A rogues' gallery of social misfits formed the Nazis' inner circle. They hated and conspired against each other but were held together by their admiration for the Fuhrer, and step by step they dragged the nation towards the abyss. Drawing on a wide range of sources, author Paul Roland unravels the web of diplomacy, deceit and double-dealing which Hitler spun to ensure the war he had always wanted. This is the extraordinary story of the little Austrian corporal with the twisted psyche who rose from obscurity to command the world's most formidable military machine, before destroying himself and the empire he claimed would last a thousand years.