Unavailable
Unavailable
Unavailable
Ebook287 pages4 hours
The Shortest History of Germany
By James Hawes
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
READ IN AN AFTERNOON. REMEMBER FOR A LIFETIME.
The West is in full retreat. The Anglo-Saxon powers, great and small, withdraw into fantasies of lost greatness. Populists all over Europe cry out that immigration and globalisation are the work of a nefarious System, run by unseen masters with no national loyalties. From the Kremlin, Tsar Vladimir watches his Great Game line up, while the Baltic and Vizegrad states shiver -- and everyone looks to Berlin. But are the Germans really us, or them? This question has haunted Europe ever since Julius Caesar invented the Germani in 58 BC.
How Roman did Germania ever become? Did the Germans destroy the culture of Rome, or inherit it? When did they first drive east, and did they ever truly rule there? How did Germany become, for centuries, a power-vacuum at the heart of Europe? How was Prussia born? Did Bismarck unify Germany or conquer it? Where are the roots of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich? Why did it lose? By what miracle did a better Germany arise from the rubble? Is Germany now the last Western bastion of industrial prosperity and rational politics? Or are the EU and the Euro merely window-dressing for a new German hegemony?
This fresh, illuminating and concise new history makes sense of Europe's most admired and feared country. It's time for the real story of Germany.
The West is in full retreat. The Anglo-Saxon powers, great and small, withdraw into fantasies of lost greatness. Populists all over Europe cry out that immigration and globalisation are the work of a nefarious System, run by unseen masters with no national loyalties. From the Kremlin, Tsar Vladimir watches his Great Game line up, while the Baltic and Vizegrad states shiver -- and everyone looks to Berlin. But are the Germans really us, or them? This question has haunted Europe ever since Julius Caesar invented the Germani in 58 BC.
How Roman did Germania ever become? Did the Germans destroy the culture of Rome, or inherit it? When did they first drive east, and did they ever truly rule there? How did Germany become, for centuries, a power-vacuum at the heart of Europe? How was Prussia born? Did Bismarck unify Germany or conquer it? Where are the roots of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich? Why did it lose? By what miracle did a better Germany arise from the rubble? Is Germany now the last Western bastion of industrial prosperity and rational politics? Or are the EU and the Euro merely window-dressing for a new German hegemony?
This fresh, illuminating and concise new history makes sense of Europe's most admired and feared country. It's time for the real story of Germany.
Unavailable
Author
James Hawes
James Hawes is the author of the internationally acclaimed Shortest History of Germany. He has published a biography of Kafka (‘absolutely brilliant and utterly infuriating’ –The Guardian) and Englanders & Huns, the real story of the fatal Anglo-German antagonism (‘full of enlightening surprises’ –The Times).
