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Cambridge Concise Histories
A Concise History of Germany
This third edition of Mary Fulbrook's much-admired and popular introduction to German history provides a clear and informative guide to the twists and turns of the story of the German lands and peoples from the early middle ages to the present day. Crisply synthesising a vast array of historical material, Fulbrook explores the interrelationships between social, political and cultural factors in the light of scholarly controversies. Since the second edition in 2004, there have been important changes in Germany, Europe and the wider world. This new edition features a significantly expanded chapter on Germany since 1990, encapsulating recent and dramatic developments that have transformed Germany's character and international standing. This single-volume history of Germany offers broad and accessible coverage and provides a useful guide for students, general readers, travellers to Germany and anyone with an interest in German history.
306 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1991
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About the author
Mary Fulbrook
42 books36 followers Mary Jean Alexandra Fulbrook (née Wilson) is a British academic, historian and author. Since 1995, she has been Professor of German History at University College London. She is a noted researcher in a wide range of fields, including religion and society in early modern Europe, the German dictatorships of the twentieth century, Europe after the Holocaust, and historiography and social theory.
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February 8, 2019I think it is ok for what it is, although the author's opening plea that it is easier to criticise than to write a book like this may have swayed my heart towards mercy.
At two hundred and sixty pages of text with maps and illustrations, we are in the territory of the Very Short Introductions , save somewhat more expensive so I do wonder who this book was written for.
An idea flashed across my mind when in the context of discussing medieval Germany she mentioned Minnesang, and indeed so she carried on with Grimmelhausen, Goethe, Schiller, not forgetting musical life, Schutz, Bach, Hayden,and the painful loss of Handel's umlaut as he travelled to England, it is only the visual arts that she is uninterested in until she reaches Otto Dix and Käthe Kollwitz, but no Cranach , or Tischbein, or Runge, or Friederich. Although she gave no recommendations as to further literary reading this gave the book the feel of something that a person who could recognise those names might be interested to read to provide a historical background. At which point I imagined a different kind of book, a history that became a cultural guide book with explicit recommendations of literature to read, places to visit, music to listen to, works of art to scrutinise.
Ok, lets roll up my sleeves and review a little.
The big problem in writing a history of Germany is where, and when you decide the edges are. Actually this is true of most, possibly all histories. Golo Mann after all wrote a considerably longer history of Germany that started round about 1789 , one might start equally well with 1871, or 1945, or 1991, or with Tacitus's Germannia, or 843, indeed pick the year of your choice - why not. The issue is not what year you pick but why you pick that year in particular, the perspective determines the overall vision Fulbrook begins with Neanderthal people (perhaps a bit further back than I might consider reasonable) and flows out in gurgling fullness from there on, I would have preferred an explicit statement (- considering she has only 260 pages - not enough for the discussion!) as to why she chose that point. Rather more explicitly she follows Gillingham's pamphletThe Kingdom of Germany in the High Middle Ages in arguing that the 'normality' or otherwise of Germany development is also a question of perspective, from the point of view of states like Britain and France with a long tradition of political centralisation - everywhere else looks a bit odd, viewing Germany history from a long enough perspective the weak political association of the medieval period looks like an entirely reasonable and unsurprising forerunner of the current Federal state. With that in mind Fulbrook in passing mentions not just the Austria and the Prussia but also in odd moments the parliamentary tradition of Württemberg, and some of the rest of the variety of polities that rendered the map so complicated for so long.
But this did raise the question of what is included and what excluded from the text, the peasants war of 1525 gets two and a half pages, now I find the peasants war very interesting and perhaps if the peasants had won decisively enough then there might have been several more Switzerland- like confederations in Europe, but I do wonder how important or meaningful it was as an event in the context of 2000 years of history, since she doesn't justify or explain its importance in the unfolding over events over centuries I was left with the feeling rather as E.H. Carr suggested in What is history that history is rather like a gentleman's club, in the past lots of things happened, but to qualify as a fact then they must be admitted to the 'club' by being discussed by several historians. Therefore we discuss the peasants war because we discuss the peasants war, which makes it a fit subject for discussion. I don't find this entirely satisfactory personally. Mind you the same could be said of her rather nice discussion of the Aufklarung, given that we wallow in suspicion, ignorance, and stupidity, plainly discussing a movement which failed in adequately enlightening us is not very relevant in the longer perspective.
Equally I felt that many of the illustrations were only there for the sake of it and didn't illustrate much if anything . Still, I think it is good for what it is, I'd have been tempted to push the cultural side more with recommendations, but we all have our funny ideas at times.
Fullbrook mentions a story of Frederick II of Prussia pausing while out riding to talk to some peasants growing potatoes (presumably working in a potato field was meant rather than something else). Not that I'm an expert on old Fritz, but I couldn't help feeling that he'd have been more comfortable talking to the potatoes than the peasants except that his preference was for talking French, and as everybody knows, German potatoes don't talk French (unless they grow very close to the border in which case they might manage a phrase or two, though they read no Voltaire, nor Diderot, though they are partial to a little Rousseau ).
Discussion of the two Germanies, which is Fulbrook's specialism is notably strong and interesting.
At two hundred and sixty pages of text with maps and illustrations, we are in the territory of the Very Short Introductions , save somewhat more expensive so I do wonder who this book was written for.
An idea flashed across my mind when in the context of discussing medieval Germany she mentioned Minnesang, and indeed so she carried on with Grimmelhausen, Goethe, Schiller, not forgetting musical life, Schutz, Bach, Hayden,and the painful loss of Handel's umlaut as he travelled to England, it is only the visual arts that she is uninterested in until she reaches Otto Dix and Käthe Kollwitz, but no Cranach , or Tischbein, or Runge, or Friederich. Although she gave no recommendations as to further literary reading this gave the book the feel of something that a person who could recognise those names might be interested to read to provide a historical background. At which point I imagined a different kind of book, a history that became a cultural guide book with explicit recommendations of literature to read, places to visit, music to listen to, works of art to scrutinise.
Ok, lets roll up my sleeves and review a little.
The big problem in writing a history of Germany is where, and when you decide the edges are. Actually this is true of most, possibly all histories. Golo Mann after all wrote a considerably longer history of Germany that started round about 1789 , one might start equally well with 1871, or 1945, or 1991, or with Tacitus's Germannia, or 843, indeed pick the year of your choice - why not. The issue is not what year you pick but why you pick that year in particular, the perspective determines the overall vision Fulbrook begins with Neanderthal people (perhaps a bit further back than I might consider reasonable) and flows out in gurgling fullness from there on, I would have preferred an explicit statement (- considering she has only 260 pages - not enough for the discussion!) as to why she chose that point. Rather more explicitly she follows Gillingham's pamphletThe Kingdom of Germany in the High Middle Ages in arguing that the 'normality' or otherwise of Germany development is also a question of perspective, from the point of view of states like Britain and France with a long tradition of political centralisation - everywhere else looks a bit odd, viewing Germany history from a long enough perspective the weak political association of the medieval period looks like an entirely reasonable and unsurprising forerunner of the current Federal state. With that in mind Fulbrook in passing mentions not just the Austria and the Prussia but also in odd moments the parliamentary tradition of Württemberg, and some of the rest of the variety of polities that rendered the map so complicated for so long.
But this did raise the question of what is included and what excluded from the text, the peasants war of 1525 gets two and a half pages, now I find the peasants war very interesting and perhaps if the peasants had won decisively enough then there might have been several more Switzerland- like confederations in Europe, but I do wonder how important or meaningful it was as an event in the context of 2000 years of history, since she doesn't justify or explain its importance in the unfolding over events over centuries I was left with the feeling rather as E.H. Carr suggested in What is history that history is rather like a gentleman's club, in the past lots of things happened, but to qualify as a fact then they must be admitted to the 'club' by being discussed by several historians. Therefore we discuss the peasants war because we discuss the peasants war, which makes it a fit subject for discussion. I don't find this entirely satisfactory personally. Mind you the same could be said of her rather nice discussion of the Aufklarung, given that we wallow in suspicion, ignorance, and stupidity, plainly discussing a movement which failed in adequately enlightening us is not very relevant in the longer perspective.
Equally I felt that many of the illustrations were only there for the sake of it and didn't illustrate much if anything . Still, I think it is good for what it is, I'd have been tempted to push the cultural side more with recommendations, but we all have our funny ideas at times.
Fullbrook mentions a story of Frederick II of Prussia pausing while out riding to talk to some peasants growing potatoes (presumably working in a potato field was meant rather than something else). Not that I'm an expert on old Fritz, but I couldn't help feeling that he'd have been more comfortable talking to the potatoes than the peasants except that his preference was for talking French, and as everybody knows, German potatoes don't talk French (unless they grow very close to the border in which case they might manage a phrase or two, though they read no Voltaire, nor Diderot, though they are partial to a little Rousseau ).
Discussion of the two Germanies, which is Fulbrook's specialism is notably strong and interesting.
