Jahre der Entscheidung (Grossdruck) by Oswald Spengler

Jahre der Entscheidung (Grossdruck) by Oswald Spengler

First published in 1934, the majority of this book was developed just prior to the Nazi seizure of power, with additional material which reflects on its aftermath. It assessed the decline of European power and the crisis of Western civilization in the face of conflict between the ruling class and the lower classes, arguing that only by adherence to their inherited 'Prussianism' would Germany have the solidity to be able to combat these dangers.

Despite the influence of his previous writings on key Nazi figures, his criticisms of National Socialism led to the book being banned, although not before it had been widely distributed throughout Germany.

This work will be of interest to students of 20th century German and European history.

Oswald Spengler was born in Blankenburg, Germany, in 1880, and became one of the most contentious historians of the twentieth century. At Munich and Berlin, he studied mathematics, philosophy, and history. He published nothing before the first book of The Decline of the West, which came out when he was thirty-eight, except his doctoral thesis on Heraclitus. The Agadir crisis of 1911 offered an immediate impetus for his extensive research into our civilization's genesis and beginnings. Spengler decided on his main title in 1912, completed a first-volume manuscript two years later, and published it in 1918.

In 1922, the second and last volume was published. The Fall of the West (Vol. 1) was first published in the United States in 1926. 1), as well as 1928 (Vol. 2); the shorter edition was originally published in 1962 in this country.

He traveled to the Harz Mountains and Italy on occasion. He died of a heart attack three weeks before his 56th birthday in Munich in 1936.