1931

Description

In 1931,Tobias Straumann reveals the story of the fatal crisis, demonstrating how a debt trap contributed to the rapid financial and political collapse of a European country, and to the rise of the Nazi Party.

• Germany's financial collapse in the summer of 1931 was one of the biggest economic catastrophes of modern history.
• 1931 - Debt, Crisis, and the Rise of Hitler is the first concise account of the fatal crisis of 1931.
• The crisis contributed decisively to the rise of Hitler. Soon after the crisis, the Nazi Party became the largest party of the country which paved the way for Hitler's eventual seizure of power in 1933.

About the Author(s)

Tobias Straumann, Associate Professor of Economic History, University of Zurich

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
Confidence
1:Laughing at the Raven
2:A Triumph of Diplomacy
3:'Strong Cards to Play'
Indecision
4:Hitler's Victory
5:To the Brink and Back
6:'The First Real Chancellor Since Bismarck'
Despair
7:Squaring the Circle
8:Help from Washington
9:Endgame
10:The Rise of Hitler
Epilogue
Sources
References
Notes
Index

Reviews

"Engaging book" - Foreign Affairs

"The value of Swiss historian Tobias Straumann's book is that it focuses our attention squarely on the drama of that year, the moment when the fragile political and financial order restored after the first world war came apart ... a fast-paced and elegantly constructive narrative... If John Kenneth Galbraith forever etched the 1929 crash into historical consciousness, with his classic 1955 account, Straumann has given us the narrative of 1931 that every decision maker in Europe should read." - Adam Tooze, Financial Times

"Tobias Straumann's book is a welcome addition ... Straumann ably shows the progress of the German crisis and how it was intertwined with the vexed issues or reparation ... Straumann relates [...] complex events with remarkable clarity, largely eschewing jargon and displaying considerable panache. Rarely has the dismal science been less dismally presented. Happily, for those wishing to write about Nazism's rise, there is now an accessible, non-specialist volume to explain the economic aspect." - Roger Moorhouse, BBC History Magazine

"Tobias Straumann's 1931, is, like George Orwell's 1984, dour and disturbing; ironic and important." - David Marx: Book Reviews

"a vivid and very readable account... a wake-up call for today's politicians and economic policy makers" - Kirsten Wandschneider, EH.Net

"A stunning, fast-paced and deeply researched narrative that accurately delineates the links between financial panic and political collapse in the most iconic case of all: the destruction of democracy in Weimar Germany." - Harold James, Claude and Lore Kelly Professor in European Studies, Princeton University

"In this engaging book, Straumann, a leading Swiss economic historian, examines a critical factor in Adolf Hitler's rise to power." - Foreign Affairs