A pivotal event in the history of the twentieth century, Hitler's Germany continues to elicit fascination, revulsion, and controversy. Dealing with this extraordinary and deeply disturbing historical phenomenon, the course explores the origin, nature, and demise of the Third Reich. Beginning with the rise of the National Socialism in Weimar Germany, it goes on to examine the Nazi seizure of power, the centrality of Hitler, the ideology and racial agenda of Nazism, and the destruction of the Reich in five years of war and genocide. These and other topics, such as popular opinion and everyday life, will be discussed from a variety of perspectives - cultural, political, and socioeconomic - to provide a broad interpretative framework for understanding the genesis, consolidation, and criminality of the Nazi State.