Hitler claimed that his years as a soldier in the First World War were the most formative years of his life. However, for the six decades since his death in the ruins of Berlin, Hitler's time as a soldier on the Western Front has, remarkably, remained a blank spot. Until now, all that we knew about Hitler's life in these years and the regiment in which he served came from his own account in Mein Kampf and the equally mythical accounts of his comrades. Hitler's First War for the first time looks at what really happened to Private Hitler and the men of the Bavarian List Regiment of which he was a member. It is a radical revision of the period of Hitler's life that is said to have made him. Through the stories of the veterans of the regiment - an officer who became Hitler's personal adjutant in the 1930s but then offered himself to British intelligence, a soldier-turned-Concentration Camp Commander, Jewish veterans who fell victim to the Holocaust, or of veterans who simply returned to their lives in Bavaria - Thomas Weber presents a Private Hitler very different from the one portrayed in his own mythical account. Instead, we find a Hitler who was shunned by the frontline soldiers of his regiment as a 'rear area pig' and who was still unsure of his political ideology even at the end of the war in 1918. In looking at the post-war lives of Hitler's fellow veterans back in Bavaria, Thomas Weber also challenges the commonly accepted notion that the First World War was somehow a 'seminal catastrophe' in twentieth century German history and even questions just how deep-seated Nazi ideology really was in its home state.
Hitler's First War
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A triumph of original research....He fundamentally alters our understanding of one of the most studied figures of the 20th century. --Norman Stone, Wall Street Journal, 30 October 2010
About the Author
Thomas Weber is Reader in European and International History at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. His first book, The Lodz Ghetto Album, won the Infinity Award of the International Center of Photography and the Golden Light Award. His second book, Our Friend "The Enemy," won the Duc d'Arenberg History Prize.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By theothermatt
Format:Paperback
It's hard to know what to make of this book. It is based on what was clearly an exhaustive examination of all available primary sources, including some newly discovered ones. It makes the central case (Hitler was a slightly pathetic misfit who lacked any clear sense of himself until after the Great War, the common historical view that WW1 preconditioned his subsequent ascent is thus wrong) clearly enough. The narrative aspect hums along nicely more often than not, as and when the author lets it.
And yet it fails to convince. Perhaps it's just me, but I got the impression throughout that the author was always primarily looking for ways in which to be at odds with accepted conclusions about "Private Hitler". This gives the book a forced, contrived feel, which a number of otherwise interesting and seemingly credible arguments fall victim to. Overelaboration abounds and creates a permanent air of the smirking know-it-all. This may be unfair of me, may indeed be an unintended consequence of the other main gripe I have about this book: it's technical mediocrity.
Other reviews have commented on the regular typos and grammatical errors, beyond that it is also a book in dire need of a competent editor. Someone with some sensibility of cadence, rythm and focus. The story is constantly interrupted by what initially appear to be quick asides, adding dashes of detail to reinforce a point, but which turn out to be churning, multi-page tangents full of statistics and factual detail that ram said point home with ill-considered force. The author lacks judgement of when a point has been satisfactorily made and substantiated. Or perhaps has the adademic's lack of trust in his readers' ability to grasp the point. Beyond that, the writing needs a lot of tidying.... Read more ›
And yet it fails to convince. Perhaps it's just me, but I got the impression throughout that the author was always primarily looking for ways in which to be at odds with accepted conclusions about "Private Hitler". This gives the book a forced, contrived feel, which a number of otherwise interesting and seemingly credible arguments fall victim to. Overelaboration abounds and creates a permanent air of the smirking know-it-all. This may be unfair of me, may indeed be an unintended consequence of the other main gripe I have about this book: it's technical mediocrity.
Other reviews have commented on the regular typos and grammatical errors, beyond that it is also a book in dire need of a competent editor. Someone with some sensibility of cadence, rythm and focus. The story is constantly interrupted by what initially appear to be quick asides, adding dashes of detail to reinforce a point, but which turn out to be churning, multi-page tangents full of statistics and factual detail that ram said point home with ill-considered force. The author lacks judgement of when a point has been satisfactorily made and substantiated. Or perhaps has the adademic's lack of trust in his readers' ability to grasp the point. Beyond that, the writing needs a lot of tidying.... Read more ›
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Following Brigitte Hamann's fairly recent book Hitler's Vienna, Weber tells the story of Hitler's war years (1914-18) and has discovered a large archive of regimental records that were mixed in with divisional records in the German military archives. He uses soldier's letters and orders to paint a detailed picture of Hitler's life as a 'runner' in the List Regiment from Munich.
Weber paints Hitler as a warped and deceitful character who was not a natural product of his society, for example stressing that was not a front-soldier as he later claimed (though he concedes that he did see action early in the war) and suggesting that his attitude to his officers was ingratiating, hence his winning of the iron cross. He invents the disparaging moniker 'Private Hitler' on the grounds that his rank was not equivalent to the British corporal, downplays the amount he read and stresses negative views of runners by regimental comrades. As far as Weber reveals his agenda other than as a pure academic and chronicler, it is to reinstate a broadly paternalist German political class by distancing them from Hitler's campaign against Weimar Germany.
