The Birth of the Nazis

This brief history focuses more on the paramilitary Freikorps that began almost immediately with the fall of imperial Germany at the end of The Great War.

Told in chronological order from that fall through to the Beer Hall Putsch, author Nigel Jones has written an opinionated short history of the violence that occurred from the recriminations that befell the German people from armistice onwards. As far as the narrative of events goes, this was a very useful read for me personally as the Freikorps and their violent use and effect in Germany was an area that I had not really delved into too deeply in the past. I would suggest that as a brief history this does the job it sets itself out to do even if the opinions of the author are a little too much to the fore at times.

The violence started early, with the infamous thoughts of being “stabbed in the back” and that “November Criminals” had humiliated a beaten Germany took root very early. The use of Freikorps was immediate as the ideological warfare of extreme left and right took to the streets in such areas as the murders of Liebknecht and Luxemburg and the smashing of the Munich Soviet.
There were also events that had completely passed this reader by, such the chapter called The Baltic Campaign. The author writes that this campaign was “....important historically and for its contribution to the Freikorps' – and hence to the German nations – myth” The wiki for anyone that needs to read further on this fascinating but seemingly little known event that made contribution to the thought process of the ultra-right and their rise to power under Hitler.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freikorps_in_the_Baltic

The Freikorps themselves comprised irregulars with many that knew nothing of life other than trench warfare, hence violent methods were the norm. The republican government of Germany used the Freikorps to suppress the left, though the Freikorps had no love for that government and blamed it completely for the humiliations that came with defeat. Many government leaders later paid with their lives.

In appendix A the author lists the main Freikorps, their leaders, dates, fate, size and insignia. Many of these were dissolved and merged into the regular army. Though well written and moving at a good pace, my criticisms of this book are that the narrative gets too opinionated for a brief history. There are also no footnotes. The appendix A noted above is very good, and Appendix B lists Freikorps members who became prominent in Nazi Germany. Many fell at The Night of the Long Knives, as even their free booting style of ill-disciplined violence was too much for the Nazis. There is a selective bibliography with some interesting further reading.

I would recommend this one to anyone with an interest but no knowledge of the subject. For those with a bit more depth of knowledge, there would be better served elsewhere, I would suggest.