Contributions to the Study of World History – Serie

Until recently, historians and political analysts have tended to dismiss French revolutionary syndicalism as a movement whose influence was either negative or ineffectual. This study of French anarchosyndicalism represents a departure from traditional class-based analyses and more recent attempts to deal with the subject from a strictly regional or occupational standpoint. The Practical Revolutionaries will provide scholars and students with a better understanding of an important movement in labor history.

This study examines the leading 19th century Russian revolutionary organization, Land and Freedom, during its three brief years of existence and its significance for later Russian history. The book traces the two groups which emerged within Land and Freedom: the populist faction known as the narodniki, dedicated to propagandizing among the peasantry of the villages, and the violent sub-group sometimes called the politiki for whom assassination of government officials and eventually of the tsar himself appeared the sole route to change.

This volume expands the debate over the origins and purposes of sports records. Developing the thesis of Allen Guttmann, Carter and Kruger explore the history and meaning of quantitative sports records in several pre-modern societies. After introductions by Guttmann and the editors, the book proceeds on a chronological study of evidence of sports records in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, medieval England, the Renaissance, Tudor and Elizabethan England, pre-modern Hawaii, and pre-modern Japan. The chapters that follow are thematic essays on various aspects of sports records and Ritual and Record concludes with Guttmann's response to the preceding chapters. Useful reference notes are provided within each chapter as well as in the bibliography. This book is essential reading for students of anthropology and the history of sports.

The massive population displacements and generation of civilian war casualties that occurred between 1954 and 1975 disastrously weakened the fabric of South Vietnamese society, produced widespread demoralization, and contributed to the country's defeat by North Viet-Nam. This new work is the first systematic documentation of the human consequences of the Viet-Nam War. Based on American, Vietnamese, and international records, as well as a wealth of personal experience and eyewitness accounts, it examines the scope of the tragedy, what was done to cope with it, and what lessons can be drawn from the experience.Wiesner argues that the tragedy of the war itself was appreciably worsened by forced relocations and that this suffering could not have been relieved, because the amount of land on which the largely rural evacuees could be safely resettled was repeatedly diminished by Communist incursions and the demands of combat. Meanwhile, American bombing of the North, much less destructive to civilians than fighting and bombing in the South, was used by the totalitarian regime to instill hatred against the United States and its South Vietnamese ally. When in 1975 the North Vietnamese overran the entire South, masses of Vietnamese, for the first time in their history, fled from their country.

Unlike other Asian countries liberated from Japanese rule by the United States, postwar South Korea was occupied by American military forces until 1948. As a result, its postwar history was profoundly influenced by the Cold War. It is often believed that the United States encouraged, but failed to bring about, the normalization of relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK). How actively did the United States work to resolve outstanding issues between the two countries? How much importance did it attach to the normalization of relations, particularly in the context of the escalation of the Korean war? These and many other important questions are addressed in Sung-hwa Cheong's important new work.Cheong examines the principal disputes between Japan and South Korea from 1945 to 1952. He argues that as an autonomous force popular anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea did not play a major role in preventing normalization of relations between the two nations. Rather, the diplomatic deadlock was caused by the political posturing of President Syngman Rhee, who manipulated popular anti-Japanese feelings in order to stabilize his regime. The book also addresses how such diplomatic issues as the fishery dispute, financial claims, the territorial dispute, and the legal status of Korean residents in Japan emerged as political weapons in Korea to be manipulated by various political groups to their own advantage. Cheong also evaluates the extent to which the United States tried to assist the normalization of relations between Japan and the ROK as part of its own Cold War strategy in the Far East. He examines the American, Japanese, and Korean views toward the San Francisco Peace Treaty and the first conference on normalization. He argues that at this juncture, the Americans were interested in disengagement from Korea rather than in actively forging an anti-Communist alliance between Japan and the ROK. The author concludes that public antagonism toward Japan only became an obstacle to the normalization of diplomatic relations after Rhee deliberately stimulated anti-Japanese sentiment as part of a calculated policy that originated in his own political insecurity. This analysis sheds considerable new light on a shadowy aspect of the history of the Cold War in Asia and is recommended reading for all scholars and students of the postwar Far East.

