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1938: Hitler's Gamble |  | Author: Giles MacDonogh
Publisher: Basic Books
Category: Book
List Price: $27.50
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Rating:  13 reviews
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Media: Hardcover
Pages: 352
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Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.6 x 1.3
Dewey Decimal Number: 943.086
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Product Description
In this masterful narrative, acclaimed historian Giles MacDonogh chronicles Adolf Hitlerâs consolidation of power over the course of one year. Until 1938, Hitler could be dismissed as a ruthless but efficient dictator, a problem to Germany alone; after 1938 he was clearly a threat to the entire world. It was in 1938 that Third Reich came of age. The Führer brought Germany into line with Nazi ideology and revealed his plans to take back those parts of Europe lost to “Greater Germanyâ after the First World War. From the purging of the army in January through the Anschluss in March, from the Munich Conference in September to the ravages of Kristallnacht in November, MacDonogh offers a gripping account of the year Adolf Hitler came into his own and set the world inexorably on track to a cataclysmic war.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 13
 Wow! March 14, 2010
Charles N. Wyckoff (Traverse City, Michigan)
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.
The year Hitler could have been stopped April 19, 2010
David Roy (Vancouver, BC)
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 which Germany was not ready. MacDonogh does a great job detailing the various factions within the Nazi party and also a couple of scandals that don't generally make the history books.
What I found especially interesting were facets such as Goebbels love of women, so much so that he almost caused a crisis when his wife Magda tried to throw him out. Hitler himself had to intervene, and Goebbels was in Hitler's doghouse for the last few months of the year. Facts like these make these men seem even more human, and thus more monstrous when you realize somebody human came up with the ideas that they did.
It also came as news to me that the horrible nights of Kristallnacht were basically Goebbels' idea, and while Hitler most likely acquiesced, there were other members of the Party who were very upset with him for doing it. Goering, for one, realized that this particular event greatly hurt Germany's already bad reputation internationally, which was devastating when Goering himself was trying to secure international credit because of the huge German debts.
Things like this make 1938: Hitler's Gamble a must-read for any World War II buff. It hammers home the fact that Hitler could have been stopped if the other Allied nations had just stood firm from the outset. However, Hitler was very adept at promising to only go so far, and he seemed more powerful than he actually was at the time. The "what-if" aspect of this book is almost the most horrifying.
MacDonogh uses a wide variety of sources for this book, including a number of interviews of people who were prominent back then, as well as memoirs of those who are no longer alive. Sadly, the notation system is my least favorite for any history book, where there is no indication in the text that there is a note at the end of the book. Instead, the notes section uses small snippets of the text to indicate which portion is being referred to. After keeping track for a little while, I stopped bothering.
This is the only real flaw I could find in this book, however. MacDonogh has a great writing style, drawing the reader in to the horrible events he is discussing. His research, to this inexperienced eye, seems top notch and he's brought it all together to form a wonderful book. 1938: Hitler's Gamble is well worth your time.
Originally published on Curled Up With a Good Book. © David Roy, 2010
A Month by Month Chronicle of Growing Tyranny August 4, 2010
T. Berner (New York, New York)
It should be the goal of everyone to read at least one book about the Holocaust every year. I used to think that one should read about genocide in general, as a reminder that there is evil in the world and it knows no racial or religious boundaries. But Hitler's Holocaust is a special case, because a civilized Western country with one of the world's best records for tolerance allowed itself to become the instrument of mass murder. This has a resonance today as a prominent left wing movie producer like Oliver Stone can utter anti-semitic tripe without any penalty and "civilized" governments around the world attack Israel with borderline racist comments. We need to remind ourselves how easy it is for media and government elites to manipulate people into monstrous crimes.
Mr. McDonagh's is a fine book in this tradition. It is a well written history of the Nazi regime in the year 1938. The author's goal is twofold: first, to show how Hitler's actions were based more on opportunism than on coherent strategy and, second, to show how that year sealed the fate of the Jews. These themes are only somewhat developed - I would have liked more - but the point is made. It is remarkable to be reminded that the Blomberg-Fritsch Afffair (before which, the military was firmly in the hands of anti-Nazis, however weakwilled they were) occurred in January of 1938, barely more than a year and a half before the powerful German war machine, bent to the will of their Nazi masters, began its march through Europe.
I would also have like more of the "backstory" - events of the year illustrating Hitler's artistic pretensions, Goering's greed, Goebbel's concupiscence, Himmler's New Age lunacy and the culture of Germany under the Nazis, which took place outside of the main events (the Anschluss, Munich, etc.), but set the stage for the reader to better understand the criminal regime. As it is, what the author supplies in this line helps the reader to understand the "as the band played on" aspect of everyday life in Nazi Germany.
The author ends with a very moving coda about the fate of his own Jewish ancestors. Although their fate was far better than those of the average Jews in Hitler's Europe, it provides a very human face to the Shoah and reminds us that Hitler's crimes went far beyond those committed against the Six Million.
RISE OF NAZI GERMANY January 26, 2010
James L. Woolridge (Sunny Florida)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
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 momentous events of 1938 that will lead to war January 8, 2010
Dave Schranck (Anaheim Ca)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
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.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 13
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