Prelude to Nazi Germany: World War I and the Freikorps [1_35]

There are many places one could start a history of Nazi Germany, but we begin our series with the experience of the First World War.  From the heady August days when Germans were flush with the joy of expectant victory to war and revolution in 1918, the war refashioned and brutalized German politics.  Old authorities like the monarchy were discarded, to be replaced by a more wholesome form of politics that centered on the experiences of the front line soldier.   This episode demonstrates the ways in which the war provided a nurturing environment for the eventual growth of the Nazi Party, focusing in particular on the growth of right-wing Freikorps units in the immediate aftermath of the war.  Among other things, it discusses the German war experience, authors such as Ernst Jünger and Erich Maria Remarque, the November Revolution, the Spartacist rebellion, the Stahlhelm, the Kapp putsch and much more!

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