'Excellent' Richard Evans'Gripping ... thoroughly researched and beautifully written ... a warning for our times' Alex Watson, author of Ring of Steel'Fascinating ... shows powerfully that there was nothing inevitable about the survival of Germany's young democracy in that year - nor about its death a decade later. A timely reminder' Katja Hoyer, author of Beyond the WallThe astonishing year when German democracy faced crisis and near destruction. 1923 was one of the most remarkableyears of modern European history. In January, France and Belgium militarily occupiedGermany's economic heartland, the Ruhr; triggering a series of crises thatalmost spiralled out of control. Hyperinflation plunged millions intopoverty. The search for scapegoats empowered political extremes. Hitler'spopulism ascended to national prominence. Communists, Nazis, separatists allthought that they could use the crises to destroy democracy. None succeeded. 1923 was the year ofHitler's first victory - and his first defeat. Fanning the flames of instability, anti-government and antisemitic sentiment, the Nazis' abortive yet pivotalputsch in a Munich beer hall failed when they were abandoned by theirlikeminded conservative allies. Drawing on previously unseen sources, Mark Jones weaves together a thrilling and resonant narrative of German livesin this turbulent time. Tracing Hitler's rise, we see how political pragmatismand international cooperation eventually steered the nation away from totalinsurrection. A decade later, when Weimar democracy eventually succumbed totyranny, the warnings from 1923 - rising of nationalist rhetoric, fragile Europeanconsensus, and underestimation the of the enemies of liberalism - became onlytoo apparent. This account of the republic's convulsionsand survival offers a gripping image of a modern society in extreme crisis.