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The Wages of Destruction

The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy

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The Wages of Destruction

By: Adam Tooze
Narrated by: Adam Tooze, Simon Vance
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About this listen

 "Masterful . . . [A] painstakingly researched, astonishingly erudite study…Tooze has added his name to the roll call of top-class scholars of Nazism." —Financial Times

An extraordinary mythology has grown up around the Third Reich that hovers over political and moral debate even today. Adam Tooze's controversial book challenges the conventional economic interpretations of that period to explore how Hitler's surprisingly prescient vision--ultimately hindered by Germany's limited resources and his own racial ideology--was to create a German super-state to dominate Europe and compete with what he saw as America's overwhelming power in a soon-to- be globalized world. The Wages of Destruction is a chilling work of originality and tremendous scholarship that set off debate in Germany and will fundamentally change the way in which history views the Second World War.

* This audiobook contains a downloadable PDF of tables and figures from the book. 20th Century Economic Conditions Economics Europe Germany Military Modern Russia Imperialism Socialism Soviet Union Holocaust Taxation Capitalism War Middle Ages

Critic reviews

"One of the most important and original books to be published about the Third Reich in the past twenty years. A tour de force."
-Niall Ferguson

"Tooze has produced the most striking history of German strategy in the Second World War that we possess. This is an extraordinary achievement, and it places Adam Tooze in a very select company of historians indeed ... Tooze has given us a masterpiece which will be read, and admired; and it will stimulate others for a long time to come."
-Nicholas Stargardt, History Today

"It is among Adam Tooze's many virtues, in "The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy," that he can write about such matters with authority, explaining the technicalities of bombers and battleships. Hovering over his chronicle are two extraordinary questions: how Germany managed to last as long as it did before the collapse of 1945 and why, under Hitler, it thought it could achieve supremacy at all."
-Norman Stone, The Wall Street Journal

"Virtually every page of his book contains something new and thought-provoking, making the whole an impressive achievement, in which original research has been combined with critical scrutiny of a vast literature that seems ripe for such a re-examination."
-Michael Burleigh, The Sunday Times (London)

"A magnificent demonstration of the explanatory power of economic history."
-The Times (London)

"Masterful . . . Tooze has added his name to the roll call of top-class scholars of Nazism."
-Financial Times
All stars
Most relevant
Exceptional analysis and one to return to for a second go I think. Well read too.

Superb

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A major study of the German economy which answers many questions about the apparent irrationality of Hitler’s war strategy. Not easy listening but very worthwhile.

I had understood that the Nazis engaged in a work creation program akin to Keynesian policy but this book shows that the Nazis focussed almost exclusively on rearmament (which incidentally had work creation benefits.

The most chilling aspect is the link between the Holocaust and food scarcity from 1941 onwards. The victory in France (thanks to a late change in strategy) and the Ribbentrop/Molotov pact were stunning but Hitler still calculated that he had to invade the Soviet Union to take its resources if he was to defeat the “world Jewish conspiracy” led by Roosevelt and Churchill.

Important insights into the Nazi regime from an economic perspective

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Comprehensive. I now understand the motivation and rational for the invasion of Russia which I never really got.

Brilliant

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I have been reading histories of WWII for over 50 years. I have become a little jaded; wondering how often one can come across something that truly adds something fresh given the mountain of books already written on every facet of that terrible conflict. Then this comes along.
I came to it via "Crashed"; Tooze's superb analysis of the 2008 financial meltdown. This, however, is better. Why? Because Tooze explains the dynamics of Hitler's war in a way that is not just new, it is unique.
He lays bare the economic drivers to the Nazi approach to WWII in a way that is clear, authoritative and totally credible. It really has changed my views on the war. It gives the first rational and credible explanation I have read for why on earth Hitler declared war on the USA. It offers a new context to the primacy (or otherwise) of Drang Nach Osten; the drive to the East. It adds powerful context as to just how reckless a gambler Hitler was given the threadbare economic underpinnings of his regime. It makes an important contribution on the importance of slave labour to the economics of the Nazi war machine and does a great job of bringing more rigour to the true role played by Albert Speer as opposed to his own reworking of history.
This is a truly brilliant, important book.

Genuinely brilliant

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This is a very good book focusing on an aspect of the war that doesn't get enough attention normally, although there are some flaws in the author's understanding of political systems, but that doesn't really affect the overall conclusions reached. The beginning of the book is somewhat heavy as it focuses quite a bit on monetary policy which is a somewhat dry topic, although certainly very important for the history of the war. The rest is easier to understand and follow, focusing and different aspects of the war economy, like for example what was done to increase production in certain sectors (i.e aircraft, ammunitions etc.) and also some historical narration around that generally, like what was going on in the war at that time to place it in the general context of WW2.
Highly recommended for anyone interested in WW2, even if you are not really interested in economy or do not understand much of it, you can certainly get out a lot of this book, especially after the beginning.

Crucial for understanding WW2

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