shows the monthly progression of success of achieving his early goals, caused Hitler to strive for even loftier goals. He also shows the politicians in Britain, France, Austria and Czechoslovakia as helpless as Hitler weaves his treachery. I liked the book. It was concise yet informing but gave it four stars for the commanding works by Richard Evans or Ian Kershaw is more to my liking. Or if the year 1938 really interests you, you could also try "Munich 1938". It has less breadth of topics than this book but it has greater depth of characterization and would be a good complement. However if you're looking for a concise, easy to follow read that shows the environment of which spawn WWII, this book would be a good choice.