The British in Interwar Germany: The Reluctant Occupiers, 1918-30

Description

The British in Interwar Germany analyses the British presence in Germany from the armistice until the end of the Rhineland occupation in 1930. It looks at British involvement in the Rhineland, Danzig, Upper Silesia, Schleswig and East Prussia and on the inter-Allied Control Commissions (IAMCC), which were supervising German disarmament. Drawing widely on a range of primary sources, David Williamson explores the problems facing British military and civil officials, their attitudes towards the Germans and their relations with their allies - particularly the French. The book also examines the everyday lives of the British soldiers and administrators in Germany and their interaction with the Germans, with particular attention being paid to the city of Cologne and the British colony that developed there. This new edition brings David Williamson's study fully up-to-date and now contains a greater coverage of the relevant social history, as well as maps, illustrations and a useful glossary. The British in Interwar Germany will be of great interest to students and scholars of Weimar Germany and Britain and Europe during the interwar years.

David G. Williamson, who taught at St. Paul's School and was Head of History at Highgate School in the United Kingdom, is now a freelance historian. He is the author of numerous books, including The Third Reich (5th edition, 2017), Bismarck and Germany (3rd edition, 2011), A Most Diplomatic General: the life of General Lord Robertson, 1896-1974 (1996) and The Polish Underground, 1939-1947 (2012).

[A] well-structured and thoroughly researched chronicle of events ... The British in Interwar Germany provides an overview of a significant episode of Britain's engagement as a great power in Europe, in the first half of the twentieth century. * Journal of Modern History * A detailed and well-researched study of what remains a little-known aspect of Anglo-German relations, this book provides a fascinating overview of the history of Britain's involvement in the occupation and disarmament of Germany following the First World War. As perhaps the most comprehensive account of the British military presence in interwar Germany yet published, this is a valuable addition to the literature on Britain's relationship with Germany in the first half of the twentieth century. * Colin Storer, Senior Teaching Fellow in Modern History, University of Warwick, UK * The British in Interwar Germany is a highly readable survey of the British occupation of Germany in the critical decade after the First World War. Williamson's extensive research include a mix of official documents and first-hand accounts of individual soldiers and statesmen that shed light on the frustrations and difficulties of those entrusted with enforcing the clauses of the Treaty of Versailles. Part foreign policy, part social history, The British in Interwar Germany brings to life the clash of British and French interests toward Germany, as well as the subtleties of life in British occupied Germany in those fateful years between the wars. * Richard J. Shuster, Professor, U.S. Naval War College, USA * [A] fascinating study ... an extremely valuable contribution to our understanding of this turbulent period ... immensely readable. * The Cliftonian Magazine *