Dispatches From the Weimar Republic : Versailles and German Fascism

The period immediately following World War I was one of great turbulence in German society.

The widespread dislocation throughout the country following its defeat in the war left the German morale crushed; the allied countries' demand for reparations crippled the national economy.

Russia was in the hands of the Bolsheviks and there was widespread fear that Germany would be next to fall to working-class revolutionaries. Writing between 1919 and 1923 as special correspondent for the "Manchester Guardian", Philips Price was one of the few British journalists in Weimar Germany during these important years.

Price's unique position as an outsider allowed him to record what he saw with an objective eye and his sympathy with the Bolsheviks in Russia gave him an understanding of the deeper implications behind the unfolding of events in Germany. These writings now reprinted for the first time in 80 years, cover the key events in 1920s Germany.

Price witnesses the establishment of the Weimar Republic, Hitler's early speeches and the inflammatory violence in the south of the country which threatened civil war.

Price also reports on the signing of the Versailles Treaty, which he highlights as a blatant and excessive retribution against a severely defeated nation.