The Conservative Revolution in Germany

Book excerpt: The Conservative Revolution in Germany, 1918-1932 is one the most comprehensive, most lasting, and most influential studies of the European Right--in particular, the fifteen years in Germany between the Armistice and Third Reich. This chaotic time witnessed a new type of right-wing thinking: traditionalist, yet oriented towards a new beginning . . . consciously nationalist (völkisch), yet civilizational in scope . . . born in the despair of defeat and humiliation, yet envisioning a triumphant new age. The Conservative Revolutionaries sought an "overthrow of an overthrow." Armin Mohler, who knew many of these figures personally, traces the development of this German ideal from Friedrich Nietzsche, Richard Wagner, Oswald Spengler, Thomas Mann, Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, Ernst Jünger, Carl Schmitt, and beyond. The Conservative Revolutionaries persistently thought against the grain. They stood in opposition both to Bolshevism and Anglo-American capitalism, as well as Hitler and the incipient National Socialist regime. They continue to offer a vital alternative to both Left and Right in the twenty-first century. Available in English for the first time, this edition includes new essays by Paul E. Gottfried and Alain de Benoist, who discuss the book's influence and contemporary relevance.