Weber claims that Hitler's views changed rapidly in Munich after the war rather than resulting from the brutality of war roughening pre-war ideological tendencies, but this is at odds with several plausible primary witnesses, such as Hitler's sometime friends August Kubizek and Ernst Hanfstaengel, as well as with the admittedly mythic 'Mein Kampf' itself.... Read more ›
Weber paints Hitler as a warped and deceitful character who was not a natural product of his society, for example stressing that was not a front-soldier as he later claimed (though he concedes that he did see action early in the war) and suggesting that his attitude to his officers was ingratiating, hence his winning of the iron cross. He invents the disparaging moniker 'Private Hitler' on the grounds that his rank was not equivalent to the British corporal, downplays the amount he read and stresses negative views of runners by regimental comrades. As far as Weber reveals his agenda other than as a pure academic and chronicler, it is to reinstate a broadly paternalist German political class by distancing them from Hitler's campaign against Weimar Germany.
Weber claims that Hitler's views changed rapidly in Munich after the war rather than resulting from the brutality of war roughening pre-war ideological tendencies, but this is at odds with several plausible primary witnesses, such as Hitler's sometime friends August Kubizek and Ernst Hanfstaengel, as well as with the admittedly mythic 'Mein Kampf' itself.... Read more ›
20 of 24 people found the following review helpful
By S. Ramsey-Hardy
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a useful and scholarly exploration of what Hitler, and the regiment in which he served, actually did during and after the First World War, and how the war appears to have affected Hitler's political outlook. The author convincingly demonstrates that things were not as Hitler himself later described them in 'Mein Kampf', where Hitler mythologised and omitted aspects of his war experience.
For example, despite his claims, Hitler had very slight experience as an ordinary trench soldier, because he served mostly behind the lines at regimental HQ as a dispatch-runner. Although this was frequently dangerous, the conditions in which Hitler lived and served were very different to the terrible existence for soldiers in the trenches. Hitler also happened to be absent from the crucial suffering experienced by his regiment in the Battle of the Somme, and at Vimy, and he was therefore not closely aware of the serious crises in morale which resulted: "Hitler had missed the period when his regiment was stabbed in the front on the Somme and on Vimy Ridge, and not in the back by traitors on the home front, as Nazi propaganda would have it", states the author.
Thomas Weber has some interesting information about the unusual circumstances relating to the award to Private Hitler of the Iron Cross First Class, and draws attention to a fact which Hitler later chose not to acknowledge: he was recommended for the award by a Jewish officer.
Hitler often emphatically stated that his political views had been "made by the war" and that Germany's defeat by a so-called stab in the back from "the November criminals" created his political identity. This was a retrospective simplification of how he arrived at his political position.... Read more ›
For example, despite his claims, Hitler had very slight experience as an ordinary trench soldier, because he served mostly behind the lines at regimental HQ as a dispatch-runner. Although this was frequently dangerous, the conditions in which Hitler lived and served were very different to the terrible existence for soldiers in the trenches. Hitler also happened to be absent from the crucial suffering experienced by his regiment in the Battle of the Somme, and at Vimy, and he was therefore not closely aware of the serious crises in morale which resulted: "Hitler had missed the period when his regiment was stabbed in the front on the Somme and on Vimy Ridge, and not in the back by traitors on the home front, as Nazi propaganda would have it", states the author.
Thomas Weber has some interesting information about the unusual circumstances relating to the award to Private Hitler of the Iron Cross First Class, and draws attention to a fact which Hitler later chose not to acknowledge: he was recommended for the award by a Jewish officer.
Hitler often emphatically stated that his political views had been "made by the war" and that Germany's defeat by a so-called stab in the back from "the November criminals" created his political identity. This was a retrospective simplification of how he arrived at his political position.... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
A farce
I have read the majority of biographies on Adolf Hitler and confess he is a great interest for me. Read more
Published 4 months ago by J. Walton
1.0 out of 5 stars
NOT SUCH A HIDDEN AGENDA
Too much personal revenge from the author on behalf of his family. Boring, overlong and, for me anyway, a complete waste of money. Read more
Published 4 months ago by R. Stansfield
5.0 out of 5 stars
well researched book
Hitlers experiences during world war one have often been a matter of argument. Many authors have given support to the nazis version or to the versions published by hitlers enemies. Read more
Published 6 months ago by C. Nielsen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ignore the low ratings
I am at a loss to explain the low ratings awarded this book. I have just re-read it 18 months after purchasing it, and although having less impact the second time around, it is... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Mr Shand-Handy
2.0 out of 5 stars
too much pages for very little
This book is a partial failure or at less, not for the common reader, perhaps yes for specialists in the figure of Hitler. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Carlos Vazquez Quintana
1.0 out of 5 stars
PURE HATE-PROPAGANDA MASQUERADING AS HISTORY
Weber's ultimate conclusion is that Hitler's was above all a 'coward' during his 4 and a half years taking part in the First World War. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Calgacus
2.0 out of 5 stars
Big Book, Short Conclusion
There was an undoubted amount of research and effort put into this book, and the conclusion was interesting - that the First World War did not shape Hitler's ideological outlook. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Carrington
2.0 out of 5 stars
Moreover
There is a good book waiting to be written about the subject matter, regretfully this is not it. If I never see again the words 'moreover', 'furthermore' and 'in other words',... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Aaron Aardvark
3.0 out of 5 stars
TWO BOOKS IN ONE
This is really two books welded into one and would have been better being either a HORNE/BEEVOR popular history or a master's dissertation for university students. Read more
Published on 21 Feb 2011 by THOMAS
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hitler the Ambitious Slacker
If this well-researched book accomplishes little else, it will have a major impact on the study of Nazism and of Hitler for two closely intertwined reasons. Read more
Published on 2 Dec 2010 by Michael W. Perry
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