|
Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947 | 
 enlarge | Author: Christopher Clark
Publisher: Belknap Press
Category: Book
List Price: $35.00
Buy New: $23.10
You Save: $11.90 (34%)
New (24) Used (12) Collectible (1) from $18.48
Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 106733
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 800
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.9
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 2.1
ISBN: 0674023854
Dewey Decimal Number: 943
EAN: 9780674023857
ASIN: 0674023854
Publication Date: September 29, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
In the aftermath of World War II, Prussia--a centuries-old state pivotal to Europe's development--ceased to exist. In their eagerness to erase all traces of the Third Reich from the earth, the Allies believed that Prussia, the very embodiment of German militarism, had to be abolished. But as Christopher Clark reveals in this pioneering history, Prussia's legacy is far more complex. Though now a fading memory in Europe's heartland, the true story of Prussia offers a remarkable glimpse into the dynamic rise of modern Europe. What we find is a kingdom that existed nearly half a millennium ago as a patchwork of territorial fragments, with neither significant resources nor a coherent culture. With its capital in Berlin, Prussia grew from being a small, poor, disregarded medieval state into one of the most vigorous and powerful nations in Europe. Iron Kingdom traces Prussia's involvement in the continent's foundational religious and political conflagrations: from the devastations of the Thirty Years War through centuries of political machinations to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, from the enlightenment of Frederick the Great to the destructive conquests of Napoleon, and from the "iron and blood" policies of Bismarck to the creation of the German Empire in 1871, and all that implied for the tumultuous twentieth century. By 1947, Prussia was deemed an intolerable threat to the safety of Europe; what is often forgotten, Clark argues, is that it had also been an exemplar of the European humanistic tradition, boasting a formidable government administration, an incorruptible civil service, and religious tolerance. Clark demonstrates how a state deemed the bane of twentieth-century Europe has played an incalculable role in Western civilization's fortunes. Iron Kingdom is a definitive, gripping account of Prussia's fascinating, influential, and critical role in modern times. (20060812)
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 An interesting thesis October 6, 2006
1. (Littleton, CO United States)
46 out of 53 found this review helpful
Clark has wriiten an interesting book about the history of Prussia in which he argues that Prussia has been misunderstood as a reactionary militaristic state when in reality it was the most progressive of the German states. Throughout the eighteenth century the Prussian government would protect small farmers from abusive aristocratic landowners and also educate the Prussian peasantry. This legacy of reforms would continue throughout the nineteenth century with a nationalized health insurance program and a state pension system. Moreover the Prussian state was tolerant to various ethnic groups such as Poles and Jews since there was no such thing as Prussian identity because Prussia included Catholics from the Rhineland and Protestant Poles in East Prussia. Clark contends that the Prussian idea of an enlightened cosomopolitan Prussian state dissapated after the German wars of Unification and the nationalist idea that stressed a racial notion of the nation took over. In the closing chapters of the book Clark seems to blame Nazism on the southern Germans and the Austrians since they formed most of the Nazi leadership and the fact that Prussia was the last German state to keep a democratic majority of mainly the SPD until the collaspse of the Weimer Republic. The only weakness of Clark's book is that he seems to ignore the fact that the origins of German nationalism originated in the writings of Herder and Hamman, who were both Prussians,despised the enlightenment and wanted a nation based on exclusively linguistic ties and not a cosmopolitan Prussian state. Nevertheless this book gives an interesting and new view of German history.
 Expansive and detailed history of the Prussian Empire November 5, 2006
A. G. Corwin (St. Louis, MO)
30 out of 30 found this review helpful
Rich in detail, Christopher Clark's new book Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600-1947, is a welcome addition to the multitude of histories covering central Europe. Clark brings to life an era of Prussian history that is little known aside from the 19th and 20th century Kaisers and this expansive history is a fine piece of research.
Clark analyzes the transformation of the Prussian empire from its small Brandenburg origins to the dominant European power it became. The book covers all the major rulers from the Great Elector to Frederick the Great to Kaiser "Willy", and examines in detail the social, political, economic and military issues that played such a part in the development of Prussia. Where Clark especially shines is the detail of the empire's early years with the Great Elector and his two successors. In this era Prussia gained extensive swaths of territory through alliances and marriages, even as it went through internal and religious strife at home. Clark has clearly done his homework, scouring through dusty archives and examining in multiple languages the papers of the empire, most notably the Political Testaments (a letter of sorts to the next King) of the early Kings. Clark examines the successes of the Prussian military machine, with its strength of the canton regimental system, and the growth of the civil service and judiciary. The political maneuverings between Prussia, France, England, Russia, and Austria make for fascinating reading, with Prussia somehow managing to come out ahead more often than not (conversely, Austria managed to always find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory).
