November 1918 cover art

November 1918

The German Revolution

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November 1918

By: Robert Gerwarth
Narrated by: Michael Page
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About this listen

The German Revolution of November 1918 is nowadays largely forgotten outside Germany. It is generally regarded as a failure even by those who have heard of it, a missed opportunity that paved the way for the rise of the Nazis and the catastrophe to come.

Robert Gerwarth argues here that to view the German Revolution in this way is a serious misjudgment. Not only did it bring down the authoritarian monarchy of the Hohenzollern, it also brought into being the first ever German democracy in an amazingly bloodless way.

Focusing on the dramatic events between the last months of the First World War in 1918 and Hitler's Munich Putsch of 1923, Robert Gerwarth illuminates the fundamental and deep-seated ways in which the November Revolution changed Germany. In doing so, he reminds us that, while it is easy with the benefit of hindsight to write off the 1918 Revolution as a "failure", this failure was not somehow preordained. In 1918, the fate of the German Revolution remained very much an open book.

©2020 Robert Gerwarth (P)2020 Tantor Europe Germany Military Political Science Politics & Government War Socialism Imperialism Middle Ages Soviet Union Interwar Period

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Most relevant
It’s great if your interested in knowing more about the foundations of the wiemar republic. A lot of names are thrown around, so I would recommend knowing who Frederick ebert or Rosa Luxembourg are when he mentions it. Very calming and nice.

Good for listening and learning history

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Robert Gerwath opens his introduction by describing how it took ten years to get published as he got distracted on other things, with three editors along the way. That sort of explains my headline. The narrative is a strong retelling of events we might remember from school, but adds much colour. The real strength for me was the description of how inexperienced social democrats tried hard to build a viable democracy from the ashes of defeat. Equally, his intent to suggest they could have succeeded with a less vengeful Versailles Treaty is well made.

Further, he shows how some of the themes that led to Nazism were already well-entrenched in the early days of Weimar and hence formed fertile soil for Hitler's rabid hate-filled rhetoric. The rapid defeat of the German army in the summer and autumn of 1918 leading to the "stab in the back" narrative is well depicted, the dreams of an empire in the east, together with how anti-semitism was fuelled by the mass immigrations of ethnic Germans in the aftermath of Versailles.

Versailles gets a bit of a hammering but in a structured and articulate way. The inexperience and naivete of the new German government in its hopes for the Versailles Treaty negotiations are well-described if perhaps no less naive for that.

My only quibble is the role of the editors. I am not sure any of them really gave this the focus it deserved and needed. There is sometimes (especially at the beginning) a rambling and repetitive feel that nearly turned me off this book. But I am glad I stuck with it.

Solid and interesting but needs an editor

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