SWagesofDestructionBookReview

Reviewed by Steven Douglas Mercatante [1]

Adam Tooze's The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi
Economy is an extraordinary piece of scholarship and for years to come will no doubt
be regarded as essential reading for anyone seeking a greater understanding into
Germany's Second World War economy. Tooze's work comprehensively breaks down the
how and why of Hitler's quest to establish a German empire in Europe and the role
economics played in German defeat. Remarkably, Tooze accomplishes this by largely
avoiding any discussion of the European war's operational military history and instead
by focusing upon the economic and ideological decisions driving Hitler's war. Tooze
weaves together a number of themes in this groundbreaking work and demolishes long
standing myths that have come to define World War II's European Theater. Tooze both
enlightens and entertains; The Wages of Destruction is well written and in spite of its
length easily holds the reader's attention. The scope covered by Tooze's work is truly
breathtaking. Rather than chronologically describing the book's flow - as it covers the
bulk of Germany's economic history as relevant to the Second World War - I will
instead mention some of the most important ideas advanced within its' pages.

First, Tooze demonstrates that Hitler and the National Socialist regime had a clear
ideological and economic focus driving the German war effort. This is important,
because frequently the economic component of the Third Reich's war is in particular
singled out as nothing more than irrational and chaotic - arguments conclusively
proven false in The Wages of Destruction. Without giving away the entire game,
suffice it to say Tooze amply demonstrates how and why Hitler and the National
Socialists made a push for great power status by creating a continental empire with
the capacity to ultimately challenge the continental economic colossus that was and is
the United States of America. In short, Hitler's focus was on Eastern Europe and
establishing the lebensraum, or living space, necessary for Germany to become a true
superpower. Of particular interest is in Tooze's demonstration of the importance
agrarian policy played in not only National Socialist economics but also the Holocaust
and even greater genocide planned for Eastern Europe - leading to the second great
theme of the book; its description of the Holocaust and genocide as economically
motivated as much as ideologically and racially motivated.

In terms of debunking long standing myths, the economic component behind the
subsequent Holocaust and genocide is absolutely crucial in proving the complicity with
which top National Socialist economic leaders were not merely "technocrats" but willing
participants in some of the most horrible crimes ever committed against humanity.
Albert Speer, among others, comes in for some deservedly rough treatment here and
not only for his role in the Holocaust, a role he had mostly successfully denied in the
sixty years since the War ended, but also because of bit of myth busting performed by
The Wages of Destruction. Tooze makes clear Speer, for all his postwar accolades,
was something less than the maestro of the "economic miracle" he supposedly
engineered late in the war; when Germany cranked out munitions in quantities far
exceeding those achieved prior to 1943 and did so even as Germany came under
heavier and heavier bombardment and had its access to important raw materials
diminish exponentially. I will leave the true reason for Germany's impressive late war
economic output to the interested reader.

There is far more within The Wages of Destruction than what is briefly mentioned in
this review that will prove revealing and insightful to even the serious student of World
War II. Moreover, although Tooze's examination of the Nazi economy is not all
encompassing; at one point even he admits the mechanics and structure of the
National Socialist coal and steel industries remain poorly understood - the overall
outcome of Tooze's research is overwhelmingly authoritative and insightful. Even
though I would not start with this book if I were seeking to learn a basic overview of
the Second World War I would have no qualms about opening it after I have learned
the basics. Far too often the military and political-strategic part of the equation
receives the brunt of scholars and researchers efforts in explaining the War - in
exploring the economic history of the Third Reich The Wages of Destruction richly fills a
gaping hole in the historical record.

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