Russia and Italy Against Hitler uncovers the complex web of ideology, economics, military cooperation, and diplomacy binding Italy and the USSR together prior to 1935. This previously untouched part of pre-World War II historiography makes sense of the seemingly contradictory cooperation between Stalin and Mussolini. J. Calvitt Clarke's study takes on even greater significance when placed against the larger world canvas. It becomes a valuable addition to the understanding of interwar diplomacy and the Soviet Union. The bulk of Clarke's research comes from the Italian Foreign Ministry Archives and covers the period from 1924 to 1941, a perspective that sheds new light on Stalin's Russia and Mussolini's Italy.This volume deals comprehensively with Italo-Soviet relations and their diplomatic roles in interwar world politics. Part I provides the background leading to their serious cooperation in 1933 and 1934: tripartite Italo-Soviet-German cooperation against France (1929 and 1930); Italian/Soviet responses to Hitler's rise; and the impact of Mussolini's Four Power Pact (1933). Part II covers Moscow's attempt to break out of its isolation and describes ideological, economic, and political rapprochements, as well as the Pact of Friendship, Neutrality, and Nonaggression (1933). Clarke then covers military contacts and and looks beyond bilateral Italo-Soviet relations to collective security. His epilogue explains why Italy joined with Germany two years later against the Soviet Union.

This is the first study to examine Nazi German foreign policy towards the Union of South Africa from 1933-1939. Making extensive use of unpublished primary source German documents, Robert Citino focuses on the activities of the German embassy and consulates within South Africa in order to answer four basic questions: What role did race and racial theory play in German foreign policy towards South Africa? Did Germany attempt to exploit South African yearnings for international respect, and, if so, how? Did the Germans seek to take advantage of deep divisions within South African society between British and Afrikaners? Finally, to what extent was the German Foreign Office Nazified in the 1930s? By concentrating on the policies and views of German diplomatic personnel within a single country--rather than on Hitler's grandiose proclamations and speeches on world affairs--Citino offers a closer look at Nazi German foreign policy operations than is usually available.The study is organized chronologically and begins with an overview of German-South African relations before 1933. Subsequent chapters address early tensions and South African domestic developments in the years leading up to the outbreak of war. Specific topics covered include the role played by the former German colony of Southwest Africa in relations between the two states, the hostile attitude of much of the South African press towards Nazi Germany, the boycott of German firms by the South African Jewish community, the Smuts-Hertzog fusion, the rise of Malan and his Purified nationalist party, the growth of anti-Semitism in South Africa and the concurrent growth in Afrikaner national consciousness, and South African attitudes towards the major European crises of the 1930s. Citino concludes by analyzing Germany's inability to keep South Africa neutral in 1939 and the entry of the Union into the war at England's side. Students of modern German, South African, and twentieth century diplomatic history will find Citino's work an enlightening contribution to the literature of Nazi Germany's foreign relations.

The history of the Islamic world includes many unique cultural, religious, scientific, and architectural developments. Among these was the evolution of the Arab Muslim city, which occurred during the rapid expansion of the Muslim empire in the seventh and eighth centuries A.D. In this probing volume, Nezar AlSayyad examines the extraordinary characteristics of Islamic urbanism and the process by which cities and towns were absorbed and physically transformed by Islam. The early leaders of the Muslim empire--caliphs, amirs, and other rulers--had a lasting effect on what the modern scholar would call their cities' urban form. AlSayyad demonstrates that the stereotypical model of the Muslim city is inadequate, not only because individual rulers in regions of the empire were different, but also due to various cultural influences that were indigenous to conquered areas.After a prologue, the study begins with a historiography of the concept of the Muslim city and how it was paralleled by the development of its physical form. Garrison towns, established as military camps by early Arab conquerors, are examined next by AlSayyad. His research shows that building methods and urban form in the Arab cities were products of Islamization and consolidation of Caliphal power. New capital towns and cities, AlSayyad maintains, were also results of elaborate personal expressions of politico-religious authority by certain Muslim rulers. The book ends by suggesting that the Arabs' and their leaders' changing view of the role of architecture was a major factor behind the fluid urban forms of Muslim cities. This significant contribution to the study of the Arab world and its cultural history will be of great value to Middle East, urban, and architectural historians, anthropologists, and archaeologists, as well as to students of Islamic history and urbanism.

