Anatomy of a democratic coup

How did the Weimar Republic, Germany's first democracy, fall to the Nazis? Takeover reprises the dramatic six months before Hitler's rise

Takeover: Hitler’s Final Rise to Power

Author: Timothy W Ryback

Publisher: Hachette India

Pages: 384

Price:  Rs 999

In December 1932, Adolf Hitler had hit rock bottom. In Reichstag elections the previous month, the party had seen a 25 per cent drop in votes despite an expensive and intensive campaign. Gregor Strasser, “chief operating officer” of the National Socialist movement, had exited the party over ideological differences and Hitler’s refusal to compromise chancellorship claims, threatening a split in the party.

Though the Nazi Party was the largest party in the Reichstag with 196 seats, business donors, such as steel magnate Thyssen, the Krupp