78 pages • 2-hour read
The Coming of the Third Reich
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Background
Literary Context: Historical Nonfiction
The Coming of the Third Reich is a work of historical nonfiction intended for a popular audience. This contrasts with other histories, which may be intended for academic audiences. Specifically, in his preface, Richard J. Evans writes that The Coming of the Third Reich is intended to address a lack of “broad, general, large-scale histories of Nazi Germany that have been written for a general audience” (xvi). Evans argues that previous historical works on Nazi Germany were either narrowly focused on one subject area, like political and diplomatic history, or written for an academic audience.
In many ways, The Coming of the Third Reich is written like historian Ian Kershaw’s two-volume biography, Hitler. Like that biography, The Coming of the Third Reich tries to bridge “the gap” (xvii) between academic and popular history. Like Kershaw, Evans emphasizes the role of social, cultural, and economic forces, as well as institutional development and structure, over the influence of individual historical figures—including Adolf Hitler. Still, Evans sees himself as taking a broader and more comprehensive approach than Kershaw and other historians of Nazi Germany. Specifically, Evans argues that his approach stands out from previous contributions on the history of Nazism because The Coming of the Third Reich covers “not only politics, diplomacy and military affairs but also society, the economy, racial policy, police and justice, literature, culture and the arts” (xviii).
Critical Context: Praise and Criticism of the Book
Richard J. Evans’s entire Third Reich trilogy was positively received by critics and scholars for both its readability for general readers and its historical scholarship. Specifically, Evans was praised for his succinct writing, which simplifies complex events like the 1919 Communist revolt in Munich and the political wrangling that led to Adolf Hitler becoming Chancellor, as well as his use of quotations from primary sources and the overall scope of his narrative and analysis.
Despite writing for a non-expert audience, critics note that Evans still makes compelling and controversial arguments. These include arguing that Nazism had little to do with German history prior to the chancellorship of Otto von Bismarck—it was terror, not popular support for Hitler’s nationalist ambitions or antisemitism, that made many Germans comply with his regime. Neal Ascherson’s review for The Guardian notes that Evans “considers many previous Third Reich histories to be contaminated by the rage or horror of their authors,” yet the “book is full of moralising outbursts, but coming from contemporary witnesses rather than from Evans himself” (Ascherson, Neal. “Still Spellbound by the Nazis.” The Guardian, 29 Nov. 2003). One criticism is that Evans does not focus enough on Hitler’s role, with David Cesarani of The Independent arguing that writers “get no sense of his nail-biting brinkmanship as he held out for the Chancellorship, driving his lieutenants to despair as the movement, broke and exhausted, threatened to fall apart” (Cesarani, David. “The Coming of the Third Reich by Richard Evans.” The Independent, 23 Oct. 2003).
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