This book provides an analysis of American intervention in China from World War II to the rapprochement Richard Nixon began in 1972. One of the major themes of the work is that the United States should avoid judging China by Western standards. The United States learned this after twenty-eight years of attempting to impose its own standards of democratic, representative government on China. Alexander also contends that the United States acted against its own interests when it supported the Nationalists and that the United States accused the Chinese Communists of aggressive policies in East Asia when, in fact, they did not pursue aggressive policies.The book traces the origins of the American interest in China, based on Roosevelt's hope to use China as a partner of the United States to preserve the peace in East Asia. It covers the U.S. failure to realize that most Chinese people supported the Communist revolution and the U.S. attempt to keep the reactionary Nationalists in power after they lost the Civil War. Next, the work considers the misconception that Red China was an instigator of the Korean War, the U.S. attempt to destroy the North Korean state, and China's decision to intervene to prevent American forces from proceeding to its frontier. The text also traces the adoption of Taiwan as an American protectorate, the flirtation with atomic war to protect the Nationalist-held islands of Quemoy and Matsu, and the decades-long U.S. policy of denying Communist China a seat at the UN. The work concludes with Nixon's decision to recognize China because U.S. policy was threatening world peace and order.

Tea is one of the world's most popular beverages, and the birthplace of tea is China. Until the 1830s, China was the only producer of tea, and today it remains the world's greatest producer and consumer. Tea in China is a history of China's national drink, where it came from, how it was drunk, and the place it has occupied in Chinese society from prehistory to the present.Prehistoric use of tea by Peking Man and Laotian Man are discussed, as are the changing teas favored by the various dynasties. The role of tea in the spread of religions is reviewed, as is the impact of Chinese teas on societies as varied as the Japanese and Europeans. All aspects of tea and its socio-economic place in Chinese life are examined in detail. Tea in China will be of considerable use to scholars of Chinese history and culture and to those concerned with the folkways of food and drink.

This volume is a collection of fifteen first-person accounts of growing up during the Nazi era. The selections cover a broad range of personalities and circumstances. Included are testimonies from the daughter of an anti-Nazi German family, the son of a mixed marriage in Germany threatened with deportation, a German Gypsy who witnessed Mengele's experiments, a Polish Jewish girl saved by her teacher, a Prague teenager escaping to Denmark and Sweden, a Polish Jewish youth in communist Siberia, a partisan, an eleven-year-old in Auschwitz, a young Yiddish actress exiled to Tashkent, and a Polish Catholic child deported to work camps. Drawn from the Holocaust Oral History Archive of Gratz College, each testimony is a unique story of survival through defense, adaptation, and resilience.The introduction to the book, written by Professor Nora Levin, provides the historical background of the rise of fascism and Nazism in Germany and the social and political dislocations that ensued. Editor Josey Fisher integrates the testimonies into the framework of adolescent development in the preface. Brief introductions to each chapter set the historical framework and describe the unique set of obstacles challenging each child. The youth of the Holocaust were caught in the time of their growing. Their external world had real enemies and unspeakable danger at the same time that their physical, psychological, and social development were propelling them toward adulthood. Internal intensity was intertwined with external threat. . . . (from the preface). Persistence of Youth provides a unique perspective on child development and psychological issues and will be of value to researchers in these fields as well as historians and others concerned with the Holocaust.

This work provides a documentary record of the correspondence, official and private, between Harry S Truman and Winston Churchill, from Truman's accession to the presidency in April 1945. Official communications between the two resumed during Churchill's second premiership (1951-1955) and more personal correspondence would continue into Churchill's retirement. Subjects of note range from events surrounding German surrender to the Cold War.Completing previously published wartime correspondence between Churchill and Roosevelt up to the latter's death in 1945, this material records the thoughts and decisions of Truman and Churchill from April 12, 1945, nearly a month before Germany's surrender, until Churchill's defeat in the General Election in late July at Potsdam, shortly before the dramatic close of the Pacific war against Japan little more than a fortnight later. The two would subsequently maintain personal contact, first as associates and later as friends, a situation shaped by their meeting at Fulton, Missouri, where Churchill would deliver his famed Iron Curtain speech.

Italy emerged from World War I triumphant but ostracized from the comity of victors, which led to the notion in Italy that a war had been won but a peace lost. The Legend of the Mutilated Victory demonstrates that Italy's conflict with America over the nature of the peace was a direct outgrowth of Italy's ongoing quarrels with the Allies, quarrels that formed the basis of the mutilated victory. In a clear and cogently argued narrative, Burgwyn reassesses Sidney Sonnino's diplomacy as he lead Italy to victory in the imbroglio of the war and domestic political intrigue. He observes the impact of domestic politics and the Supreme Command on Sonnino's wartime diplomacy, impartially describes Sonnino's efforts at the Paris Peace Conference, and also points out the failures in Sonnino's approach. This is the first book in any language to analyze Italian diplomacy from the outbreak of the war to the Paris Peace Conference.

