Frontiers of Empire - Max Sering, Inner Colonization, and the German East, 18711945

How did the homesteads and reservations of the Prairies of Western North America influence German colonization, ethnic cleansing and genocide in Eastern Europe? Max Sering, a world-famous agrarian settlement expert, stood on the Great Plains in 1883 and saw Germany's future in Eastern Europe: a grand scheme of frontier settlement. Sering was a key figure in the evolution of Germany's relationship with its eastern frontier, as well as in the overall transformation of the German Right from the Bismarckian 1880s to the Hitlerian 1930s. 'Inner colonization' was the settlement of farmers in threatened borderland areas within the nation's boundaries. Focusing on this phenomenon, Frontiers of Empire complicates the standard thesis of separation between the colonizing country and the colonized space, and blurs the typical boundaries between colonizer and colonized subjects. This title is part of the Flip it Open Programme and may also be available Open Access. Check our website Cambridge Core for details.

List of contents

1. Settler colonialism and how to tell a story: inner colonization and biography; 2. The Frontiers of youth: Kaiserreich, part one; 3. Career beginnings, eastern interests: Kaiserreich, part two (1883-1897); 4. Settling in: Kaiserreich, part three (1897-1914); 5. The radicalization of inner colonization: world war one, 1914-1918; 6. Sering the star: the Weimar Republic, 1918-1933; 7. Sering's journey comes to an end: the third Reich (1933-39); 8. The legacy of Max Sering and inner colonization: the second world war and its aftermath; Conclusion.

About the author

Robert L. Nelson is the author of German Soldier Newspapers of the First World War (Cambridge, 2011), and edited Germans, Poland, and Colonial Expansion to the East: 1850 Through the Present (2009). He has won fellowships from the Killam Trust, the Humboldt Foundation, and was a Visiting Fulbright Scholar.

Product details

• Authors: Robert L Nelson, Robert L. Nelson, Robert L. (University of Windsor Nelson
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.01.2024
• EAN: 9781009235365
• ISBN: 978-1-0-0923536-5
• No. of pages: 335
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, Eastern Europe, European History, Germany, HISTORY / Europe / General, 20th Century, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, c 1800 to c 1900, Colonialism & imperialism, Later 19th century c 1850 to c 1899, Diplomacy, Early 20th century c 1900 to c 1950, Colonialism and imperialism