February 24, 2020
What constitutes an 'introduction' is a fairly subjective issue: I see people below who found this book too detailed; for me, who had read a bit on XIXth and XXth century European history, but never picked up an actual history of Germany, this was a perfect fit. Fullbrook covers a broad range, starting with the early Middle Ages and finishing with the Merkel era. As she advances in German history, the focus becomes sharper, so that the BRD/DDR period (Fullbrook's speciality, I believe) is given the most attention.
January 18, 2019
As the title says, a very concise history of Germany but if you want to learn more, this book can guide you to more resources. A very good starting point, basically an appetizer.
April 19, 2019
Dado a proposta de apresentar uma overview da história alemã, seria um pouco injusto dizer que esse livro passa muito rápido por períodos históricos marcados por grande complexidade. De todo modo, o leitor interessado vai se debater com curiosidades e questionamentos que só poderão ser endereçados em outras leituras.
Apesar dessa rapidez com que a história é contada, a leitura se mostrou agradável. O autor conta a história alemã desde seus primórdios até o início do século XXI. A apresentação dos sub-períodos é, contudo, desbalanceada. Muito mais atenção é dada, por exemplo, para o período da reforma protestante e guerra dos 30 anos do que para o sub-período entre o Congresso de Viena e a unificação alemã.
Depois de ler esse livro, pude ver com mais clareza quais períodos da história alemã me interessam mais. Para o futuro pretendo estudar melhor a história da Prússia, o segundo reich (unificação até o fim da Primeira Guerra) e a história da GDR.
Nota 1: Acho que o mais interessante da história alemã é que ela desafia as linearidades que muita gente supõe que existe na história. Veja:
1) Tanto quanto é possível, a Alemanha parece ser uma democracia liberal funcional e uma sociedade aberta no sentido popperiano, mas onde está a revolução burguesa?
2) Bismarck, o grande responsável por criar uma das primeiras experiências de assistência social com ampla participação do Estado, era um líder autoritário com base social conservadora (Junkers).
Apesar dessa rapidez com que a história é contada, a leitura se mostrou agradável. O autor conta a história alemã desde seus primórdios até o início do século XXI. A apresentação dos sub-períodos é, contudo, desbalanceada. Muito mais atenção é dada, por exemplo, para o período da reforma protestante e guerra dos 30 anos do que para o sub-período entre o Congresso de Viena e a unificação alemã.
Depois de ler esse livro, pude ver com mais clareza quais períodos da história alemã me interessam mais. Para o futuro pretendo estudar melhor a história da Prússia, o segundo reich (unificação até o fim da Primeira Guerra) e a história da GDR.
Nota 1: Acho que o mais interessante da história alemã é que ela desafia as linearidades que muita gente supõe que existe na história. Veja:
1) Tanto quanto é possível, a Alemanha parece ser uma democracia liberal funcional e uma sociedade aberta no sentido popperiano, mas onde está a revolução burguesa?
2) Bismarck, o grande responsável por criar uma das primeiras experiências de assistência social com ampla participação do Estado, era um líder autoritário com base social conservadora (Junkers).
December 11, 2018
Text for my German history class Fall Semester 2018. This was the first time I have taken a history class focusing on Germany. Prior to this, I have only known the basics about the countries past, mostly about the two world wars. I really enjoyed this class, and I learned quite a lot, even about the parts of its history I had watched while it happened, like the fall of the Berlin wall. I'm glad my advisor suggested this class to me.
May 29, 2009
So what I was looking for was some sort of cursory review of German history. I really enjoyed my trip to the country a few years ago and, between that and other things I've read about the country, I was struck by how many different cultures appear to have influenced various facets of the land. Curious, I thought a little history reading might be in order.
The problem with this book isn't so much in that such information isn't found within. The problem is in the presentation. Allow me to give an example.
While in grad school, I took one year of German for reading comprehension. Part of our homework in the class was translating articles, papers, and book passages. When you have very little experience with the German language and you try to do translations, the results are hilariously awful. The sentence structure in German is different enough from English that, if you try to translate literally, word for word, without understanding of idiomatic expressions of either language, your results come out looking idiotic.
And that's what this book reads like. The shocking thing, really, is that it does not appear to be an English translation! I scoured the credits in the front pages of the book, really expecting to find separate copyright dates for the original version and the English translated version that I held in my hand. But no such distinction exists. It only reads as though you are looking through a poorly-done translation.
You may want to check out alternate suggested readings by other reviewers of this book.
The problem with this book isn't so much in that such information isn't found within. The problem is in the presentation. Allow me to give an example.
While in grad school, I took one year of German for reading comprehension. Part of our homework in the class was translating articles, papers, and book passages. When you have very little experience with the German language and you try to do translations, the results are hilariously awful. The sentence structure in German is different enough from English that, if you try to translate literally, word for word, without understanding of idiomatic expressions of either language, your results come out looking idiotic.
And that's what this book reads like. The shocking thing, really, is that it does not appear to be an English translation! I scoured the credits in the front pages of the book, really expecting to find separate copyright dates for the original version and the English translated version that I held in my hand. But no such distinction exists. It only reads as though you are looking through a poorly-done translation.
You may want to check out alternate suggested readings by other reviewers of this book.
April 17, 2020
I don't really feel the need to review this book, since Fulbrook essentially does so for us in the Preface. She writes: "A book such as this is infinitely easier to criticise than to write... A brief history of such a large topic can make no attempt at comprehensiveness. At best it can provide an intelligent guide to the broad sweep of developments."
And that's what it does. If you read this book attentively then, you walk away with an understanding of the main periods and significant events. Since it comes with an appreciable reading list, the main benefit may actually be that you gain a broad outline of German history, and then have a jumping off point to continue filling in that outline.
Three stars for this reason- as Fulbrook says, she devotes progressively more attention to affairs as we get more modern. But this is only partly true. In fact, the treatment of the 2nd Reich and Weimar Republic, though modern, were treated in a rather hand-wavy way. It felt like I read "X liberal group gained some power, then reactionary industrial interests forced them out" over and over, without coming to a clear understanding of what industries exactly were involved and by what means they effected their consolidation of power. But, then again, maybe that is just how that time period worked!
And that's what it does. If you read this book attentively then, you walk away with an understanding of the main periods and significant events. Since it comes with an appreciable reading list, the main benefit may actually be that you gain a broad outline of German history, and then have a jumping off point to continue filling in that outline.
Three stars for this reason- as Fulbrook says, she devotes progressively more attention to affairs as we get more modern. But this is only partly true. In fact, the treatment of the 2nd Reich and Weimar Republic, though modern, were treated in a rather hand-wavy way. It felt like I read "X liberal group gained some power, then reactionary industrial interests forced them out" over and over, without coming to a clear understanding of what industries exactly were involved and by what means they effected their consolidation of power. But, then again, maybe that is just how that time period worked!
June 6, 2021
Alman tarihine yönelik zihnimdeki boşlukları doldurması açısından (ki kendisinden beklediğim de tam olarak buydu) güzel bir okuma oldu. Konuya aşina olmayanlar içinse geniş bir perspektif sunan, kaliteli bir "brief history" çalışması. Ara ara İngilizcesiyle karşılaştırarak okuduğum için de (Play Books'tan ücretsiz edinebiliyorsunuz) gönül rahatlığıyla söyleyebilirim ki Sabri Gürses kaliteli çevirisiyle eserin hakkını vermiş.
Kitap 9 bölümden oluşuyor: Giriş, Ortaçağ Almanyası, Mezhepçilik Çağı (1500-1648), Mutlakiyetçilik Çağı (1648-1815), Sanayileşme Çağı (1815-1918), Demokrasi ve Diktatörlük (1918-1945), İki Almanya (1945-1990), 1990'dan Sonra Almanya ve bir de ek olarak küçük bir sonsöz maiyetinde "Alman Tarihinin Motifleri ve Sorunları" bölümü.
Kitap 9 bölümden oluşuyor: Giriş, Ortaçağ Almanyası, Mezhepçilik Çağı (1500-1648), Mutlakiyetçilik Çağı (1648-1815), Sanayileşme Çağı (1815-1918), Demokrasi ve Diktatörlük (1918-1945), İki Almanya (1945-1990), 1990'dan Sonra Almanya ve bir de ek olarak küçük bir sonsöz maiyetinde "Alman Tarihinin Motifleri ve Sorunları" bölümü.
June 9, 2024
Really illuminating on post-war Germany. I found it quite derivative and underdeveloped on Weimar and Nazi Germany. Nevertheless, will be recommending it to people for the post-war section.
August 25, 2024
Disappointing, although brief. The writing is shockingly poor for an academic and for a book published by a big house. Worse yet, the author mentions many big names, major leaders for the last few hundred years but speaks little about the people of Germany, how they lived and what the history she speaks about impacted their lives. I read this book because I’ve enjoyed visiting Germany a couple of times and plan to go back more and I’m nearly half German, but this book is beyond lacking and not one I would recommend to others to read. She speaks most about the times nearly anyone would know most about – from WWI through the Nazi Germany era – and very little about the Middle Ages or how Germany became a powerhouse.