The Kings of Celtic Scotland examines the formation and development of the early medieval Scottish Kingdom. Using a study of the individual monarchs, from the 9th to 11th centuries, the supremacy of the Scots in northern Britain is placed in the wider context of Irish and English history. This study uses family history and literature in conjunction with political narrative and places medieval Celtic history into the tradition of Scottish historical research.

Many German historians regard Emperor Frederick III (1831-1888) as a liberal sovereign who could have saved German history from its tragic course. Recent historians, however, have challenged the long-held view that liberalism's failure in 19th century Germany presaged Hitler's triumph, claiming that earlier scholars have overlooked liberalism's positive contributions to German history. This book reassesses Frederick III's contribution to the liberal movement. Using documents recently made available from the Hessische Hausstiftung, the author considers the question of whether Frederick abetted the liberal movement's successes or was part of its tragic history.As crown prince, Frederick maintained ties with prominent liberals and rejected Otto von Bismarck's conservative domestic and foreign policies. His liberal impulses were strengthened by his marriage to the Queen of England's daughter, Princess Victoria. But when Frederick came to the throne in 1888, he died after only 99 days. Many historians consider his untimely death the swan song of German liberalism. Kollander finds that the documents show Frederick to be a constitutional liberal who fought to preserve the constitution-the basis of liberal political power-from subversion by the conservatives. However, he only condoned liberal reform on the basis of the constitutional status quo, rejecting his wife's wish to see British political institutions adopted in Germany. Although Frederick contributed to the survival of liberalism as a political force, the author concludes, the extent of his liberal views have been exaggerated by many historians.

The love story between King Carol II of Romania and his long-time mistress, Magda Lupescu, was a subject of great interest in the first half of the 20th century. For several decades sensation-seeking journalists provided eager readers with juicy morsels of gossip about one of history's most puzzling and bizarre romances. Even today, 40 years after his death, many remember Carol chiefly as the international playboy of sensational Western newspaper stories. Herein the full story of the life and reign of one of modern Europe's most complex and enigmatic rulers is told.

This work reexamines the British invasion of Egypt in 1882. Gladstone systematically created a rationale for intervention against Arabi and the national movement in Egypt toward independence, provoked the Alexandria Riots but blamed Arabi for them, and used them to justify Wolseley's expedition, already planned, to save Egypt. These actions annihilated Egypt's constitutional movement and produced a prolonged racist occupation; divided the Liberal Party; inspired neo-imperialism; and isolated Britain from the Ottoman Empire and the European Powers until the First World War.

This book gives a text, an English translation, and a commentary on a medieval verse history of the kings of Ireland and Scotland from the ninth to the 11th centuries. This study examines the Prophecy of Berchán as a historical record with much to offer students of kingship among the Irish and Scots. Biographies of individual monarchs provided therein present the important events of each ones career, the length of his reign, and the circumstances of his death. This study suggests new interpretations of British and Irish history during the early middle ages.

In this concise interpretation of Wilson's Russian policy, Schild challenges the belief that Wilson's response to the 1917 October Revolution was exclusively ideological. Contrary to the belief that when Wilson sent American troops to intervene in 1918, his goal was to establish a democratic order in Russia, this book shows that his actions were more pragmatic. Wilson's belief in the superiority of liberalism over totalitarianism was so strong that he expected democratic forces in Russia to take power without outside aid. At the Paris Peace Conference, he rejected suggestions for an anti-Soviet crusade. His July 1918 decision to intervene was not a part of Wilson's ideology. It was based on an effort to maintain unity with Britain and France during the final phase of World War I.Wilson did, indeed, have a liberal anti-Bolshevik agenda. However, his belief in the superiority of liberalism over totalitarianism was so strong that he expected democratic forces in Russia to take power without any outside aid. At the Paris Peace Conference, he rejected all suggestions for a Western anti-Soviet crusade or for a division of Russia. His 1918 decision to intervene was not part of Wilson's ideological confrontation with the Bolsheviks. It was based on an effort to maintain unity with the British and French governments during the final phase of World War I. Wilson's Russian policy, the author concludes, was determined both by his ideological anti-Bolshevism and pragmatic demands for alliance cohesion.

