Imperial Germany 1871-1918 Hardcover

James N. Retallack

The German Empire was founded in January 1871 not only on the basis of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck's 'blood and iron' policy but also with the support of liberal nationalists. Under Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm II, Germany became the dynamo of Europe. Its economic and military power were pre-eminent; its science and technology, education, and municipal administration were the envy of the world; and its avant-garde artists reflected the ferment in European culture. But Germany also played a decisive role in tipping Europe's fragile balance of power over the brink and into the cataclysm of the First World War, eventually leading to the empire's collapse in military defeat and revolution in November 1918. With contributions from an international team of twelve experts in the field, this volume offers an ideal introduction to this crucial era, taking care to situate Imperial Germany in the larger sweep of modern German history, without suggesting that Nazism or the Holocaust were inevitable endpoints to the developments charted here.

9780199204885

English

Oxford University Press

02 Jun 2008

344

James Retallack is Professor of History and German Studies at the University of Toronto. He has held visiting professorships at the University of Goettingen and the Free University, Berlin, and has published widely on German history from the late eighteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries

Useful, informative, and entertaining in equal measure. * Ewald Frie, German Historical Institute London Bulletin * offers a useful first port of call for students interested in Imperial Germany. * Lars Fischer, Canadian Journal of History