Repeatedly Fulbrook speaks about “Little Germany” and mentions how it grew then contracted but she didn’t do much of a job speaking about the geography or how that change in boundaries changed the lives of Germans.
Germans have a complex history, mixing with many others who now claim they are from a different country and invading many other countries that are very different than Germans. It was interesting to read how the diversity of religion in Germany, not just Catholics and Lutherans, played out but also the division within those faiths made a difference over many centuries. The author mentioned that the church leaders – Archbishops, bishops, and abbots, played a major role in the economy and military. They repeatedly had problems between church and state, including when the communist took control of East Germany. It was also interesting to read how German’s larger population made a difference in their output and their military aggression.
It is mentioned in the book about how the “high Middle Ages” was an significant time of transition with the German economy and geographic expansion. People started to live in larger villages and higher trained workers organized into guilds and corporations to push for more economic leverage while population increased. She speaks to how towns increased ten-fold but doesn’t speak to what this meant for the people of Germany. The book reports that between 1200 and 1300, German population increased from around 8 million to 14 million and that ordinary people enjoyed more personal freedom.
Later the book speaks about the period between 1500 and 1648, reporting that the movement to America in 1492 had major impacts on Europe but doesn’t explore this issue enough to know more than the open statement. Like Italy, local reforms brought together different interests into one nation with most of the power on the local level. I did find it interesting to read that Germany didn’t have any city-state like London was to England or Rome was to Italy.
For a brief book, it was frustrating that the author tried to explain in more detail the faith of the Lutherans and divisions between Catholics and Protestants instead of speaking in a more generalist manner. She talks about how Calvin believed that one could not achieve salvation with good works. She claims that Luther and those who followed him were not trying to cause a major split and further wrote that Catholic and Protestants were trying to reach an agreement on how to move forward with various agreements including the 1555 Peace of Augsburg. Other books I read did a much better job sharing the complicated history between the various religions and included a much fuller view of how Jews were treated over the years in Germany.
It was mentioned that the greatest cause of death was epidemics, especially when spread by armies that were moving across large areas of land. But the repeated wars had a disastrous impact on the German economy. Yet, culture was still strong including architecture, ballet, baroque theatre, lyric poetry, music, novels, and opera. But who were the people enjoying art? How was it paid for? How did their art differ from other nations? Did religion have a role in their art? No mention.
The author mentioned the 30-year war, a series of fights that consumed energy around Germany. She said that the German territory was strengthened, although the years were long. It took tax funds to pay for the wars, weakening the economy. Ironically, later when the Germans fought WWII, they didn’t raise taxes but, instead, accumulated debt that needed to be paid off at the end of the wary, changing the expectations later.
The book does a better job outlining Germany under Bismarck and Wilhemina Germany. Germany was unified as a larger country in the mid 1800’s and realized economic growth due to coal, iron, and textile industries with strong industrial hubs in Vienna, Prague and Bohemia. Recreational and political groups formed beyond local entities. While there was a national parliamentary system, the democratic entity was able to do little than express an opinion of the people; Bismarck made the decisions. The bureaucratic system had undue power at this point. Bismarck attacked Catholicism while society, including the intellectual community, focused on Jews with antisemitism that was the foundation of Hitler’s rise. Bismarck used a threat of resigning as a way of moving forward his agenda, but it also ended his control when the emperor accepted his last resignation, ushering in the era of the Weimar Republic.
Free markets reigned in the late 1800’s with many living in poverty and in slums while propelling economic growth. Germany took advantage of newer industries like chemicals and electrical products. Leaders forged various groups together including the historic “marriage of iron and rye,” bringing together industry leaders and the agricultural community. As we have seen in other countries and times, tariffs were imposed that protected industry profits but put on an additional burden to struggling consumers.
As Germany entered the new century, it worked to compete with Britain and formed various alliances to allow it to grow without military skirmishes. At the same time, Germany and other nations entered an arms race. This caused Germany to spend considerable money on a navy and Russia to build a railway system to enable them to move their troops quickly over their vast empire. Germany spent money they didn’t have repeatedly with the build up and various battles. Tensions built that, the author claims, played into the build up of the Nazi party and made the horrendous 1930’s and 1940’s possible.
Germany took a positive turn in November 1918 when a parliamentary republic was formed, the Weimar Republic. It was named after the city where the government was formed. It was a democratic government that last only 14 years but brought in reforms for the working class who had been accepting horrible treatment for decades. Labor unions were permitted to be formed, voting reforms were enacted that included universal suffrage allowing women to vote for the first time, the eight-hour day was mandated, and unemployment and retirement insurance was included. The government had democratic principles including electing a leader for a seven-year term, a stronger parliamentary system with a cabinet that reported to them. While all of this was happening, the terms of the Versailles Treaty became public, and a building hostility was set that would determine the future of Germany.
It was interesting to read that the fundamental problem Germany confronted was that the First World War was financed and not paid through increased taxes. This, plus unmanageable inflation, brought pain to Germans even more than the reparations that had been repeatedly renegotiated. This financial cocktail – run-away inflation, debt from the war, reparations that were painful and caused resentful – caused unbelievable tensions. Add to it disputes between religious groups, antimerism, and a relaxed view of morals allowing more flexibility of hair styles, smoking, and contraceptives, and the tensions were strong for a new government. Employers also pushed back on the concessions they took earlier, like the eight-hour day, weakening unions and causing the loss of union membership with the Ruhr iron strike in 1928 becoming a clear boundary of labor’s past, brief power.
The author spends 75 pages of this small book highlighting the rise of Hitler, bringing little new information to readers who would read her book. She does mention that the parliamentary republic was troubled and targeted even before the Wall Street crash. She speaks to the rise of Hitler and revisits the horror of those years. She ends the book speaking briefly of the East-West divide, including building the wall, then in a swift few page covers the reunification of the two countries. Disappointing would not fairly define this section of this book.
Despite taking German in high school for a couple of years and in college, reading many books about the rise of Nazism and some on Germany, I learned little from this nearly 300 pages. The writing was awkward at best and could be defined as poor if I viewed it more critically. My advice is find a different book on German’s history.
Repeatedly Fulbrook speaks about “Little Germany” and mentions how it grew then contracted but she didn’t do much of a job speaking about the geography or how that change in boundaries changed the lives of Germans.
Germans have a complex history, mixing with many others who now claim they are from a different country and invading many other countries that are very different than Germans. It was interesting to read how the diversity of religion in Germany, not just Catholics and Lutherans, played out but also the division within those faiths made a difference over many centuries. The author mentioned that the church leaders – Archbishops, bishops, and abbots, played a major role in the economy and military. They repeatedly had problems between church and state, including when the communist took control of East Germany. It was also interesting to read how German’s larger population made a difference in their output and their military aggression.
It is mentioned in the book about how the “high Middle Ages” was an significant time of transition with the German economy and geographic expansion. People started to live in larger villages and higher trained workers organized into guilds and corporations to push for more economic leverage while population increased. She speaks to how towns increased ten-fold but doesn’t speak to what this meant for the people of Germany. The book reports that between 1200 and 1300, German population increased from around 8 million to 14 million and that ordinary people enjoyed more personal freedom.
Later the book speaks about the period between 1500 and 1648, reporting that the movement to America in 1492 had major impacts on Europe but doesn’t explore this issue enough to know more than the open statement. Like Italy, local reforms brought together different interests into one nation with most of the power on the local level. I did find it interesting to read that Germany didn’t have any city-state like London was to England or Rome was to Italy.
For a brief book, it was frustrating that the author tried to explain in more detail the faith of the Lutherans and divisions between Catholics and Protestants instead of speaking in a more generalist manner. She talks about how Calvin believed that one could not achieve salvation with good works. She claims that Luther and those who followed him were not trying to cause a major split and further wrote that Catholic and Protestants were trying to reach an agreement on how to move forward with various agreements including the 1555 Peace of Augsburg. Other books I read did a much better job sharing the complicated history between the various religions and included a much fuller view of how Jews were treated over the years in Germany.
It was mentioned that the greatest cause of death was epidemics, especially when spread by armies that were moving across large areas of land. But the repeated wars had a disastrous impact on the German economy. Yet, culture was still strong including architecture, ballet, baroque theatre, lyric poetry, music, novels, and opera. But who were the people enjoying art? How was it paid for? How did their art differ from other nations? Did religion have a role in their art? No mention.
The author mentioned the 30-year war, a series of fights that consumed energy around Germany. She said that the German territory was strengthened, although the years were long. It took tax funds to pay for the wars, weakening the economy. Ironically, later when the Germans fought WWII, they didn’t raise taxes but, instead, accumulated debt that needed to be paid off at the end of the wary, changing the expectations later.
The book does a better job outlining Germany under Bismarck and Wilhemina Germany. Germany was unified as a larger country in the mid 1800’s and realized economic growth due to coal, iron, and textile industries with strong industrial hubs in Vienna, Prague and Bohemia. Recreational and political groups formed beyond local entities. While there was a national parliamentary system, the democratic entity was able to do little than express an opinion of the people; Bismarck made the decisions. The bureaucratic system had undue power at this point. Bismarck attacked Catholicism while society, including the intellectual community, focused on Jews with antisemitism that was the foundation of Hitler’s rise. Bismarck used a threat of resigning as a way of moving forward his agenda, but it also ended his control when the emperor accepted his last resignation, ushering in the era of the Weimar Republic.
Free markets reigned in the late 1800’s with many living in poverty and in slums while propelling economic growth. Germany took advantage of newer industries like chemicals and electrical products. Leaders forged various groups together including the historic “marriage of iron and rye,” bringing together industry leaders and the agricultural community. As we have seen in other countries and times, tariffs were imposed that protected industry profits but put on an additional burden to struggling consumers.
As Germany entered the new century, it worked to compete with Britain and formed various alliances to allow it to grow without military skirmishes. At the same time, Germany and other nations entered an arms race. This caused Germany to spend considerable money on a navy and Russia to build a railway system to enable them to move their troops quickly over their vast empire. Germany spent money they didn’t have repeatedly with the build up and various battles. Tensions built that, the author claims, played into the build up of the Nazi party and made the horrendous 1930’s and 1940’s possible.
Germany took a positive turn in November 1918 when a parliamentary republic was formed, the Weimar Republic. It was named after the city where the government was formed. It was a democratic government that last only 14 years but brought in reforms for the working class who had been accepting horrible treatment for decades. Labor unions were permitted to be formed, voting reforms were enacted that included universal suffrage allowing women to vote for the first time, the eight-hour day was mandated, and unemployment and retirement insurance was included. The government had democratic principles including electing a leader for a seven-year term, a stronger parliamentary system with a cabinet that reported to them. While all of this was happening, the terms of the Versailles Treaty became public, and a building hostility was set that would determine the future of Germany.
It was interesting to read that the fundamental problem Germany confronted was that the First World War was financed and not paid through increased taxes. This, plus unmanageable inflation, brought pain to Germans even more than the reparations that had been repeatedly renegotiated. This financial cocktail – run-away inflation, debt from the war, reparations that were painful and caused resentful – caused unbelievable tensions. Add to it disputes between religious groups, antimerism, and a relaxed view of morals allowing more flexibility of hair styles, smoking, and contraceptives, and the tensions were strong for a new government. Employers also pushed back on the concessions they took earlier, like the eight-hour day, weakening unions and causing the loss of union membership with the Ruhr iron strike in 1928 becoming a clear boundary of labor’s past, brief power.
The author spends 75 pages of this small book highlighting the rise of Hitler, bringing little new information to readers who would read her book. She does mention that the parliamentary republic was troubled and targeted even before the Wall Street crash. She speaks to the rise of Hitler and revisits the horror of those years. She ends the book speaking briefly of the East-West divide, including building the wall, then in a swift few page covers the reunification of the two countries. Disappointing would not fairly define this section of this book.
Despite taking German in high school for a couple of years and in college, reading many books about the rise of Nazism and some on Germany, I learned little from this nearly 300 pages. The writing was awkward at best and could be defined as poor if I viewed it more critically. My advice is find a different book on German’s history.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 18, 2021
As Fulbrook says: books like these are far easier to criticise than write. The bits I know a lot about seemed too concise and oversimplified, the bits I know nothing about seemed too in depth and detailed. So this book probably did its job.
January 23, 2019
Mary Fulbrook manages to disperse the hazy fog hovering over German history with ease, guiding the reader through the early centuries in antiquity and through to post-unification Germany. A brief overview of the Roman Empire's interaction with the German tribes along the Rhine-Danube frontier is provided and it is here that we are taught that key cities such as Trier, Cologne, Augsburg and Regensburg have Roman foundations. Such interactions with the Romanised Germans of Germania Inferior and the relatively-undisturbed Germans of Germania Superior incited ambition among their leaders, prompting them to seize territories for newly-established Germanic kingdoms in the wake of the collapse of the western half of the Roman Empire. Even Rome itself was incorporated into the new Germanic Kingdom of Italy under Odoacer and with the Eastern Roman emperor's blessings! These various Romanised Germanic kingdoms stretched from Italy to the Iberian Peninsula and across the Mediterranean to North Africa. The first of these, the Franks under Clovis, would grow in time to become the rulers of central Europe, the Carolingian Empire. They were also the the only ones to survive as the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa were taken by the Umayyad Caliphate, an event which prompted an alliance between the Carlingian kings and the Abassid caliphs in Baghdad against the Andalusian caliphs and culminated in the Battle of Tours in 732 AD. An outnumbered Frankish army defeated the Arab-Berber forces with a loss ration of 1-12 and checked the Umayyad advances into Europe.
The fragmented nature of the kingdom and the de-centralisation of power between the king, later the emperor, the nobility and the bishops would establish a status quo that was to plague Germany right up until the election of Hitler and the abolition of all other parties. The coronation of Charlemagne as emperor by Pope Leo III was motivated by a need to find a monarch to give legitimacy to in order to revive a unified Roman Empire. The eastern empress, Irene of Athens, was guilty of regicide and filicide and therefore unrecognised by the Pope. The power of coronation also increased the scope of the Church's influence and clout. This event gave rise to the title "Holy Roman Empire" and has attracted criticism from armchair historians who are unaware of the context.
The major players in German politics, Prussia, Bavaria and Austria, originally started as frontier territories with humble, unassuming origins. The era of the Crusades saw European kings heed the call of the Pope and embark on marches to the Holy Land. Frederick Barbarossa met an untimely death during the Third Crusade but the journey for his retinue of knights was not over. The knights established a field hospital and were granted recognition from the Papacy, a military order commonly known as the Teutonic Order. Their failure against Salahuddin saw them turn their attention back to Europe as other monastic warrior orders such as the Hospitallers and Templars did, focusing on financial ventures to fund their organisations. The Teutonic Knights marched on the pagan Slavic tribes of the Baltic region in an effort to convert them, succeeding to a degree before becoming subordinate to the king of Poland and the Grand Master becoming duke of Prussia. The union between Brandenburg and Prussia in 1618 evolved into a kingdom by 1701 with Berlin as the capital. The Dutchy of Austria served as the base of power for the Habsburgs who managed to gain the emperor's crown as well as other kingdom by means of political marriages from the 14th century onwards. A number of treaties saw the reorganisation of the number of German states, in the aftermath of the Napoleonic conquests and Napoleon's fall, the German confederation became 37 states loosely united by military and commercial interests. Catholic Austria and Protestant Prussia were the only German powers capable of vying for supremacy in the federation. Religion was a key factor in what the outcome was to be.
Luther's "95 Theses" was intended to initiate action towards the perceived corruptions within the Catholic Church, even tackling issues such as social justice towards the peasant class before he was almost killed by one such mob and retracted his stance. The various princes and localities saw this movement as a chance to break off from the control of the church, Lutheranism and Calvinism proving popular. The Catholic emperor was now at odds with his Protestant princes, the 1555 Peace of Augsburg only bolstering their poistions and the 1648 Peace of Westphalia magnifying certain provinces and increasing autonomous power in general. The post-Napoleonic German confederation was a time of social, political and economic upheavals. The Industrial Revolution was well underway and the Enlightenment fuelled the social and political debates and organisations. The German school of enlightenment differed from the French that developed into republic, instead wanting a constitutional monarchy. The Frankfurt Parliament was dogged by the medieval factionalism and in reality held little power. This was evident in the first war with Denmark over the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. Although Frankfurt had been the one to sanction the war it was the individual German states and their respective armies that fought the campaigns. In the first act of political flexing Prussia withdrew from the war and signed a treaty with Denmark, leaving the Frankfurt parliament embarassed and exposed to the powers for the weakling it was. In the following year of 1849 the same parliament deliberated and agreed to offer the crown of a "small Germany" (excluding Austria in a "big Germany") to king Frederick William IV of Prussia. He rejected it with utmost contempt for the relatively-liberal parliament that believed had the power to counter the conservative establishment. Unification under William I of Prussia was to come in 1871 at the Palace of Versailles following the Prussian victory over France. German princes, excluding Austrian, were in attendance to hail the new head of a unified homeland.
The German and Austro-Hungarian kingdoms would remain as allies in the polarisation of Europe and the lead-up to a continental war which everyone believed was imminent. Gavrillo Princep's assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand did not warrant the outbreak of war since previous political assassinations had not escalated to such a level. The powers dragged out the issue and made it into a casus belli. Germany's defeat brought her leaders to the tables at Versailles again, the palace that heraded her unity was now to become a bitter name in the minds of Germans everywhere. Germany was assigned blame for the war with heavy punitative clauses, both financially and politically. The abdication of the king translated into chaos with communist, socialist, Christian democrats, conservatives and countless fringe parties fighting to establish a majority in the government. The medieval factionalism and reluctance to compromise made parliament almost as ineffective as the Frankfurt Parliament. Hiter's election in 1933 resulted in new policies being steamrolled through the government. He and Goebbels orchestrated the Day of Potsdam in celebration of the new Reichstag building built on the centre of Prussian power. In attendance were members of the former-ruling Hohenzollern dynasty and the Reichsprasident Paul von Hindenburg. The ceremony witnessed a symbolic transition from the old conservatives and monarchs of Germany to the new era of "democracy". Hitler even issued propaganda depicting him as Frederick II's successor. He was not, however, interested in catering to the demands of fringe and core parties and outlawed all other parties later that same year. By 1938 Hitler had achieved what no other German leader in history had, he had established "Big Germany" following the Anschluss. Had he stopped there, that united homeland may still have existed today since the European powers found it tolerable given that Germany was annexing Germanic territory to bring into its fold.
