The German Empire
A Short History
-
-
4.0 • 2 Ratings
-
-
- $14.99
-
- $14.99
Publisher Description
In The German Empire, one of Europe's great historians and men of letters chronicles one of history's most fateful transformations--Germany's rise from new nation to prime mover in the chain of events that sent it hurtling into two world wars.
In 1871, Otto von Bismarck fused with "blood and iron" a motley collection of principalities, Free Cities, and bishoprics into one Reich. In England, Benjamin Disraeli observed that the world was witnessing "a greater political event than the French revolution of last century. . . . [T]here is not a diplomatic tradition which has not been swept away. . . . The balance of power has been entirely destroyed." Disraeli's powers of prophecy, in this as in much else, were formidable.
The Age of Bismarck saw Germany become the dynamo of Europe--its preeminent economic and military power, its scientific and educational nerve center, and a place of tremendous artistic ferment. But there would be no simple spell to return to their bottles the genies unleashed by these vast forces, and Michael Stürmer traces the convergence of people and events that sent Europe's fragile balance of power over the brink and into conflict. No war was fought for less purpose or with greater slaughter than the First World War which, in Michael Stürmer's assured hands, arrives as the next-to-last act of an epic drama all the more tragic for the blazing brilliance of its opening scenes. Though the drama's final horrible act, the Second World War, takes place offstage from The German Empire, it is impossible to understand its origins without the history Michael Stürmer tells here with such elegance and insight.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This new volume in Modern Library's Chronicles series of brief histories is a welcome addition to the historical literature by a longtime professor of history at the University of Erlangen-N rnberg who is in obvious command of his material. He begins with an overview of the situation in Germany when the architect of the unified German Reich, Otto von Bismarck, was beginning his political career, and ends with the collapse of the state at the end of the First World War. Between these points, St rmer's superlative analysis of Bismarck the man, of his motives and actions, is a masterpiece of clarity and brevity. The author then brilliantly surveys the history of the state that Bismarck created, leaving out nothing of importance. This is not an in-depth study, of course, but whether students or history buffs, readers who want a brief yet thorough introduction to an episode of German history that has proven pivotal to the history of the entire planet over the past century and a half will find exactly what they are looking for here. 3 maps not seen by PW.
