The German Empire - A Short History

Zusatztext “A concise! richly descriptive! and authoritative history.” — The New York Times Book Review “A brief yet thorough introduction to an episode of German history that has proven pivotal . . . over the past century and a half. . . . Stürmer’s superlative analysis of Bismarck the man! of his motives and actions! is a masterpiece of clarity and brevity.” — Publishers Weekly (starred) “Clear! concise! and compelling—a welcome corrective to the view that a principle task of historiography is to assign blame.” — Kirkus Reviews “[A] concise! information-packed history of imperial Germany! from its creation in 1870 to its collapse in the aftermath of World War I! that makes one acutely aware of what-might-have-beens.” — Forbes Informationen zum Autor Michael Stürmer has been a professor of history at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg since 1973 and is currently chief correspondent for Springer-Verlag in Berlin. The author of a number of books on German history, he has been a visiting research fellow at Harvard, the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, the Sorbonne, and the University of Toronto. Klappentext In a remarkably vibrant narrative, Michael Stürmer blends high politics, social history, portraiture, and an unparalleled command of military and economic developments to tell the story of Germany's breakneck rise from new nation to Continental superpower. It begins with the German military's greatest triumph, the Franco-Prussian War, and then tracks the forces of unification, industrialization, colonization, and militarization as they combined to propel Germany to become the force that fatally destabilized Europe's balance of power. Without The German Empire 's masterly rendering of this story, a full understanding of the roots of World War I and World War II is impossible.In the ancient city of Koblentz where the Moselle flows into the Rhine there is, in front of the Romanesque church of St. Castor, a neoclassical fountain with a plaque. The inscription celebrates the passage of Napoleon's grande armée through the city en route to Russia to crush the Tsar's despotism. It is signed, "Jules Doazan, sous préfet de la ville de Coblentz." Underneath there is a second inscription which reads, "Vu et approuvé par nous le commandant Russe de la ville de Coblentz."* The first inscription is dated 1812, the second one 1813. This plaque encapsulates the German question. Germany is situated at the heart of Europe where all the peninsulas and lands forming the European continent are linked to Eurasia. Germany, whether its citizens are aware of the fact or not, determines through its history and geography the destinies of most countries in Europe; and, in turn, the fate of Germany is, for better or for worse, of the utmost importance for these countries. This has been the conditio Germaniae ever since Europe began to evolve a thousand years ago. Strategic and cultural interdependence made the Holy Roman Empire for many centuries the center of the European system, but far from being the imperial master of Europe's destinies, the German lands proved time and again to be a peacetime chessboard or a wartime arena for the competition of the European powers who were rising to modern statehood and sovereignty and fighting for influence. The German constitution, forever organized in an uneasy equilibrium between the Emperor and the territorial rulers, became more "Europeanized," and less nationalistic in outlook and intent: today's map of Europe, the result of the changes that took place in the 1990s--Germany unified within the framework of NATO followed by a quantum leap in European integration through economic and monetary union--is nothing but a modern and more enlightened variation upon a very old theme. This book traces the rise and fall of the German Empire from its inception after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 to its...

Product details

• Authors: Michael Sturmer
• Publisher: Modern Library PRH US
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 06.08.2002
• EAN: 9780812966206
• ISBN: 978-0-8129-6620-6
• No. of pages: 192
• Dimensions: 133 mm x 200 mm x 11 mm
• Series: Modern Library Chronicles; Modern Library Chronicles
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries