Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
informative
medium-paced
Overall an okay book about the history of Prussia. It was a bit dry. I used this book to help me fall asleep at night. In that, this book did its job, but I had to skim over several sections throughout the book just to get through it.
The Kingdom of Prussia has been so thoroughly obliterated from the history books, Clark's book is a welcome reminder to Germanophiles like me.
Beginning in the ashes of the 30 Years War, Clark shows the way competent kings and an effective bureaucracy elevated both the Prussian military and the country's education system to among the finest in Europe. The devastation wrought by Napoleon's invasion served the kingdom, spurring all of Germany towards unification under the Prussian umbrella by 1870.
Clark traces the kingdom's path through the end of the monarchy/empire following World War I--this was the first source I had read which called Germany's overthrow of the Kaiser, a "revolution." He shows how the Weimar Republic raced against time and the strong conservative interests in Prussia to reform the police and judiciary. And Clark takes on the mythology of Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg, showing how he elevated himself to the detriment and destruction of the kingdom he tried so hard to exemplify.
This was a longer read than I would have preferred, but I learned new elements of German history in every chapter. I'm glad I read all the way through to the end.
Beginning in the ashes of the 30 Years War, Clark shows the way competent kings and an effective bureaucracy elevated both the Prussian military and the country's education system to among the finest in Europe. The devastation wrought by Napoleon's invasion served the kingdom, spurring all of Germany towards unification under the Prussian umbrella by 1870.
Clark traces the kingdom's path through the end of the monarchy/empire following World War I--this was the first source I had read which called Germany's overthrow of the Kaiser, a "revolution." He shows how the Weimar Republic raced against time and the strong conservative interests in Prussia to reform the police and judiciary. And Clark takes on the mythology of Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg, showing how he elevated himself to the detriment and destruction of the kingdom he tried so hard to exemplify.
This was a longer read than I would have preferred, but I learned new elements of German history in every chapter. I'm glad I read all the way through to the end.
As a fan of dense historical reads, after visiting Klaipeda this year I really wanted to enjoy a deep dive into Prussian history. While this book provided a fairly comprehensive review of this power, it never quite gripped me with its story-telling. It jumps around the timeline quite a bit and spends large sections describing the culture and social aspects without tying them into an overall story as well as I would like as a reader.
The entire time you know where this is heading, to the world wars and the Nazi regime, but the post-unification section is disappointingly short and is written mostly to try and separate this period from the previous 300 years. I found the period from 1600-1830 to be the most interesting in understanding Prussian culture and the unique spot they found themselves in Europe during this time period.
The entire time you know where this is heading, to the world wars and the Nazi regime, but the post-unification section is disappointingly short and is written mostly to try and separate this period from the previous 300 years. I found the period from 1600-1830 to be the most interesting in understanding Prussian culture and the unique spot they found themselves in Europe during this time period.
informative
slow-paced
informative
slow-paced
informative
slow-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
The history of Prussia has been written, and re-written many times, but this one probably nailed it. As an Australian, now working at Cambridge University, the author Christopher Clark has "no obligation (or temptation) either to lament or celebrate the Prussian record". Instead Clark "aims to understand all the forces that made, and unmade Prussia."
The caricature of Prussia is more popular unfortunately, than the real thing according to Clark. As one contemporary put it, Prussia was not a state with an army, but an army with a state, "where it was quartered, so to speak". Clark takes great efforts to dispel this myth, and many others beside in this massive book.
Starting of with a brief introduction to the Mark of Brandenburg, the geographical area which houses Berlin and the heart of what we would call Prussia, Clark swiftly moves to the creation of Prussia proper with fortuitous marriage alliances and trades by the House of Hohenzollern. The trauma of the Thirty Years War on the Prussian and German psyche is also explored. I learnt a lot about early modern European history as Clark deftly weaves a story with all the early Prussian kings, especially Frederick II ( "the Great") and their interactions with the other European Great Powers. Half-way through, we tackle Napoleon and his long-lasting effects on the Iron Kingdom (especially, its sudden doubling in size, thanks to the addition of the Rhineland to Prussia after the congress of Vienna).
