Germany From Napoleon To Bismarck

Thomas Nipperdey offers readers insights into the history and the culture of German nationalism, bringing to light much-needed information on the immediate prenational period of transition. A subject of passionate debates, the beginnings of German nationalism here receive a thorough-going exploration, from the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire to Bismarck's division of the German-speaking world into three parts: an enlarged Prussian state north of the Main, an isolated Austria-Hungary in the south, and a group of Catholic states in between. This altering of power structures, Nipperdey maintains, was the crucial action on which the future of the German state hinged. He traces the failure of German liberalism amidst the rise of nationalism, turning it from a story of inevitable catastrophe toward a series of episodes filled with contingency and choice. The book opens with the seismic effect of Napoleon on the German ancien-régime. Napoleon's modernizing hegemony is shown to have led to the gradual emergence of a civil society based on the liberal bourgeoisie. Nipperdey examines the fate of this society from the revolutions of 1848-49 through the rise of Bismarck. Into this story he weaves insights concerning family life, working conditions, agriculture, industrialization, and demography as well as religion, learning, and the arts. Originally published in 1996. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

A biography of Bismarck which describes the political, intellectual and institutional milieu which determined his political aims and strategy.

Bismarck’s role in the unification and consolidation of Germany is central to any understanding of Germany's development as a nation and its consequent role as aggressor in two world wars. This study provides students with a concise, up-to-date and analytical account of Bismarck's role in modern German history. Williamson guides readers through the complex events leading to the defeats of Austria and France in 1866 and 1870 and the subsequent creation of a united Germany in January 1871. He then explores the domestic and foreign problems Bismarck faced up to 1890 in consolidating unification.

FOR MOST people Bismarck is the man of “blood and iron”; he coined the phrase himself and he lived up to it. But he was much more; he had an intellectual ascendancy over all the politicians of his day, and his superiority was acknowledged not only by his own people, but by all European statesmen. The unification of Germany, the defeat of Austria, the fall of the Second Empire, the defeat of France, the alliance of the German Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy, the dismemberment of Denmark—these are his most obvious achievements; no less important was the transformation in the national consciousness of the German people, for which Bismarck was also responsible. Dr. Eyck has analyzed not only the personality but also the accomplishments of a statesman whose influence on Europe in the latter half of the nineteenth century was more far-reaching than that of any other man in his time.-Print ed. “Authoritative, illuminating and easy to read....Dr. Eyck, in his excellent book, has exposed the many fallacies of which Bismarck legend is compounded. His analysis is tragic and austere.”―The Observer

Combining impeccable scholarship and literary elegance, David Wetzel depicts the drama of machinations and passions that exploded in a war that forever changed the face of European history.

How did Bismarck, Germany’s greatest nineteenth century leader, extend and maintain his power? This new Profile examines his strengths as statesman and all the facets of his political career. His many direct achievements included the unification of Germany and the expansion of Prussia. In short, he was the architect of Germany’s change from cultural region to political nation. In the end he combined egotism and brilliance exceptionally, yet it was still not enough to save him from dismissal by William II.

Analyzes the achievements of Frederick the Great and Otto von Bismarck, and explains how Bismarck, a Prussion prime minister, was able to unite all of the German states into a single empire nearly one hundred years after the death of Frederick the Great.

The arduous path from the colourful diversity of the Holy Roman Empire to the Prussian-dominated German nation-state, Bismarck's German Empire of 1871, led through revolutions, wars and economic upheavals, but also through the cultural splendour of German Classicism and Romanticism. Hagen Schulze takes a fresh look at late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century German history, explaining it as the interaction of revolutionary forces from below and from above, of economics, politics, and culture. None of the results were predetermined, and yet their outcome was of momentous significance for all of Europe, if not the world.