The fragmented nature of the kingdom and the de-centralisation of power between the king, later the emperor, the nobility and the bishops would establish a status quo that was to plague Germany right up until the election of Hitler and the abolition of all other parties. The coronation of Charlemagne as emperor by Pope Leo III was motivated by a need to find a monarch to give legitimacy to in order to revive a unified Roman Empire. The eastern empress, Irene of Athens, was guilty of regicide and filicide and therefore unrecognised by the Pope. The power of coronation also increased the scope of the Church's influence and clout. This event gave rise to the title "Holy Roman Empire" and has attracted criticism from armchair historians who are unaware of the context.
The major players in German politics, Prussia, Bavaria and Austria, originally started as frontier territories with humble, unassuming origins. The era of the Crusades saw European kings heed the call of the Pope and embark on marches to the Holy Land. Frederick Barbarossa met an untimely death during the Third Crusade but the journey for his retinue of knights was not over. The knights established a field hospital and were granted recognition from the Papacy, a military order commonly known as the Teutonic Order. Their failure against Salahuddin saw them turn their attention back to Europe as other monastic warrior orders such as the Hospitallers and Templars did, focusing on financial ventures to fund their organisations. The Teutonic Knights marched on the pagan Slavic tribes of the Baltic region in an effort to convert them, succeeding to a degree before becoming subordinate to the king of Poland and the Grand Master becoming duke of Prussia. The union between Brandenburg and Prussia in 1618 evolved into a kingdom by 1701 with Berlin as the capital. The Dutchy of Austria served as the base of power for the Habsburgs who managed to gain the emperor's crown as well as other kingdom by means of political marriages from the 14th century onwards. A number of treaties saw the reorganisation of the number of German states, in the aftermath of the Napoleonic conquests and Napoleon's fall, the German confederation became 37 states loosely united by military and commercial interests. Catholic Austria and Protestant Prussia were the only German powers capable of vying for supremacy in the federation. Religion was a key factor in what the outcome was to be.
Luther's "95 Theses" was intended to initiate action towards the perceived corruptions within the Catholic Church, even tackling issues such as social justice towards the peasant class before he was almost killed by one such mob and retracted his stance. The various princes and localities saw this movement as a chance to break off from the control of the church, Lutheranism and Calvinism proving popular. The Catholic emperor was now at odds with his Protestant princes, the 1555 Peace of Augsburg only bolstering their poistions and the 1648 Peace of Westphalia magnifying certain provinces and increasing autonomous power in general. The post-Napoleonic German confederation was a time of social, political and economic upheavals. The Industrial Revolution was well underway and the Enlightenment fuelled the social and political debates and organisations. The German school of enlightenment differed from the French that developed into republic, instead wanting a constitutional monarchy. The Frankfurt Parliament was dogged by the medieval factionalism and in reality held little power. This was evident in the first war with Denmark over the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. Although Frankfurt had been the one to sanction the war it was the individual German states and their respective armies that fought the campaigns. In the first act of political flexing Prussia withdrew from the war and signed a treaty with Denmark, leaving the Frankfurt parliament embarassed and exposed to the powers for the weakling it was. In the following year of 1849 the same parliament deliberated and agreed to offer the crown of a "small Germany" (excluding Austria in a "big Germany") to king Frederick William IV of Prussia. He rejected it with utmost contempt for the relatively-liberal parliament that believed had the power to counter the conservative establishment. Unification under William I of Prussia was to come in 1871 at the Palace of Versailles following the Prussian victory over France. German princes, excluding Austrian, were in attendance to hail the new head of a unified homeland.
The German and Austro-Hungarian kingdoms would remain as allies in the polarisation of Europe and the lead-up to a continental war which everyone believed was imminent. Gavrillo Princep's assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand did not warrant the outbreak of war since previous political assassinations had not escalated to such a level. The powers dragged out the issue and made it into a casus belli. Germany's defeat brought her leaders to the tables at Versailles again, the palace that heraded her unity was now to become a bitter name in the minds of Germans everywhere. Germany was assigned blame for the war with heavy punitative clauses, both financially and politically. The abdication of the king translated into chaos with communist, socialist, Christian democrats, conservatives and countless fringe parties fighting to establish a majority in the government. The medieval factionalism and reluctance to compromise made parliament almost as ineffective as the Frankfurt Parliament. Hiter's election in 1933 resulted in new policies being steamrolled through the government. He and Goebbels orchestrated the Day of Potsdam in celebration of the new Reichstag building built on the centre of Prussian power. In attendance were members of the former-ruling Hohenzollern dynasty and the Reichsprasident Paul von Hindenburg. The ceremony witnessed a symbolic transition from the old conservatives and monarchs of Germany to the new era of "democracy". Hitler even issued propaganda depicting him as Frederick II's successor. He was not, however, interested in catering to the demands of fringe and core parties and outlawed all other parties later that same year. By 1938 Hitler had achieved what no other German leader in history had, he had established "Big Germany" following the Anschluss. Had he stopped there, that united homeland may still have existed today since the European powers found it tolerable given that Germany was annexing Germanic territory to bring into its fold.
February 10, 2016
ALMANYA'NIN KISA TARİHİ
(Mary Fulbrook, PhD, Prof, Alman Tarihi, Uni Coll London, UK-2004, Tr-2011,Boğaziçi Uni Yayın, Çeviri: Sabri Gürses, 263 sf.)
ALMAN KİMLİĞİ (Harold James, PhD, Prof, Alman Tarihi, Princeton Uni, USA-1989, Tr-2000, Kızılelma Yayın, Çeviri:İsmail Türkmen, 284 sf.)
İki kitaptan Alıntılar ve Sentezler:
-Doğal engellerden yoksun, sürekli savaşlar yaşamış ve kesintisiz askerlik yapmış (Prusya, "ülkesi olan ordu" konumundaydı), benzersiz yaratıcılığa ve benzersiz yıkıcılığa sahip, geçmeyecek geçmişi olan, şairler-düşünürler-besteciler ülkesi: Almanya.
-Kutsal Roma-Cermen İmparatorluğu ve Habsburg İmparatorluğu gibi 2 büyük Cermen imparatorluğunun yüzlerce yıl boyunca birlikte varolması, ortak dil ve farklı siyasetin getirdiği çelişkilerle, yerel güçlerin (300'den fazla prenslik) kalıcılığına ve geç merkezileşmeye (Napoleon işgaline tepki sonucu birleşilmiştir) neden olmuştur. Bu geçmiş, birlikte belirleme (konsensus) ve bir otoriteye (eşitler arasında 1.ye) devretme geleneğinin bugüne dek sürmesini sağlamıştır.
-İki imparatorlu hal, kilise topraklarının dağıtımının Papa tarafından yapılmasına (Fransa'da Kral'ın yetkisinde) ve yeni rahip atamalarını yapmayan Papa'nın 1/3 toprağı eline geçirmesine yol açmıştır ki bu durum prenslerin Martin Luther'i ve Protestan Reformunu desteklemelerinin asli nedeni olmuştur.
-Almanya, "Burjuva Devrimini yap(a)madığı ve Yönetici Seçkinlerinin devamlılığını sağla(ya)madığı" şeklinde değerlendirilmekte ve bu yorum hala tartışılmaktadır.
-Antik Yunan'ı mükemmellik, estetik ve akıl yönünden taklit edebilen, Humboldt ile merak-araştırma-birikim temelli eğitim sonucunda 1890'da İngiltere'nin 2 katı bilim insanına ulaşabilmiş; 1835'de 6 km olan demiryolunu 1870'de 19000 km'ye, 1950'de 500 bin olan otomobil sayısını 1980'de 23 milyona çıkarabilmiş bir planlama ve disiplin toplumu.
[Almanya, uzun araştırmalar sonrasında en iyi görülenin alınmasıdır (geç kalmalar ile sonuçlansa bile) (M.Weber)].
-"Derin/yüce olan için ticari değerlerden vazgeçebilme" çok eski bir Alman geleneği olup, mevcut yüksek kamu ahlakı standardının nedenlerinden biridir.
(Mary Fulbrook, PhD, Prof, Alman Tarihi, Uni Coll London, UK-2004, Tr-2011,Boğaziçi Uni Yayın, Çeviri: Sabri Gürses, 263 sf.)
ALMAN KİMLİĞİ (Harold James, PhD, Prof, Alman Tarihi, Princeton Uni, USA-1989, Tr-2000, Kızılelma Yayın, Çeviri:İsmail Türkmen, 284 sf.)
İki kitaptan Alıntılar ve Sentezler:
-Doğal engellerden yoksun, sürekli savaşlar yaşamış ve kesintisiz askerlik yapmış (Prusya, "ülkesi olan ordu" konumundaydı), benzersiz yaratıcılığa ve benzersiz yıkıcılığa sahip, geçmeyecek geçmişi olan, şairler-düşünürler-besteciler ülkesi: Almanya.
-Kutsal Roma-Cermen İmparatorluğu ve Habsburg İmparatorluğu gibi 2 büyük Cermen imparatorluğunun yüzlerce yıl boyunca birlikte varolması, ortak dil ve farklı siyasetin getirdiği çelişkilerle, yerel güçlerin (300'den fazla prenslik) kalıcılığına ve geç merkezileşmeye (Napoleon işgaline tepki sonucu birleşilmiştir) neden olmuştur. Bu geçmiş, birlikte belirleme (konsensus) ve bir otoriteye (eşitler arasında 1.ye) devretme geleneğinin bugüne dek sürmesini sağlamıştır.
-İki imparatorlu hal, kilise topraklarının dağıtımının Papa tarafından yapılmasına (Fransa'da Kral'ın yetkisinde) ve yeni rahip atamalarını yapmayan Papa'nın 1/3 toprağı eline geçirmesine yol açmıştır ki bu durum prenslerin Martin Luther'i ve Protestan Reformunu desteklemelerinin asli nedeni olmuştur.
-Almanya, "Burjuva Devrimini yap(a)madığı ve Yönetici Seçkinlerinin devamlılığını sağla(ya)madığı" şeklinde değerlendirilmekte ve bu yorum hala tartışılmaktadır.
-Antik Yunan'ı mükemmellik, estetik ve akıl yönünden taklit edebilen, Humboldt ile merak-araştırma-birikim temelli eğitim sonucunda 1890'da İngiltere'nin 2 katı bilim insanına ulaşabilmiş; 1835'de 6 km olan demiryolunu 1870'de 19000 km'ye, 1950'de 500 bin olan otomobil sayısını 1980'de 23 milyona çıkarabilmiş bir planlama ve disiplin toplumu.
[Almanya, uzun araştırmalar sonrasında en iyi görülenin alınmasıdır (geç kalmalar ile sonuçlansa bile) (M.Weber)].
-"Derin/yüce olan için ticari değerlerden vazgeçebilme" çok eski bir Alman geleneği olup, mevcut yüksek kamu ahlakı standardının nedenlerinden biridir.
June 30, 2010
I know that a concise history of Germany is a tall order, but this book is an elliptical synopsis of a synopsis. It's hard to retain much information from this skeletal read. I would have much preferred the general contours of the history and less focus on minutia. Who could possibly get a sense of the character of the many political parties she tracks through the Weimar government, for example, when many are referred to solely by initials?
The focus of this book is overwhelmingly on the twentieth century. Fulbrook gives equal space to Germany from the dawn of history through 1650 as she gives to 1900 through 1945. I was left curious and dissatisfied by the breathless accounts of what was going on in the German area during the time of Rome and the Holy Roman Empire.
Fulbrook's use of Marxist theory struck me as ridiculous and unhelpful every time it made an appearance. More than once she finds it necessary to explain why an event, despite being predicted by Marxism, did not in fact occur. Useful though Marxism may be, the belief that it has predictive power is anachronistic.
I got little sense of Germany from this book -- I could no more understand a day at the ballpark by reading a baseball almanac. I am certain there are better short histories out there, and I look forward to finding one.
The focus of this book is overwhelmingly on the twentieth century. Fulbrook gives equal space to Germany from the dawn of history through 1650 as she gives to 1900 through 1945. I was left curious and dissatisfied by the breathless accounts of what was going on in the German area during the time of Rome and the Holy Roman Empire.
Fulbrook's use of Marxist theory struck me as ridiculous and unhelpful every time it made an appearance. More than once she finds it necessary to explain why an event, despite being predicted by Marxism, did not in fact occur. Useful though Marxism may be, the belief that it has predictive power is anachronistic.
I got little sense of Germany from this book -- I could no more understand a day at the ballpark by reading a baseball almanac. I am certain there are better short histories out there, and I look forward to finding one.
March 21, 2013
I read this book in preparation for my PhD qualifying exams. This book was extremely helpful to me, a seasoned student of Modern Germany and German culture, to give me an overview of the parts of history I do not as often deal with, particularly the period prior to the 1880s. Fulbrook does a good job of informing the reader of when there are multiple positions in debates over German history, at the same time supplying her own questioning of historians who were popularly touting theories about the Sonderweg and the Stunde Null.
I do think, however, this book will not be particularly accessible to those with no grounding in German history. While Fulbrook hits all the high points, she hits them so succinctly that without further background knowledge it may be too difficult to understand. I actually had to read some of the early chapters with Wikipedia at hand to fully understand the scope of what Fulbrook mentions. Moreover, the book suffers from a dearth of maps. Clearer maps would go a long way towards explaining many of the changes, particularly during the period of Prussia's consolidation.
Overall, I find Fulbrook did an admirable job making a concise overview for historians within the field, but I do not know how accessible this text would be to a lay reader.
I do think, however, this book will not be particularly accessible to those with no grounding in German history. While Fulbrook hits all the high points, she hits them so succinctly that without further background knowledge it may be too difficult to understand. I actually had to read some of the early chapters with Wikipedia at hand to fully understand the scope of what Fulbrook mentions. Moreover, the book suffers from a dearth of maps. Clearer maps would go a long way towards explaining many of the changes, particularly during the period of Prussia's consolidation.
Overall, I find Fulbrook did an admirable job making a concise overview for historians within the field, but I do not know how accessible this text would be to a lay reader.
July 23, 2014
Some sections were slow, but overall it was pretty good. The section on the Aufklarung was outstanding. It forced me to rethink some categories I had on the Enlightenment. I had used to judge the Enlightenment by its French anti-Christian representatives. German proponents of the Aufklarung, while perhaps bad Christians themselves, were by and large conservative and usually quite insightful. Kant's remarks on the need for a monarch to guide the philosophers were astute.
Speaking of monarchy, while Fulbrook didn't mention the connection explicitly, the nexus of guild economics, conservatism, and monarchy shielded German life from the nastier horrors of 1848. By implication, it would seem that an absolute free economy would be helpless before outside manipulation, which is a critique monarchists have made for several centuries.
The book has some flaws and the writing style isn't exactly riveting, but it was largely enjoyable.
Speaking of monarchy, while Fulbrook didn't mention the connection explicitly, the nexus of guild economics, conservatism, and monarchy shielded German life from the nastier horrors of 1848. By implication, it would seem that an absolute free economy would be helpless before outside manipulation, which is a critique monarchists have made for several centuries.
The book has some flaws and the writing style isn't exactly riveting, but it was largely enjoyable.
March 4, 2019
This is a much better short history of Germany than the flawed The Shortest History of Germany (Hawes) which was my introduction to the topic. I feel I'm starting to grasp the outlines of the subject. Fulbrook's book dispenses with the stone, bronze, and iron ages, and with the Romans, in about 4 pages. German history begins in earnest when the Frankish king Clovis defeats the last Roman emperor in 486 CE and the Merovingian dynasty is established. From this admittedly arbitrary point this account of German history spans just over 15 centuries to Reunification and its aftermath. Chancellor Angela Merkel doesn't quite make the cutoff date. There are maps, illustrations, and an index; also suggestions for further reading, limited to recent titles in English, with general guides to particular periods or problems marked with an asterisk - very useful if one is intent upon further study. I can't fault this book. Recommended.
October 30, 2021
Talk about "concise." In just 250 pages, Fulbrook stuffs almost 2,000 years of history, three devastating world wars (I'm including the 30 Years' War as the first), and many other highs and lows.
With that written, these are 250 very dense pages of 9-point font and minimal maps and graphics. It took me awhile to get through this, but I'm glad that I did. I consider myself pretty well-read on German history, but there were a score of new insights provided, particularly on two eras: the Industrial Revoliution from 1810 to 1848, and on the era of divided Germany after the second world war.
For those interested in a deep dive into the history of the Germans--of which the "Germany" of empires and republics makes up 1/13th of that span--or those looking for a handy reference, this concise history is a good history for you.
With that written, these are 250 very dense pages of 9-point font and minimal maps and graphics. It took me awhile to get through this, but I'm glad that I did. I consider myself pretty well-read on German history, but there were a score of new insights provided, particularly on two eras: the Industrial Revoliution from 1810 to 1848, and on the era of divided Germany after the second world war.
For those interested in a deep dive into the history of the Germans--of which the "Germany" of empires and republics makes up 1/13th of that span--or those looking for a handy reference, this concise history is a good history for you.