Relying heavily on primary literary sources and archaeological scholarship, this study sheds new light on the development of towns in early England from late Roman to late Anglo-Saxon times. After a discussion of the problems of urban definition and typology, Russo examines the background of Romano-British urbanism in its prime and in its late Roman transformations. He demonstrates that late Roman towns were virtually abandoned before the Anglo-Saxon invasions. The emporia—new types of Anglo-Saxon towns—are analyzed on the basis of written and archaeological evidence and are compared with continental emporia. Finally, the origin and growth of the Anglo-Saxon burgh is considered from its eighth-century Mercian beginnings to the better known cases of King Alfred and his successors.

A quantitative analysis of the situation of Ireland's children during the famine era (1841-1861), this study utilizes census data to construct a series of indices to measure the quality of life for children in each of Ireland's 32 counties. While relatively little is known about the particular effects of the famine on childhood, census records from 1841, 1851, and 1861 do exist. Jordan also considers anthropometric data on military recruits, emigration figures, school enrollment, church records, and contemporary accounts to build a picture of Ireland's children.This comparative approach provides a wealth of information on family life in Ireland at both the county and the provincial levels. It addresses the role of home and school as a model of socialization and the use of emigration as a coping device. The author also explores the social climate created by the 1838 Poor Law. Ultimately, the stress of struggling to survive the natural disaster of the famine, combined with the political developments of the day, had a devastating effect on the young.

An examination of the skillful political maneuvering of William Borah and Hiram Johnson, two of the post-war leaders of Republican progressivism, this study analyzes efforts to prevent U.S. entry into the League of Nations despite overwhelming support for the organization among both Democrats and Republicans. Following the debacle of the 1912 election, the leadership of the Republican Party embarked on a strategy of reconciliation designed to end the acrimony between progressive and conservative factions so that it could unite against the Democratic Party. A small group of progressive Republicans quickly realized that they could threaten to resume infighting and could, thus, influence policy making on important foreign policy issues.This political environment enabled William Borah and Hiram Johnson to have an extraordinary influence over the Republican Party's position concerning the League of Nations, an organization which they regarded as an agency for the perpetuation of European empires and, therefore, a threat to American democracy. Borah and Johnson effectively intimidated their party leadership and blocked the American participation in the League. Once this pattern was established, it would continue to influence Republican Party actions, in particular the construction of the Republican Party platform in 1920, the U.S. position regarding the Washington Conference on Naval Disarmament, and the issue of U.S. membership in the World Court.

Campbell presents a study of the lives and experiences of Europeans and Americans in the age of early industrial overseas expansions, who became detatched from their own societies and lived, sometimes for many years, among Pacific Islanders as integrated members of their communities, often with little hope of returning home and frequently with no wish to do so. As engaging as primitivism was to European philosophers, the realities of contact between seafarers and islanders who faced previously unimagined technological and human marvels were much more pragmatic. Jealousy, ethnocentrism, and violence on both sides competed with humanitarian interests and indigenous hospitality to shape the emerging pattern of relationships.At first, Europeans crossed the oceans only for compelling reasons: the passion for scientific research, the dedication to Christian evangelism, or the uncompromising profit motive. Later, settlers and government officials followed in the wake of these early explorers. Scattered in the interstices of contact relationships were large numbers of men whose interest was not in changing native society or profiting from it, but in experiencing primitive life and simply surviving itself. These men included castaways and deserters, some abandoned by their captains and others kidnapped by the islanders. Their prospects depended on their successful integration into Polynesian society—and in making themselves useful by applying European knowledge and skills to local situations and by mediating between islanders and their insistent visitors.

Between 1937 and 1949, Joseph Stalin deported more than two million people of 13 nationalities from their homelands to remote areas of the U.S.S.R. His regime perfected the crime of ethnic cleansing as an adjunct to its security policy during those decades. Based upon material recently released from Soviet archives, this study describes the mass deportation of these minorities, their conditions in exile, and their eventual release. It includes a large amount of statistical data on the number of people deported; deaths and births in exile; and the role of the exiles in developing the economy of remote areas of the Soviet Union.The first wholesale deportation involved the Soviet Koreans, relocated to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to prevent them from assisting Japanese spies and saboteurs. The success of this operation led the secret police to adopt, as standard procedure, the deportation of whole ethnic groups suspected of disloyalty to the Soviet state. In 1941, the policy affected Soviet Finns and Germans; in 1943, the Karachays and Kalmyks were forcibly relocated; in 1944, the massive deportation affected the Chechens, Ingush, Balkars, Crimean Tatars, Crimean Greeks, Meskhetian Turks, Kurds, and Khemshils; and finally, the Black Sea Greeks were moved in 1949 and 1950.