Clark doesn't cover just military and political history. A large portion is devoted to cultural history, he also males a strong case for Prussia as a center of Enlightenment especially under Frederick William I and his son Frederick the Great (almost all of the 18th Century and beyond). Prussia was also one of the first European states to emancipate the Jews, and Jews, Poles and other minorities are much discussed throughout the book. Religious movements such as those of the Pietists (a Lutheran sub-sect roughly half way between the Hohenzollerns who were Calvinists, and the public who were Lutherans) is also explained, especially the long lasting effects of the Pietist way of thinking on Prussia. Even the education reforms carried out by the state would have long lasting changes leading to very efficient bureaucracy. In fact, the cornerstone of the Western education system such as the inculcation of thinking, and emphasis on research and critical analysis, even in early schooling was a Prussian invention.
The last few chapters are devoted to the tumultuous 19th Century revolutions, culminating in the creation of Germany, thanks to Bismarck and a host of others. The problem of a Prussia-in-Germany, and how it was never solved, and also the conflicting chains of military and civilian command are very well explained.
The only criticism I can lay at the book's feet are the decades leading up to WWI, the chapters are quite jumbled, jumping from one instance to the other. However Clark is back to his best with Nazism and Prussianism, and how equating the two of them is absurd. Unfortunately Germany lost, and was dismembered by the Allied leaders who very much believed in that fact. Now, most of historical Prussia is in Poland, while East Prussia's erstwhile capital of Konigsburg is an Russian exclave of Kalningrad.
Overall, I'd like to think that the narration of this book has imbibed much that is good in Prussia, it is straight forward, very clear and objective. A landmark not only on the historiography of Prussia but also on how modern history books should be written.
The caricature of Prussia is more popular unfortunately, than the real thing according to Clark. As one contemporary put it, Prussia was not a state with an army, but an army with a state, "where it was quartered, so to speak". Clark takes great efforts to dispel this myth, and many others beside in this massive book.
Starting of with a brief introduction to the Mark of Brandenburg, the geographical area which houses Berlin and the heart of what we would call Prussia, Clark swiftly moves to the creation of Prussia proper with fortuitous marriage alliances and trades by the House of Hohenzollern. The trauma of the Thirty Years War on the Prussian and German psyche is also explored. I learnt a lot about early modern European history as Clark deftly weaves a story with all the early Prussian kings, especially Frederick II ( "the Great") and their interactions with the other European Great Powers. Half-way through, we tackle Napoleon and his long-lasting effects on the Iron Kingdom (especially, its sudden doubling in size, thanks to the addition of the Rhineland to Prussia after the congress of Vienna).
Clark doesn't cover just military and political history. A large portion is devoted to cultural history, he also males a strong case for Prussia as a center of Enlightenment especially under Frederick William I and his son Frederick the Great (almost all of the 18th Century and beyond). Prussia was also one of the first European states to emancipate the Jews, and Jews, Poles and other minorities are much discussed throughout the book. Religious movements such as those of the Pietists (a Lutheran sub-sect roughly half way between the Hohenzollerns who were Calvinists, and the public who were Lutherans) is also explained, especially the long lasting effects of the Pietist way of thinking on Prussia. Even the education reforms carried out by the state would have long lasting changes leading to very efficient bureaucracy. In fact, the cornerstone of the Western education system such as the inculcation of thinking, and emphasis on research and critical analysis, even in early schooling was a Prussian invention.
The last few chapters are devoted to the tumultuous 19th Century revolutions, culminating in the creation of Germany, thanks to Bismarck and a host of others. The problem of a Prussia-in-Germany, and how it was never solved, and also the conflicting chains of military and civilian command are very well explained.
The only criticism I can lay at the book's feet are the decades leading up to WWI, the chapters are quite jumbled, jumping from one instance to the other. However Clark is back to his best with Nazism and Prussianism, and how equating the two of them is absurd. Unfortunately Germany lost, and was dismembered by the Allied leaders who very much believed in that fact. Now, most of historical Prussia is in Poland, while East Prussia's erstwhile capital of Konigsburg is an Russian exclave of Kalningrad.
Overall, I'd like to think that the narration of this book has imbibed much that is good in Prussia, it is straight forward, very clear and objective. A landmark not only on the historiography of Prussia but also on how modern history books should be written.