What do you think?
Rate this book
Oxford History of Modern Europe
Germany 1866-1945
G.A. Craig, author of several distinguished books including The Politics of the Prussian Army 1640-1945 ('55), has written a magisterial history of Germany from Prussia's 1866 triumph over Austria at Koeniggroetz to the destruction of the 3rd Reich in 1945. His story focuses upon the two dominating personalities of the period: Bismarck, the "great star" whose genius & penetration are undeniable, but whose achievement "had its 'night side' as well as its 'day side,'" & Hitler, who, unlike the Iron Chancellor, was "sui generis a force without a real historical past." Craig agrees with Dahrendorf (Society & Democracy in Germany) that, paradoxically, it was precisely because he lacked roots in tradition that Hitler could destroy the major obstacle to its progress towards a liberal modernity--"the conservative-militaristic concern that had dominated politics in the Wilhelmine period, done everything possible to shorten the life of the Weimar Republic & elevated him to power in 1933." The concentration on these two figures in no way represents a failure to appreciate institutional, economic & social factors of development. A major part of the story--the place & treatment of women under the Empire, Weimar & Hitler--receives an overdue coherent treatment as do religion & education. Craig (J.E. Wallace Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Stanford) displays an equally keen appreciation of the role of culture. In particular, he forcefully portrays the flight from political responsibility which was characteristic of most artists & intellectuals under the Empire & which marred the splendid cultural achievements of Weimar as well. The combination of his learning with his gracefully lucid style has yielded a work of historical synthesis more readable & better organized than any book of comparable scope.--Kirkus (edited)
848 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
15 people are currently reading
413 people want to read
About the author
Gordon A. Craig
55 books18 followersBorn in Glasgow, Gordon Craig emigrated with his family in 1925, initially to Toronto, Canada, and then to Jersey City, New Jersey. Initially interested in studying the law, he switched to history after hearing the historian Walter "Buzzer" Hall lecture at Princeton University. In 1935, Craig visited and lived for several months in Germany, to research a thesis he was writing on the downfall of the Weimar Republic. This trip marked the beginning of lifelong interest with all things German. Craig did not enjoy the atmosphere of Nazi Germany, and throughout his life, he sought to find the answer to the question of how a people who, in his opinion, had made a disproportionately large contribution to Western civilization, allowed themselves to become entangled in what Craig saw as the corrupting embrace of Nazism.
Of Adolf Hitler, Craig once wrote,
"Adolf Hitler was sui generis, a force without a real historical past... dedicated to the acquisition of power for his own gratification and to the destruction of a people whose existence was an offense to him and whose annihilation would be his crowning triumph. Both the grandiose barbarism of his political vision and the moral emptiness of his character make it impossible to compare him in any meaningful way with any other German leader. He stands alone"
Craig graduated in history from Princeton University, was a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford, from 1936 to 1938, and served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a captain and in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. In 1941, he co-edited with Edward Mead Earle and Felix Gilbert, on behalf of the American War Department, the book Makers of Modern Strategy: Military Thought From Machiavelli to Hitler, which was intended to serve as a guide to strategic thinking for military leaders during the war.
After 1945, Craig worked as a consultant to the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the State Department, the U.S. Air Force Academy and the Historical Division of the U.S. Marine Corps. He was a professor at Princeton University from 1950–61 and at Stanford University from 1961-79. In 1956-1957, he taught at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. In addition, he often held visiting professorships at the Free University of Berlin; in 1967, Craig was the only professor there to sign a petition asking for an investigation into charges of police brutality towards protesting students. Craig was chair of the history department at Stanford in 1972-1975 and 1978-1979. Between 1975-1985, he served as the vice-president of the Comité International des Sciences Historiques. In 1979, he became an emeritus professor and was awarded the title J. E. Wallace Sterling Professor of Humanities.
During his time at Stanford, Craig was considered to be a popular and innovative teacher who improved both undergraduate and graduate teaching, while remaining well liked by the students. After his retirement, he worked as a book reviewer for the New York Review of Books. Some of his reviews attracted controversy, most notably in April 1996, when he praised Daniel Goldhagen's book Hitler's Willing Executioners and later in September of the same year when he argued that David Irving's work was valuable because of what Craig saw as Irving's devil's advocate role. Craig argued that Irving was usually wrong, but that by promoting what Craig saw as a twisted and wrongheaded view of history with a great deal of élan, Irving forced other historians to fruitfully examine their beliefs about what is known about the Third Reich.
