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The War Path: Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939
This is an account of the years of Hitler's power and the build up to the Second World War. The author explores Hitler's achievements in rebuilding the economy and the armed forces, with the concurrent growth of racism and nationalism. This is the first of a 3-volume work on the subject. The companion volumes are "Hitler's War 1939-1942" and "Hitler's War 1942-1945"
Paperback
First published June 1, 1978
About the author
David Irving
51 books321 followersDavid John Cawdell Irving is an English author who has written on the military and political history of World War II, especially Nazi Germany. He was found to be a Holocaust denier in a UK court in 2000 as a result of a failed libel case.
Irving's works include The Destruction of Dresden (1963), Hitler's War (1977), Churchill's War (1987) and Goebbels: Mastermind of the Third Reich (1996). In his works, he argued that Adolf Hitler did not know of the extermination of Jews, or, if he did, he opposed it. Though Irving's negationist claims and views of German war crimes in World War II (and Hitler's responsibility for them) were never taken seriously by mainstream historians, he was once recognised for his knowledge of Nazi Germany and his ability to unearth new historical documents, which he held closely but stated were fully supportive of his conclusions. His 1964 book The Mare's Nest about Germany's V-weapons campaign of 1944-45 was praised for its deep research but criticised for minimising Nazi slave labour programmes.
By the late 1980s, Irving had placed himself outside the mainstream of the study of history, and had begun to turn from "'soft-core' to 'hard-core' Holocaust denial", possibly influenced by the 1988 trial of Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel. That trial, and his reading of the pseudoscientific Leuchter report, led him to openly espouse Holocaust denial, specifically denying that Jews were murdered by gassing at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Irving's reputation as a historian was further discredited in 2000, when, in the course of an unsuccessful libel case he filed against the American historian Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin Books, High Court Judge Charles Gray determined in his ruling that Irving willfully misrepresented historical evidence to promote Holocaust denial and whitewash the Nazis, a view shared by many prominent historians. The English court found that Irving was an active Holocaust denier, antisemite and racist, who "for his own ideological reasons persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence". In addition, the court found that Irving's books had distorted the history of Hitler's role in the Holocaust to depict Hitler in a favourable light.
Irving's works include The Destruction of Dresden (1963), Hitler's War (1977), Churchill's War (1987) and Goebbels: Mastermind of the Third Reich (1996). In his works, he argued that Adolf Hitler did not know of the extermination of Jews, or, if he did, he opposed it. Though Irving's negationist claims and views of German war crimes in World War II (and Hitler's responsibility for them) were never taken seriously by mainstream historians, he was once recognised for his knowledge of Nazi Germany and his ability to unearth new historical documents, which he held closely but stated were fully supportive of his conclusions. His 1964 book The Mare's Nest about Germany's V-weapons campaign of 1944-45 was praised for its deep research but criticised for minimising Nazi slave labour programmes.
By the late 1980s, Irving had placed himself outside the mainstream of the study of history, and had begun to turn from "'soft-core' to 'hard-core' Holocaust denial", possibly influenced by the 1988 trial of Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel. That trial, and his reading of the pseudoscientific Leuchter report, led him to openly espouse Holocaust denial, specifically denying that Jews were murdered by gassing at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Irving's reputation as a historian was further discredited in 2000, when, in the course of an unsuccessful libel case he filed against the American historian Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin Books, High Court Judge Charles Gray determined in his ruling that Irving willfully misrepresented historical evidence to promote Holocaust denial and whitewash the Nazis, a view shared by many prominent historians. The English court found that Irving was an active Holocaust denier, antisemite and racist, who "for his own ideological reasons persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence". In addition, the court found that Irving's books had distorted the history of Hitler's role in the Holocaust to depict Hitler in a favourable light.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 24, 2016
An entirely optional book, taken together with 'Hitler's War' but a nice warm-up to the latter nonetheless. Although quite a few passages overlap, to which The War Path- given its overall narrower source material- dedicates the most time to .
Read this, preferrably, in addition to Hitler's War, to see how Hitler's relationships with his personal staff came to fruition.
Read this, preferrably, in addition to Hitler's War, to see how Hitler's relationships with his personal staff came to fruition.
June 10, 2018
This is an account of the years of Hitler's power and the build up to the Second World War. The author explores Hitler's achievements in rebuilding the economy and the armed forces, with the concurrent growth of racism and nationalism. This is the first of a 3-volume work on the subject. The companion volumes are "Hitler's War 1939-1942" and "Hitler's War 1942-1945". David Irving has also written "The Death of General Sikorski", "The Rise and Fall of the Luftwaffe" and "The Trail of the Fox - The Life of Field Marshall Erwin Rommel".
August 10, 2013
Finally a book that is close to the facts.
Its not a free criticism to Hitler. It puts the right guilty in him, and torn apart what wasnt his mistake.
Its not a free criticism to Hitler. It puts the right guilty in him, and torn apart what wasnt his mistake.
January 1, 2018
Great book on the situations before the start of WW2. I read a lot of Irvings books, but this one could have used more details on the events occurring. Not as thick I thought it would be. Nonetheless still great read. I also do not base my thoughts & opinions about WW2 on just one reading of an authors/ historians discovery but to read different views to get a better feeling on the 3rd Reich. Mainly, Irvings writings on the German Gov at the time isn’t very far off compared to other authors or Historians. But I tend to put more emphasis on his work simply bc his research is unparalleled.
May 20, 2022
The War Path is a prequel to the excellent Hitler's War with plenty of detail on the pre-war years as Hitler rebuilds the Germany economy whilst at the same time re-arming and preparing to expand the German Reich for its 'living space'. Where this book ends (September 1939) Hitler's War begins. David Irving is an accomplished writer but where he really excels is in the depth of his research and The War Path is very well researched and based upon interviews, German documents, intelligence reports, diaries, and other primary sources. The War Path is not essential but it is very readable and sets the scene for the events of 1939-1945.
May 21, 2023
Read as part of "Hitlers War".
November 25, 2021
Fotografía de un dictador que se prepara minuciosamente para una guerra que siempre quiso. Detallado camino de sus objetivos, decisiones y acciones, rodeado de sus colaboradores, dibujados con una tinta de sumisión e idolatría.
Un prólogo controversia que trata discretamente de restarle culpa a Führer, ya sea por ignorar todo lo que aconteció o por decisiones de sus subalternos, al margen de su conocimiento.
Curioso encontrar rasgos que se dirían, son molde de cualquier megalómano con oportunidad al poder.
Un prólogo controversia que trata discretamente de restarle culpa a Führer, ya sea por ignorar todo lo que aconteció o por decisiones de sus subalternos, al margen de su conocimiento.
Curioso encontrar rasgos que se dirían, son molde de cualquier megalómano con oportunidad al poder.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews