Fateful Hours: The Collapse of the Weimar Republic

Democracies are fragile. Freedoms that seem secure can be lost. Few historical events illustrate this as vividly...
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Author: Volker Ullrich
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
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Fateful Hours: The Collapse of the Weimar Republic by Ullrich, Volker

Fateful Hours: The Collapse of the Weimar Republic

$52.14

Fateful Hours: The Collapse of the Weimar Republic

$52.14
Author: Volker Ullrich
Format: Hardcover
Language: English

Democracies are fragile. Freedoms that seem secure can be lost. Few historical events illustrate this as vividly as the failure of the Weimar Republic. Germany's first democracy endured for fourteen tumultuous years and culminated with the horrific rise of the Third Reich. As one commentator wrote in July 1933: Hitler had "won the game with little effort. . . . All he had to do was huff and puff--and the edifice of German politics collapsed like a house of cards." But this tragedy was not inevitable.

In Fateful Hours, award-winning historian Volker Ullrich chronicles the captivating story of the Republic, capturing a nation and its people teetering on the abyss. Born from the ashes of the First World War, the fledgling democracy was saddled with debt and political instability from its beginning. In its early years, a relentless chain of crises--hyperinflation, foreign invasion, and upheaval from the right and left--shook the republic, only letting up during a brief period of stability in the 1920s. Social and cultural norms were upended. Political murder was the order of the day. Yet despite all the challenges, the Weimar Republic was not destined for its ignoble end.

Drawing on letters, memoirs, newspaper articles, and other sources, Ullrich charts the many failed alternatives and missed opportunities that contributed to German democracy's collapse. In an immersive style that takes us to the heart of political power, Ullrich argues that, right up until January 1933, history was open. There was no shortage of opportunities to stop the slide into fascism. Just as in the present, it is up to us whether democracy lives or dies.



Author: Volker Ullrich
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 11/11/2025
Pages: 384
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.27lbs
Size: 9.10h x 5.80w x 1.60d
ISBN: 9781324110545


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 09/29/2025
Booklist 10/01/2025
Kirkus Reviews 10/15/2025

About the Author
Chase, Jefferson: - Jefferson Chase has translated works by Thomas Mann and Wolfgang Schivelbusch, among others. He lives in Berlin.Ullrich, Volker: - Volker Ullrich is a German historian and the best-selling, award-winning author of Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939; Hitler: Downfall, 1939-1945; Eight Day in May; and Germany 1923. He lives in Germany.

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