Craig was formerly President of the American Historical Association. In 1953, together with his friend Felix Gilbert, he edited a prosopography of inter-war diplomats entitled The Diplomats, an important source for diplomatic history in the interwar period. He followed this book with studies on the Prussian Army, the Battle of Königgrätz and many aspects of European and Ger
Of Adolf Hitler, Craig once wrote,
"Adolf Hitler was sui generis, a force without a real historical past... dedicated to the acquisition of power for his own gratification and to the destruction of a people whose existence was an offense to him and whose annihilation would be his crowning triumph. Both the grandiose barbarism of his political vision and the moral emptiness of his character make it impossible to compare him in any meaningful way with any other German leader. He stands alone"
Craig graduated in history from Princeton University, was a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford, from 1936 to 1938, and served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a captain and in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II. In 1941, he co-edited with Edward Mead Earle and Felix Gilbert, on behalf of the American War Department, the book Makers of Modern Strategy: Military Thought From Machiavelli to Hitler, which was intended to serve as a guide to strategic thinking for military leaders during the war.
After 1945, Craig worked as a consultant to the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the State Department, the U.S. Air Force Academy and the Historical Division of the U.S. Marine Corps. He was a professor at Princeton University from 1950–61 and at Stanford University from 1961-79. In 1956-1957, he taught at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. In addition, he often held visiting professorships at the Free University of Berlin; in 1967, Craig was the only professor there to sign a petition asking for an investigation into charges of police brutality towards protesting students. Craig was chair of the history department at Stanford in 1972-1975 and 1978-1979. Between 1975-1985, he served as the vice-president of the Comité International des Sciences Historiques. In 1979, he became an emeritus professor and was awarded the title J. E. Wallace Sterling Professor of Humanities.
During his time at Stanford, Craig was considered to be a popular and innovative teacher who improved both undergraduate and graduate teaching, while remaining well liked by the students. After his retirement, he worked as a book reviewer for the New York Review of Books. Some of his reviews attracted controversy, most notably in April 1996, when he praised Daniel Goldhagen's book Hitler's Willing Executioners and later in September of the same year when he argued that David Irving's work was valuable because of what Craig saw as Irving's devil's advocate role. Craig argued that Irving was usually wrong, but that by promoting what Craig saw as a twisted and wrongheaded view of history with a great deal of élan, Irving forced other historians to fruitfully examine their beliefs about what is known about the Third Reich.
Craig was formerly President of the American Historical Association. In 1953, together with his friend Felix Gilbert, he edited a prosopography of inter-war diplomats entitled The Diplomats, an important source for diplomatic history in the interwar period. He followed this book with studies on the Prussian Army, the Battle of Königgrätz and many aspects of European and Ger
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
March 18, 2020
A very good (and very long) history of Germany from 1866-1945.
I have one small complaint and that is the translations. Most of them are stuck in a section at the back of the book which is an annoyance. Others he uses the translation in the text instead—so why not for all. And for some there is no translation at all.
I have one small complaint and that is the translations. Most of them are stuck in a section at the back of the book which is an annoyance. Others he uses the translation in the text instead—so why not for all. And for some there is no translation at all.
July 14, 2010
This was the eighth and thus far the best written book in my Summer 2010 reading list on 19th century Europe. I read chapters I through IX, which covered from initial unification and the Austro-Prussian War in 1866 up until the coming of the First World War in 1914. Craig is thorough, incisive, opinionated and has the documentation to back up his conclusions. The two personalities who dominate this period are Otto von Bismarck, the Chancellor of Prussian and later of the German Empire from 1862-1890, and Kaiser Wilhelm II, who ruled Germany from 1888 until his abdication at the end of the First World War in 1918. Bismarck's brilliance at getting Germany to a predominant position in Central Europe is matched by his failure to create a system for continuation of German success. Also, his reckless disregard for parliamentary government helped to lay the foundations of an autocracy and the ultimate failure of German democracy. I will definitely go back and read the remaining eleven chapters at a later date.
November 20, 2020
One of my study goals is to be able to understand the histories of individual states other than just the USA, Russia and the UK so as to be able to see world history from their perspectives. I haven't gotten far, but one good step in this direction was to read Craig's history of modern Germany. Another, later, was to read a history of Latin America written by a German historian which had been translated into English--so different a picture than that conveyed by the high school course in Latin American history!