July 22, 2018
Actually still plowing through this work, but not enjoying it. The author in her preface begins with an apology for not being able to delve into multitude of historical nuances so prevalent in the morass of "German" history. Throughout the text, the author pauses to explain herself, to apologize for leaving things out, and to mention the names (but often not theories and conclusions) of other scholars of German history. Perhaps it is a curse to have Cambridge ask one to write a concise history. It feel like it was written by a scholar under duress who is more concerned with her position among fellow scholars than with her supposed task of illuminating the fortunes of the mid-continent Teutonic peoples to her witless readers.
July 28, 2013
As good an introduction as you can get in 260 pages. A question for further study: when Hitler came to power in January 1933, the nazification of Germany was done very quickly and efficiently. That means good preparation. Who did it and how?
November 18, 2025
My big issue with this book is it just shoves so many dates and names at you, I understand it's supposed to be a "concise history" but none of what it tells you is intuitive or easy to understand/remember
June 25, 2019
I suppose this book is okay but it told me very little I didn't already know and spent the bulk of it's time on 20th century Germany. It's not a bad book, but it's not very good either.
July 30, 2019
Brief, Effective
Brief, Effective, February 18, 2016
This review is from: A Concise History of Germany (Cambridge Concise Histories) (Kindle Edition)
My own interest reading this book was to gain an understanding of the evolution of German nationality transitioning from the Holy Roman Empire though the collection of mini-states that flourished from 1300-1800 up until the time they coalesced under Bismark. The book is heavy in historic detail, perhaps difficult to remember but valuable to read and refer back to. As an overview it is excellent, as is the variety of analytic summations. What initially drew me to it was a similar book from Cambridge University Press on the History of France that I found quite interesting, and both are marketed as textbooks. I was also surprised at the smaller more portable format, but pleased that it employed similar organizational and visual elements, especially rich in explanatory maps and illustrative plates.
The first written analysis of German peoples was the sociological treatise Germania by the Roman historian Tacitus. However, according to the author, the origins of Germany as a political unit is sometime in the 10th century with either election of Conrad I of Franconia in 911 or the anointment of Otto I as Roman Emperor in 962, the boundaries of which, as indicated by a series of maps in the book, are from the middle of Europe to the Mediterranean. Rather than centralized control, what emerges is a loose federation of fiefdoms, eventually dominated not by German speaking Austria by the next largest entity – Prussia.
The central question has always been, what is the appropriate and composition of the German State, and different eras have lead to different answers. The next major pivot point that arises is the series of conflicts from 1618-1648 known as the 30 Years War, that ends with the Peace of Westphalia. As a result of scorched earth policies the urban population declined 25-30% and the rural population by 45-50%. Continental Europe exhausted itself of war. The resulting balance of power provided for a more or less liberal live-and-let live relationship between Catholic and Protestant principalities, with the central power left to the Holy Roman Empire was largely symbolic. It was in this period that the Hohenzollern dynasty of Prussia, thought careful cultivation of its armed forces under Frederick I rose to dominance; by 1740 when his son, Frederick the Great became monarch, 80% of state revenues were devoted to the army, leading to the jest that Prussia was not a country with an army but an army with a country.
Like France and England, Germany was transformed by both the Enlightenment and the Industrial revolution, but lagging behind by several decades. Napoleon's wars changed the face of middle Europe and brought the German states into the modern age. In 1807 serfdom was abolished, though it made little difference to the indebted peasantry at first. Social mobility was legally possible, but it took at least a generation for it to begin to take hold. The Congress of Vienna (1814-15) under the Austrian Chancellor Metternich's influence, created a loose federation of 39 states whose boundaries were almost the same as the Holy Roman Empire, but with no actual government, it was merely a congress of ambassadors which met in Frankfurt. Meanwhile, in the century between 1750 and 1850 the population doubled, but not agricultural production, leading to food riots, rural unemployment, poverty, urbanization and emigration to America. In 1946-47 Germany faced the same potato blight that affected Ireland, and in 1848 there was a call to revolution - but with surprisingly inconclusive results. Instead of radical changes, economic liberalism and political conservatism prevailed, and the existing arrangement of statelets held due to high economic growth. The defeat of Austria at Koniggratz in July 1866 affirmed Prussian economic and military dominance and resulted in a unified Reich by 1871 under Bismark, with political power held disproportionately by the rural Junker (Young Herr) landowners. However it was industrialization, population increase and communication infrastructure such as telegraph, publishing and railroads rather than mere politics that brought people together.
The final 3 chapters cover the Wiemar Republic, the rise and fall of the Nazis, the bifurcation of Germany into East and West and reunification following the collapse of the GDR. Though this was not my main interest I thought the treatment of the modern era as commendable as the rest of the book. It's an excellent good framework backended with a reasonable set of further references, but alas, no supporting footnotes.
Brief, Effective, February 18, 2016
This review is from: A Concise History of Germany (Cambridge Concise Histories) (Kindle Edition)
My own interest reading this book was to gain an understanding of the evolution of German nationality transitioning from the Holy Roman Empire though the collection of mini-states that flourished from 1300-1800 up until the time they coalesced under Bismark. The book is heavy in historic detail, perhaps difficult to remember but valuable to read and refer back to. As an overview it is excellent, as is the variety of analytic summations. What initially drew me to it was a similar book from Cambridge University Press on the History of France that I found quite interesting, and both are marketed as textbooks. I was also surprised at the smaller more portable format, but pleased that it employed similar organizational and visual elements, especially rich in explanatory maps and illustrative plates.
The first written analysis of German peoples was the sociological treatise Germania by the Roman historian Tacitus. However, according to the author, the origins of Germany as a political unit is sometime in the 10th century with either election of Conrad I of Franconia in 911 or the anointment of Otto I as Roman Emperor in 962, the boundaries of which, as indicated by a series of maps in the book, are from the middle of Europe to the Mediterranean. Rather than centralized control, what emerges is a loose federation of fiefdoms, eventually dominated not by German speaking Austria by the next largest entity – Prussia.
The central question has always been, what is the appropriate and composition of the German State, and different eras have lead to different answers. The next major pivot point that arises is the series of conflicts from 1618-1648 known as the 30 Years War, that ends with the Peace of Westphalia. As a result of scorched earth policies the urban population declined 25-30% and the rural population by 45-50%. Continental Europe exhausted itself of war. The resulting balance of power provided for a more or less liberal live-and-let live relationship between Catholic and Protestant principalities, with the central power left to the Holy Roman Empire was largely symbolic. It was in this period that the Hohenzollern dynasty of Prussia, thought careful cultivation of its armed forces under Frederick I rose to dominance; by 1740 when his son, Frederick the Great became monarch, 80% of state revenues were devoted to the army, leading to the jest that Prussia was not a country with an army but an army with a country.
Like France and England, Germany was transformed by both the Enlightenment and the Industrial revolution, but lagging behind by several decades. Napoleon's wars changed the face of middle Europe and brought the German states into the modern age. In 1807 serfdom was abolished, though it made little difference to the indebted peasantry at first. Social mobility was legally possible, but it took at least a generation for it to begin to take hold. The Congress of Vienna (1814-15) under the Austrian Chancellor Metternich's influence, created a loose federation of 39 states whose boundaries were almost the same as the Holy Roman Empire, but with no actual government, it was merely a congress of ambassadors which met in Frankfurt. Meanwhile, in the century between 1750 and 1850 the population doubled, but not agricultural production, leading to food riots, rural unemployment, poverty, urbanization and emigration to America. In 1946-47 Germany faced the same potato blight that affected Ireland, and in 1848 there was a call to revolution - but with surprisingly inconclusive results. Instead of radical changes, economic liberalism and political conservatism prevailed, and the existing arrangement of statelets held due to high economic growth. The defeat of Austria at Koniggratz in July 1866 affirmed Prussian economic and military dominance and resulted in a unified Reich by 1871 under Bismark, with political power held disproportionately by the rural Junker (Young Herr) landowners. However it was industrialization, population increase and communication infrastructure such as telegraph, publishing and railroads rather than mere politics that brought people together.
The final 3 chapters cover the Wiemar Republic, the rise and fall of the Nazis, the bifurcation of Germany into East and West and reunification following the collapse of the GDR. Though this was not my main interest I thought the treatment of the modern era as commendable as the rest of the book. It's an excellent good framework backended with a reasonable set of further references, but alas, no supporting footnotes.
January 16, 2019
This review is for the OG edition, which was revised in 1992, a few years after the reunification of Germany.
The text is what it states it is: 'A concise history of Germany.' The pace is very fast, and there are only a few spaces in here where I felt the author was getting bogged down. Starting with some nods to the Saxon kings and the foundations of the HRE, the main focus of the text is the years 1500 to 1990. Within that section, there's a lot of love given to the Cold War Era.
In a sense, the book is fascinating to read in 2019 from a historiographic standpoint. Naturally, this book was published originally just as the Eastern Bloc was starting to unravel, and the updated version pays a little lip service to the quick pace of re-unification. There are two newer versions of this text -- one from 2004 (right before the rise of Merkel) and one that comes out in 2019. Part of me wanted to grab the 2nd and 3rd editions to compare, but that can be someone else's task.