Read more from James Hawes
The Shortest History of England Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Englanders and Huns: The Culture-Clash which Led to the First World War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBrilliant Isles: Art That Made Us Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Shortest History of Germany
Related ebooks
A Short History of Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A People's History of the World: From the Stone Age to the New Millennium Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Swiss Without Halos Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Times History of the World Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5London, A Very Peculiar History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Posh Boys: How English Public Schools Ruin Britain Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Five Germanys I Have Known: A History & Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lost London Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Germany - Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Russia: A Short History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Walking in Berlin: a flaneur in the capital Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Medieval Europe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Swiss Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A History of Europe: From Pre-History to the 21st Century Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Guide to Living in Berlin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPrussia: The Evolution of an Empire Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Division: Berlin, the Wall, and the Cold War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elizabethans: A History of How Modern Britain Was Forged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flashpoints: the emerging crisis in Europe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Captain Swing Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Berlitz Pocket Guide Budapest (Travel Guide eBook) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe History of London Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistorical Capitalism: With <em>Capitalist Civilization</em> Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Establishment and Meritocracy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
European History For You
Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Greek Mythology: Captivating Stories of the Ancient Olympians and Titans: Heroes and Gods, Ancient Myths Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book: The Script Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Short History of the World: The Story of Mankind From Prehistory to the Modern Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler's Defeat Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mein Kampf: English Translation of Mein Kamphf - Mein Kampt - Mein Kamphf Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Story of the Trapp Family Singers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mein Kampf: The Original, Accurate, and Complete English Translation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Victorian Lady's Guide to Fashion and Beauty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Negro Rulers of Scotland and the British Isles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Oscar Wilde: The Unrepentant Years Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forgotten Slave Trade: The White European Slaves of Islam Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Violent Abuse of Women: In 17th and 18th Century Britain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 – 1066 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Law Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Celtic Charted Designs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of English Magic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Psychedelic Gospels: The Secret History of Hallucinogens in Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Celtic Mythology: A Concise Guide to the Gods, Sagas and Beliefs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Shortest History of Germany
Rating: 3.705357142857143 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
56 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A clear, well-rendered read. I have been hungering for a good history of Germany (esp. the murky 1800s), and this book did the job. The author creates simple and memorable oppositions that transform but remain steady through the centuries. While I am skeptical of easy binaries, and perhaps should be of these, it was a satisfying book that gives me a hold in the history.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A very short read that matches the title claim in not offering anything like an in-depth History of the most critical nation in the evolution of Europe - political & military developments are covered briefly in each era as the author divides his text - cultural-social-economic German development is hardly touched on at any stage.It's worth reading, but obviously inadequate for a wider understanding of Germany.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Finally allowed to get to read this, between many distractions, but what a pleasure. Such any easy read with a narrative pushing you through all the convolutions of Germany history. Fascinating, driven by a central theme that doesn't get mired in the many possible side issues and events.The skill in keeping the narrative moving but carrying along the 'uninformed' reader is remarkable. Even the modern events of german history, where I thought I had some misty insight, were suddenly revealed in stark detail from an new perspective that had that solid ring of authenticity. Right bang uptodate, Merkle shapeshifts into a different persona.Given all the convolutions and the many iterations before any sense of a Germany emerges, that the narrative can hold it all together with a strong positive sense of direction is all credit to the author. The inclusion of maps, too small and too sketchy to give any detail other than a glimpsed overview, were helpful but also annoying, particularly as my knowledge of german cities and locations is fuzzy. The bubble diagrams that are simplistic to a really idiotic degree, do serve to ram home the core of the themes being laid out so nobody but nobody can miss the point being made!Clearly not a scholarly work, though the frequent clips to relevant quotes imply very well researched material, you have to surrender to his underlying thesis, Germany west of the Elbe and Prussia to east and never the twain shall co-exist, collaboratively. I am not in a position to even begin to unpick his thesis and for me it is immaterial. He has given me a kaleidoscope view into germany and what has made it tick and what is still driving even now after all the vicissitudes of recent decades.So thank you I take away a better understanding of germany and its place in the world order, subject to anyone whose has a better insight!