June 18, 2020
This is a really good history of Germany from the Second Reich to the Third Reich. It covers the time periods of Bismarck, Kaiser Wilhelm II, the Weimar Republic and Hitler covering how themes in the various political systems carried through to the end. The book is very readable even when discussing the fairly complicated party politics of Bismarck's Germany and the Weimar Republic. I wish that I'd read it before reading the recent biography of Bismarck. If you're looking for a good political history of Germany from the 1860s to the 1940s, I recommend this book.
May 18, 2018
How can you make such a fascinating topic so boring? Well, this is what Gordon Craig has achieved with his book on the history of Germany between 1866 and 1945.
I would say two fundamental flaws let him down: his inability to convey the big picture and his style.
The book is full of useless details whereas it lacks macro analysis and insight which would help understand why the history of Germany has moved in one direction or the other.
As far as style is concerned, the example below summarises what you have to go through for 764 pages: “Even now, in an age in which inflation has become a household word, it is difficult to convey a sense of the meaning of the plunging decline of the worth of the one commodity that more than any other serves man as a means of rational measurement of his situation.” What a pompous way of saying that the hyper inflation under the Weimar Republic in 1923 was an earth shattering experience for most of the German people.
It is a shame, because I was really looking forward to reading about that period of the history of Germany, especially after reading “The world of yesterday” by Stefan Zweig, which covers most of the same period seen through the eyes of the Austrian writer. To be fair to Gordon Craig, it is hard not to be let down by the following book after reading Stefan Zweig’s masterpiece.
I would say two fundamental flaws let him down: his inability to convey the big picture and his style.
The book is full of useless details whereas it lacks macro analysis and insight which would help understand why the history of Germany has moved in one direction or the other.
As far as style is concerned, the example below summarises what you have to go through for 764 pages: “Even now, in an age in which inflation has become a household word, it is difficult to convey a sense of the meaning of the plunging decline of the worth of the one commodity that more than any other serves man as a means of rational measurement of his situation.” What a pompous way of saying that the hyper inflation under the Weimar Republic in 1923 was an earth shattering experience for most of the German people.
It is a shame, because I was really looking forward to reading about that period of the history of Germany, especially after reading “The world of yesterday” by Stefan Zweig, which covers most of the same period seen through the eyes of the Austrian writer. To be fair to Gordon Craig, it is hard not to be let down by the following book after reading Stefan Zweig’s masterpiece.
February 20, 2016
I read its predecessor in the series of Oxford History of Modern Europe: German History, 1770-1866, by Sheehan, which I found well written and insightful (although I do think Sheehan ignored all of the lower classes). I decided to read this book hoping it would be as educational as the other. So far, I am a little disappointed, but I am only 100 pages into it, so I am going to give it another 100 or so before I decide.
February 4, 2017
Fourth reading. Probably a must-read for students of modern German history. (Actually, there's no "probably" about it.)
March 29, 2018
This is an excellent overview of the course of German history from the war between Prussia and Austria (and other German states) in 1866 until the conclusion of the Second World War.
Although written in the late 1970s, this book stands the test of time and offers a very clear narrative of how Germany developed from unification until the utter destruction and degradation produced by the Hitler tyranny. There is a good blend of chronological analysis of the main political events and an excellent examination of key themes such as institutional structures, the role of religion, culture and the arts, and foreign policy.
The book does not offer detailed discussions of the two world wars but these are not necessary in order to follow how the Bismarckian vision gradually diminished through the rule of Wilhelm II, the Weimar Republic, to the Third Reich.
For a well-written and well analysed one volume history of modern Germany up to 1945, Gordon Craig's book is a fine achievement.
Although written in the late 1970s, this book stands the test of time and offers a very clear narrative of how Germany developed from unification until the utter destruction and degradation produced by the Hitler tyranny. There is a good blend of chronological analysis of the main political events and an excellent examination of key themes such as institutional structures, the role of religion, culture and the arts, and foreign policy.
The book does not offer detailed discussions of the two world wars but these are not necessary in order to follow how the Bismarckian vision gradually diminished through the rule of Wilhelm II, the Weimar Republic, to the Third Reich.
For a well-written and well analysed one volume history of modern Germany up to 1945, Gordon Craig's book is a fine achievement.
November 8, 2024
An exhaustive political history of the German history from unification through WWII, GERMANY 1866-1945 by Gordon A. Craig captures the cycles of rebirth and destruction that characterize the country’s modern history. Craig traces the distinct epochs in time: the welding together of disparate territories and the formation of a constitutional system under Bismarck, the inevitable tensions between monarchial power and parliamentary pretension which led to his demise, wartime mobilization and a failed German foreign policy that created the fall of the Bismarckian state, the birth of the Weimar Republic and its own instabilities, the downfall of that Republic and the political rise of the National Socialists, domestic unrest and the erection of a totalitarian state, rearmament and the growth of anti-Semitism, European conquest, and the total collapse of the Nazi empire. Herein, the order and disorder of the evolving German project is put on full display.
August 11, 2025
For a book that’s 8 inches thick surprisingly my feedback is it doesn’t have enough detail. While written fairly compellingly for a history book it would mention things like “the Moroccan crisis” without any details what the crisis was. It also kept using German quotes without translation- “[five paragraphs of German]” ‘…as you can tell General Hindenburg had quite a sense of humor!’ Uh no I don’t speak German sorry.
That said it’s a pretty good description of Germany from Bismarck to Hitler - if there’s one common theme according to the book it’s that Germans were always wildly overconfident, from those wondering how much of Belgium they would keep two weeks before surrendering in WW1 to a government official bragging that by giving Hitler the chancellorship they had him right where they wanted.
That said it’s a pretty good description of Germany from Bismarck to Hitler - if there’s one common theme according to the book it’s that Germans were always wildly overconfident, from those wondering how much of Belgium they would keep two weeks before surrendering in WW1 to a government official bragging that by giving Hitler the chancellorship they had him right where they wanted.
June 30, 2025
I read this book years ago. It’s an excellent account and is not at all dull or dry. I can’t find my copy so am buying it again. The world just now needs reminding of our fairly recent history ( my father fled Czechoslovakia just before the occupation ). Surely a must read for all who are interested in Central European history.
April 11, 2023
Worth every penny and every minute I spent on this book. Long been on my to-read list as a highly recommended classic text to get a better understanding of what led to WWI and WWII -- and how we might look at events today around the world and worry if our democracies are stepping up.
February 18, 2025
Sehr gute Erklärung und Verbindung von geschichtlichen Ereignissen, auch solchen, die vorher unabhängig zu sein schienen. Recht starker Fokus auf die Innenpolitik, was zu einer interessanten Darstellung aus deutscher Perspektive führt.
July 17, 2016
This is a great book providing a nice overview on German history in the years listed in the title. It's heavily focuses on the high level political history. The occasional forays into other areas seem a bit disjointed as a result.
At times, it's a little dated. He easily dismisses that van de Lubbe caused the Reichstag fire, for instance, when most modern stuff I've read believes he clearly was lighting fires in the building that night. Some parts are a little annoying - like when he'll quote something in German (or on a few occasions in French) and not translate it, just expecting readers to know what it means. (You'll see this in older academic works at times, so I guess it's a product of being dated).
Overall, though, it is a great book. I got a lot out of the early chapters, but once Hitler showed up I mostly just skimmed, having read about that elsewhere.
At times, it's a little dated. He easily dismisses that van de Lubbe caused the Reichstag fire, for instance, when most modern stuff I've read believes he clearly was lighting fires in the building that night. Some parts are a little annoying - like when he'll quote something in German (or on a few occasions in French) and not translate it, just expecting readers to know what it means. (You'll see this in older academic works at times, so I guess it's a product of being dated).
Overall, though, it is a great book. I got a lot out of the early chapters, but once Hitler showed up I mostly just skimmed, having read about that elsewhere.
February 3, 2009
I think I read this when everyone was on vacation except for me and Wolking and both of us were sick and did nothing but read and drink tea all day. I figured since I was in Germany, I should learn some history. Sadly, not too much of it stuck with me, but nevertheless, I remember the book being fairly interesting for a history book, particularly the part about the first world war.
June 7, 2010
Easily the best book on German history until 1945. To be honest, it's a bit boring up until the first World War starts. Then it gets good. I'd recommend it for anyone who is very interested in German history....but not for anyone else. It's a bit dry unless you're really into the subject matter.
July 31, 2011
Germany 1866-1945 was an excellent overview of the subject however, I felt that Craig's treatment of the Empire was a little myopic. His tendency toward the American view of WWI was more than a little obvious. I found his opinions regarding the Third Reich to be surprisingly even handed. There is no doubt that Hitler was pure evil but Craig gave the other 'players' quite their due.
June 6, 2013
I have read several sections of this book and will read more as my research proceeds beyond 1933. It is very well written, unusually opinionated history which I have found both enlightening and enjoyable reading.
October 5, 2010
One of the best general histories of Germany for the period from 1866 through the end of WWII. This is part of the Oxford History of Modern Europe series.
November 9, 2014
A amazing look at Germany history
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews