The Price of Destruction: The Creation and Collapse of Nazi Economy

A key place in all descriptions of World War II has been occupied by the representation of Nazi Germany as an unquenchable monster, relying on a highly industrialized economy. But what if everything was actually quite different? What if the roots of the European tragedy of the 20th century lay not in Germany's strength, but in its weakness? From the pen of Adam Tooze comes the first radically new description of World War II in a generation. The author achieved this by paying key attention to the economy, alongside racial relations and politics. A fundamental role in Hitler's worldview was played by an intuitive understanding of global economic realities. He suspected that Germany's relative poverty in 1933 was due not only to the Great Depression but also to the limitations of the country's territory and natural resources. He foresaw the emergence of a new, globalized world in which Europe would be crushed by the overwhelming power of America. There remained one last chance: a European superstate led by Germany. However, the global balance of economic and military power was from the very beginning decidedly not in Hitler's favor, and it was precisely to avert this threat from the West that he threw his under-equipped armies into an unprecedented and ultimately disastrous conquest of Europe. Even in the summer of 1940, at the moment of Germany's greatest triumphs, Hitler was still haunted by the looming threat of Anglo-American air and naval dominance, which he believed was backed by a worldwide Jewish conspiracy. As soon as the Wehrmacht entered Soviet territory, the war quickly turned into a battle of attrition, leaving Germany with no hope of victory. Due to the unwillingness of Hitler, Albert Speer, and others to acknowledge this, the Third Reich was destroyed at the cost of tens of millions of lives. In Adam Tooze's book, the reader will find a gripping and horrifying account of astonishing events that compels us to look at Nazi Germany and World War II with new eyes.