This is a large book, and takes a while to get through. Clark's writing style is fairly fluid, rich with detail, but the structure of the book is more thematic as opposed to linear, at least in the early chapters. For example, the clash of Lutheranism and Calvinism in the early empire spanned many decades and three different rulers, with the text jumping back and forth between the years. After a few chapters, it's hard to keep focus on who is ruling and what territory is gained, but it does get better as you get deeper into the book. This however, is a minor fault and may be more based on my writing preferences rather than any fault of the author's. Overall a very solid book and a nice addition to your history shelf. Recommended.
A.G. Corwin
St.Louis, MO
From Brandenburg to Brandenburg January 30, 2007
J. F. Cuadrado (Fairfax, VA)
24 out of 26 found this review helpful
Christopher Clark begins his survey of Prussian history with the death of his protagonist - the State of Prussia - at the hands of the Allied powers after WW II. He then proceeds to develop the reasons for that destruction. In doing so, he follows Prussia's growth from its swampy Brandenburg heartland to a continental power and threat to world peace. The story of this rise and fall has value for students of strategy and national security, as well as armchair historians interested in modern Europe.
Strategists will recognize many facets of their discipline throughout this well-documented book. The Hohenzollerns, Nuremberg burgraves, purchased Brandenburg in 1417 for prestige. Burgrave Frederick paid a king's ransom in gold to become one of seven electors of the Holy Roman Emperor. As electors, the Hohenzollern were influential among the 300-odd sovereigns owing fealty - if not always paying loyalty - to the Habsburg emperor in Vienna. The position - and Hohenzollern ambition - eventually led Prussia to contend with Vienna for leadership of the German nation. Success came in 1871 - and meant the elimination of Prussia as an independent state. Along the way, Prussian rulers developed the tools of state necessary to match their ambition. The Great Elector played the game of diplomacy well, protecting his non-contiguous realm from encroachment by the great powers while strengthening it economically with Protestant immigrants. Frederick William II, the Soldier King, built a formidable army and a bureaucratic and economic structure to support it. His son, Frederick the Great, used that army to boost Prussia into the ranks of great powers.
The student of national security will learn how Frederick's successors squandered his gains. They allowed the army and its supporting structures to ossify. Poor diplomacy and failure to ally with Austria and Russian against Napoleon led to defeat and occupation. Timid King Fredrick William III recognized that he could retake his kingdom only after massive reforms. Fortunately, he was blessed with a remarkable generation of administrative and military reformers. Professor Clark recounts the struggles of Hardenberg, Stein, Gneisenau and others in rebuilding the Prussian state. Their reforms ranged from education to agriculture to the bureaucracy, economics and citizenship. These efforts yielded a reconstituted Prussian army of citizen-soldiers - and an allied victory at Waterloo.
The armchair historian will find more than the machinations of kings and generals in their quest for power. Clark sets each epoch into cultural context. The Prussian subject is here - the French Huguenot, the east Elbian peasant and independent-thinking Rhinelander. Great movers and shakers are here as well. In addition to the Napoleonic-era reformers are the Bismarcks, Hegels and Fontanes. Above all, Clark gives us the land and its people - the true underpinning of an agrarian society developing into a modern industrial power.
Clark's final chapters chronicle the cooption of the Prussian identity - already subsumed by the German Reich in 1871 - into a backdrop for Nazi propaganda. The end result is a Prussia, stripped of its identity, destroyed by war and occupied by the unsympathetic Allies. It ceased to exist as a political entity by Allied decree in 1947. All that remained were gutted buildings, buried monuments and Brandenburg - soon to be a province in the Soviet Union's East German satellite.
 Better as a reference book than a narrative December 14, 2006
N. Ravitch (Savannah, GA United States)
14 out of 21 found this review helpful
This is a distinguished piece of work, a history of Prussia over 350 years. Its detail and complexity may be necessary and unavoidable but the result is that the book is very hard going indeed. It will be immensely useful more as a reference work than as a narrative of people and events.
The notion that Prussia had good points and is not solely at the foundation of the "German malaise" is not a new one at all. Many historians of various persuasions have written favorably of Prussia in the period before German Kaiser William II, with heroes like the Great Elector and Frederick the Great given their due. But it is useful to have this viewpoint presented again. Americans and many other non-Germans seem to prefer the bonhomie of the Barvarians and Austrians without understanding that in a pinch the uprightness of the Prussians might be preferable. Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels, Heydrich and Eichmann were not Prussians but Austrians, Bavarians, Rhinelanders, and southerners. While Rhinelanders and German Catholics generally worried about showing they were good German nationalists and patriots Prussians did not worry about being German at all. They were content with being subjects of the Hohenzollern ruler, good Prussians.
Historiography Properly Done... July 15, 2007
The Riviera Reviewer (the California Riviera.)
14 out of 18 found this review helpful
.
Heads up, students and scholars: Dr. Clark's tome is a prime example of how historiography is properly done: well researched, well written, well documented, entertaining, informative--(although I do like a few more maps and illustrations).
This could go on any short reading list of European history.
.
|
|
|
|
| |
