The Nemesis of Power - 2nd Edition by S Wheeler-Bennett & R Overy (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Sir John W. Wheeler-Bennett tells the story of how the German Army, having survived the disaster of 1918, proceeded to dominate the political life of the German Republic, exercising a virtually paramount degree of power and influence by its very withdrawal from the active arena of politics: and of how, when later it was mistaken enough to play politics instead of controlling them, it began a descent which only ended in abject defeat - militarily, politically and spiritually. The author reveals the extent of the Army's responsibility for bringing the Nazi regime to power, for tolerating the infamies of that regime once it had attained power, and for not taking the measures - at a time when only the Army could have taken them - to remove it from power. In this second edition a new foreword by Professor Richard Overy sets Wheeler-Bennett's classic text in context.

Review Quotes

'It is, by its very detail, a fascinating book, and by its scope a majestic book and by its scholarship an illuminating book.' - Hugh Trevor-Roper, Sunday Times

'No-one...can rise from The Nemesis of Power without a keen sense of the stature, quality and equipment of [Sir John] Wheeler-Bennett as a contemporary historian.' - Lord Longford, Catholic Herald

About the Author

SIR JOHN W. WHEELER-BENNETT died in 1975. He was Historical Adviser to the Royal Archives, Fellow of St. Antony's College, Oxford, UK and Visiting Lecturer at the University of Arizona. He wrote biographies of King George VI, Hindenburg and Viscount Waverley and several works on Modern German history. His three-volume autobiography is published under the titles Knaves, Fools and Heroes: In Europe Between the Wars, Special Relationships: America in Peace and War and Friends, Enemies and Sovereigns.

RICHARD OVERY is Professor of Modern European History in the Department of History, King's College London, UK.