The interaction of 19th-century Russian missionaries with three indigenous groups, the Chukchi and Altaians in Siberia and the Dena'ina Indians in Alaska, resulted in widely different outcomes. The Chukchi disregarded the missionary message, the Dena'ina embraced Christianity, and the Altaians responded by selectively borrowing from Orthodox religion. Znamenski—in the first work of its kind in English—argues that the relationships between indigenous shamanism and Orthodox missionaries in Siberia and Alaska were essentially a dialogue about spiritual, political, and ideological power, and challenges both the widespread conviction that Christian missionaries always acted as agents of colonial oppression among tribal peoples and the notion that native peoples maintained their pristine traditional cultures despite years of interaction with Western society.Znamenski asserts that Russian missionary policy toward indigenous peoples was, at best, ambivalent and cannot be described as either Russification or a broad tolerance of native cultures. After two broad introductory chapters, he deals with each indigenous people in a separate section, illustrating the ways in which native Siberians and Alaskans acted as active players, welcoming, adopting, rejecting, or reinterpreting elements of Christianity depending upon surrounding circumstances and individual cultural stances.

Based on sources still unavailable in the West, this first English language study of Russian-Kazakh relations provides unorthodox interpretations of many events and introduces new concepts in analysis of contemporary relations. Because political thought found itself a little behind the rapid political change that engulfed the former USSR, a process of adjustment of concepts and development of new approaches is now underway. Examining the complex nature of Russian-Kazakh relations immediately prior to and after the collapse of the USSR, the book examines four major groups of issues in Russian-Kazakh relations: status of ethnic Russians in Kazakhstan; Kazakh and Russian attitudes to post-Soviet integration; bilateral military relations; and Russian and international competition for Kazakhstan's energy resources.Beginning with research on Gorbachev's time in office, the book analyzes the effect of Moscow's policies on Kazakhstan and the factors which propelled the republic to independence. Next, one sees how Kazakhstan and Russia tried to establish a new, post-imperial basis for their relations during the first six months after the break-up of the Soviet Union. Subsequent chapters move from historical to structural analysis. With his inside knowledge of the mechanisms of Russian foreign policy formulation, the author pays particular attention to such controversial problems as Kazakh policy in the creation of a nation and its effects on Kazakhstan's Russian population; the concept of Eurasian Union, Custom's Union, and other integration initiatives supported by Kazakhstan; Kazakh nuclear disarmament; the Caspian Pipeline Consortium; and the legal status of the Caspian Sea.

Official history is a misunderstood genre of historical writing, which attracts much negative comment from (non-official) historians but about which very little detail is actually known. This book examines the development of official history programs in Canada, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand over the course of the twentieth century, looking at the ways in which they developed and the contributions each made to their respective national historiography. The second part of the work develops some themes from the first and takes the official histories of the Second World War as case studies.Drawing on programs in Australia, Britain, and the United States, these essays examine the relationship between the histories, the historians, and their sponsoring institutions. They assess the impact of the histories on historical understanding of the Second World War. They also consider the impact that contemporary events during the Cold War had on the writing of the official history.

Germany's ability to support its war machine financially has long puzzled scholars. The young nation had exhausted itself paying for its loss in the First World War, had suffered a hyperinflation in the early 1920s, and had ended the 1920s with a terrible economic depression. This is the first book in any language to examine the budget policies of the middle years of the Weimar Republic and to look at how these policies changed the politics of the time. It is also the first work to support the government's aggressive use of deficit spending and fiscal stimuli to promote economic growth. Some findings even indicate that the German government could have used creative financial solutions to avoid the worst of the Depression and to avert the Nazi regime.Clingan explores the changes and continuities in fiscal policy and budget-making politics, beginning in the last years of the Wilhelmine Empire and continuing into the 1930s. Although this is a story about money, it is also a story about men. Very few in Nazi Germany understood the intricacies of fiscal policy and budget making, and political parties tended to follow the lead of those who did. Clingan combines their personal stories with the tale of a country still growing into its economic power and still trying to learn both its limits and its strengths.