Hitler and the National Socialist (Nazi) Party and government saw themselves as the defenders of European civilization against the mortal threat of the armies of nomadic warriors-barbaric hordes-from the Asiatic steppes: Slavs, Russians, Bolsheviks, Jews, Asians. The Third Reich was claimed to be led by members of a Herrenrasse, a supposedly pure, superior race of Aryans (Noble Ones). What came to pass was quite different: These self-declared Aryans were themselves violent hordes-Germanic, murderous warriors who acted on an unprecedented level of savagery, viciousness, and remorseless brutality, stunning the world, which could only comprehend the extent of these actions, years if not decades later. This work, grounded in extensive research, explores in depth the diverse, multi-faceted cultural and historical background in which Nazism developed, rooted in rage and the fierce, sweet dream of revenge, and fed by a nightmarish core conviction that the Jews of Europe wanted the extermination of all Germans. It investigates the earth-shaking times from the mutual slaughters of World War I to the disastrous last days of the twelve years of the thousand-year Third Reich. In this, it examines key dimensions of the complex world of the Third Reich and its own peculiar inner logic, along with the repercussions it has had on hundreds of millions of people, both then and through the several generations of individuals impacted by this catastrophic violence, inviting us to face questions about morality, civility, society, and government that are vital and pertinent to us to this day. With images, illustrations, maps, bibliography, and an extensive index.