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5What shall we make of this book? Not easy!First, almost no sources are given (towards the end a few names are mentioned, as an afterthought, so it seems) - thus the editorial standard falls short of wikipedia requirements and, in this respect, the book does not deserve more than the lowest possible mark, i.e. half a *! Then there is no index, neither a bibliography encouraging further reading. But further reading is definitely required as only the barest of bare bones are given, quasi a clean-picked skeleton that badly needs some flesh to be put on.On the other hand, I found only minor factual errors (e.g. Nicolaus von Jersoschin was the translator, not the author of the Chronicle of Prussia) and as I turned the pages, it grew on me. Now, every historic narrative is subjective, an objective historiography does not exist: always a selection has to be made what to mention what to leave out, let alone an inevitable bias in the way events are related and this book is no miraculous exception! So, reader, beware! With this book it is simply impossible to disentangle his own opinions from those of others, neither are we told to what extend the given outlines are accepted or controversial.The idea (his? or whose? - we are not told) that the seeds of WW1 and the Nazi 3rd Reich can be traced back to Britain handing the Rhineland with what soon became Germany’s industrial heart-land of the Ruhr to Prussia in 1814, thus strengthening Prussia to the extend that it can ride roughshod over all the little principalities in the Rheinbund and making Germany a Prussian empire in 1871 is interesting (but again: how widely accepted is this idea?). So Britain meddling where it has no business (and later, in 1938, under Chamberlain not meddling when it should!) may have a lot to answer for! Read it, but critically! And certainly it is not a book that should ever be quoted as a source! (VII-17)
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5An unusual history, this sets out to package a history of Germany into an easily-digested work, suited to our age of distrust of obvious experts. The style is highly journalistic, but meatier quotes are called out as we go along. Only when we reach the end does the author make their pedigree clear; not a historian, true, but certainly an academic, with access to academic sources. Some of the quotations made along the way were familiar to me, as well.The thesis the book puts forward is that many of the values popularly thought of as "German" are actually Prussian; and much of the history of Germany in the 20th Century can be explained by pointing to Prussian hegemony over the rest of Germany, using the industrial and financial might of western Germany to drive their ambition. This is not a new idea - I first came across it in a work of current affairs written in 1916 - but I've not seen it expressed much in more recent histories.The finger of blame is pointed at Bismarck, who set up a lot of mechanisms to steer Germany along the routes he wanted. The trouble is that after Bismarck fell, those mechanisms, from military institutions to clubs and societies, each with their own nationalistic agenda, carried on without him, and went along the routes of least resistance. The rest really is history.Some have been very critical of this book,. suggesting it is superficial, inaccurate, or even racist. But it has to be measured against its target audience. There are Britons nowadays who stick to the idea of Germany as militaristic, expansionist, arrogant and likely to repeat the actions of the past. This book attempts to set them right.In attempting to squeeze the whole span of German history down into fewer than 230 pages, a lot has to be missed out. Perhaps the two omissions I noticed the most were a discussion of the origins of Hitler's motivations, and German tensions within NATO in the 1980s. Hitler's obsession with Germany, as an Austrian, can only be understood with reference to the nature of Austrian politics in the 19th Century; the divide between those who felt Austria should be looking west and those who felt it should be looking east. As for NATO in the 1980s, the deployment of Pershing missiles to Germany upset a lot of people in the German establishment who saw this as an attempt by America to fight World War 3 away from the Continental USA. Having been bombed almost back to the Stone Age just a generation before, many in Germany were not prepared to undergo the same again - only much worse - on behalf of somebody else. NATO's Exercise 'Able Archer' was the final straw, almost igniting that war because the Soviets were on the verge of mistaking it for a genuine attack. Hawes attributes the progress on disarmament that followed specifically to Helmut Kohl; but there was a major groundswell of opinion in West Germany that he could not ignore.But these are minor matters. Another five or ten pages probably wouldn't have mattered; then again, this book has the advantage of being right up to date (my copy being the 2nd, revised edition of 2020), looking at Angela Merkel with some degree of perspective as she draws near to the end of her term of office, and casting Vladimir Putin as a modern-day Tsar. If you have never read any German history or know nothing of the country, this is a quick start. It should not be the only source if you intend any sort of in-depth knowledge or analysis; but it is far from the superficial gloss some would have you believe.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5When I saw this book, I saw it as an opportunity to learn more about the history of Germany. Disappointment set in almost from the moment I opened the book. Non-existent documentation, an overly familiar writing style, and blatant political bias plagued the account. In a small book such as this, one expects superficial treatment; however, the author's biases seem to drive what he glosses over and what he treats more in-depth. The author needs to return to writing fiction and refrain from non-fiction unless he plans to document his work and ignore his own biases. I received an advance electronic copy through NetGalley with the expectation of an honest review. The book's index was not included in the version I read.
1 person found this helpful