In 1918 the defeated German regime collapsed, and with it the monarchy. In its place a bewildered German people were offered, and somewhat half-heartedly accepted, their first democratic constitution. For fifteen years this was the basis of government; from the place of its birth it has since been known as the Weimar Republic.

The 1920s in Germany were a period of intense activity: political parties of all complexions intrigued and campaigned - often, at the extremes of left and right, violently; artistic and intellectual endeavour flourished. Political instability was exacerbated by hyperinflation, and social uncertainty fuelled by national shame at the loss of empire and by the humiliating reparations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles.

It is here that convention seeks the origins - even the justification - of the Nazi regime.

In this clear and vivid narrative, Helmut Heiber cuts through accepted ideas to offer a provocative account of this most extraordinary and puzzling period of European history.

Throwing new light on the vexing problems of hyperinflation, national apathy, economic collapse and political disorder, he provides a searching analysis of why the German people should have tolerated and largely embraced the pagan, racialist and anti-democratic ideology inculcated and ruthlessly enforced by Hitler's National Socialists.