This edition focused a lot on the Cold War. The sections on World War 2 were brief, and in many ways, that feels just about in line with the expectations I have for historiography of the Holocaust in the early 90s. It just wasn't as 'in vogue' back then to delve heavily into that type of stuff, so the focus of the last chunk of the book is more so on the economic history of East and West Germany, rather than the cultural and social aspects (beyond highlighting the plight of East Germans that helped facilitate the rise and later the rapid decline of the Berlin Wall).
All in all, the book is what it is published to be. It was a concise and very quick walk through several hundred years of history. There's little focus on anything outside of geographic, modern Germany, aside from when it is important (conflicts with Austria/the Hapsburgs). The author got sidetracked in a few places (several, several pages on the economy of the Germanys) but for the most part, you're flying through a nuanced history here. The text should serve as a nice jumping off point for anyone interested in delving deeper into some aspect of German history.
The text is what it states it is: 'A concise history of Germany.' The pace is very fast, and there are only a few spaces in here where I felt the author was getting bogged down. Starting with some nods to the Saxon kings and the foundations of the HRE, the main focus of the text is the years 1500 to 1990. Within that section, there's a lot of love given to the Cold War Era.
In a sense, the book is fascinating to read in 2019 from a historiographic standpoint. Naturally, this book was published originally just as the Eastern Bloc was starting to unravel, and the updated version pays a little lip service to the quick pace of re-unification. There are two newer versions of this text -- one from 2004 (right before the rise of Merkel) and one that comes out in 2019. Part of me wanted to grab the 2nd and 3rd editions to compare, but that can be someone else's task.
This edition focused a lot on the Cold War. The sections on World War 2 were brief, and in many ways, that feels just about in line with the expectations I have for historiography of the Holocaust in the early 90s. It just wasn't as 'in vogue' back then to delve heavily into that type of stuff, so the focus of the last chunk of the book is more so on the economic history of East and West Germany, rather than the cultural and social aspects (beyond highlighting the plight of East Germans that helped facilitate the rise and later the rapid decline of the Berlin Wall).
All in all, the book is what it is published to be. It was a concise and very quick walk through several hundred years of history. There's little focus on anything outside of geographic, modern Germany, aside from when it is important (conflicts with Austria/the Hapsburgs). The author got sidetracked in a few places (several, several pages on the economy of the Germanys) but for the most part, you're flying through a nuanced history here. The text should serve as a nice jumping off point for anyone interested in delving deeper into some aspect of German history.
July 27, 2022
This review is of the Third Edition (2019)
This is a very good concise history of Germany, falling at under 300 pages. I would have liked to have had a few more pages covering The Thirty Years War, because while I was convinced of its importance in Germany history, I was left confused as its complicated events were covered too quickly. I also think a few more pages on the unification of Germany after the 1848 Revolutions would be useful (was it really just the intelligent politicking of Bismarck? Who else was involved etc.). There are regular mentions of Germany eastern colonisation of Slavic areas and its importance, but not enough in my opinion and the German empire in Africa and the influence of its diaspora.
There are many comparisons to England, but not to other countries. It would have been interesting to read a discussion of the similarly late 19th century unification of Italy and whether or not it made both states vulnerable to Fascism/ Nazism. Fulbrook suggests Germany to also bear significant responsibility for the First World War, more so than imperial competition between Britain and France overseas, or the impact of Russian imperialism in South-Eastern Europe and its desire to rule Constantinople, or of emerging nationalism in the Balkans and the weakening of the Ottoman Empire. Fulbrook might even be too critical of Germany's past, but clearly her research has led her to the importance of a critical approach, and perhaps it might be better if other historians were equally as critical of all narratives of 'national' pasts.
Fulbrook specialises in the history of Nazi Germany and Post-War Germany, and it shows, because they are the most detailed, most well written parts of the book. The summary of East Germany and West Germany is the best I've read. Overall, the history is very well structured and well written and engaging even from the earliest chapters, and I enjoyed the short opening and concluding chapters on German identity and historical interpretations. I would recommend it as an impressive and serious overview of German history, and I will be reading more of May Fulbrook's work in the future.
This is a very good concise history of Germany, falling at under 300 pages. I would have liked to have had a few more pages covering The Thirty Years War, because while I was convinced of its importance in Germany history, I was left confused as its complicated events were covered too quickly. I also think a few more pages on the unification of Germany after the 1848 Revolutions would be useful (was it really just the intelligent politicking of Bismarck? Who else was involved etc.). There are regular mentions of Germany eastern colonisation of Slavic areas and its importance, but not enough in my opinion and the German empire in Africa and the influence of its diaspora.
There are many comparisons to England, but not to other countries. It would have been interesting to read a discussion of the similarly late 19th century unification of Italy and whether or not it made both states vulnerable to Fascism/ Nazism. Fulbrook suggests Germany to also bear significant responsibility for the First World War, more so than imperial competition between Britain and France overseas, or the impact of Russian imperialism in South-Eastern Europe and its desire to rule Constantinople, or of emerging nationalism in the Balkans and the weakening of the Ottoman Empire. Fulbrook might even be too critical of Germany's past, but clearly her research has led her to the importance of a critical approach, and perhaps it might be better if other historians were equally as critical of all narratives of 'national' pasts.
Fulbrook specialises in the history of Nazi Germany and Post-War Germany, and it shows, because they are the most detailed, most well written parts of the book. The summary of East Germany and West Germany is the best I've read. Overall, the history is very well structured and well written and engaging even from the earliest chapters, and I enjoyed the short opening and concluding chapters on German identity and historical interpretations. I would recommend it as an impressive and serious overview of German history, and I will be reading more of May Fulbrook's work in the future.
October 22, 2018
Picked this up to learn some Germany history prior to a trip. The book is somewhat academic, written as a way for students to use as a diving board to jump into more detailed works of the historical periods discussed.
The book is organized in a chronological way, starting from pre-medieval and coming all the way up to the fall of the Berlin wall.
I found the first half of the book very interesting: learning about the dynamic nature of the German land, with its many princely states, its Roman Empire past, and the constant wars that each kingdom faced from both "inter-German" princes and external attacks from neighbouring European powers.
Through each age, leading up to WW2 Germany, which, for better or for worse, is the most commonly known historical time period of Germany, the author paints a portrait of both political changes as well as social and cultural life of Germans in the time period. It was an engaging way of humanizing the history of Germany. I had never been exposed to what life in Europe was in this time period in any serious detail previously.
The book got a bit dry towards the end. That said, learning about political parties of West Germany helped understand the current German political landscape a bit better. However, it got a touch too political towards the end, and I found it relatively uninteresting in the last 50-60 pages.
The book is organized in a chronological way, starting from pre-medieval and coming all the way up to the fall of the Berlin wall.
I found the first half of the book very interesting: learning about the dynamic nature of the German land, with its many princely states, its Roman Empire past, and the constant wars that each kingdom faced from both "inter-German" princes and external attacks from neighbouring European powers.
Through each age, leading up to WW2 Germany, which, for better or for worse, is the most commonly known historical time period of Germany, the author paints a portrait of both political changes as well as social and cultural life of Germans in the time period. It was an engaging way of humanizing the history of Germany. I had never been exposed to what life in Europe was in this time period in any serious detail previously.
The book got a bit dry towards the end. That said, learning about political parties of West Germany helped understand the current German political landscape a bit better. However, it got a touch too political towards the end, and I found it relatively uninteresting in the last 50-60 pages.
December 29, 2020
The advantage to a concise history of anything is that you can read it quickly and get a nice overview of the subject. The downside is that you never get enough information concerning the areas that truly interest you.
Studying Germany has always been problematic because Germany as we think of it today didn’t come into existence until the second half of the nineteenth century. And yet we talk about Germanic barbarian tribes and German peoples going back to the Roman Empire. So studying Germany makes the scholar deal with the very fundamental question of what makes a German and this is not an easy question nor is it answered very satisfactorily. Clearly part of the solution is in language, but there are a wide variety of German cultures and a dizzying array of political entities that included peoples that spoke Germanic languages and had an arguably German culture.
Still, it’s a very interesting exercise to meander through. I would have liked to see much more focus on the medieval period, but alas, it’s a “concise” history and the middle ages and before usually get cut to the bone. Fulbrook obviously has a deep mastery of her subject and she’s a good writer who can convey complex topics in an easy-to-follow fashion. If you’re interested in Germany, this is a good place to start.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
Studying Germany has always been problematic because Germany as we think of it today didn’t come into existence until the second half of the nineteenth century. And yet we talk about Germanic barbarian tribes and German peoples going back to the Roman Empire. So studying Germany makes the scholar deal with the very fundamental question of what makes a German and this is not an easy question nor is it answered very satisfactorily. Clearly part of the solution is in language, but there are a wide variety of German cultures and a dizzying array of political entities that included peoples that spoke Germanic languages and had an arguably German culture.
Still, it’s a very interesting exercise to meander through. I would have liked to see much more focus on the medieval period, but alas, it’s a “concise” history and the middle ages and before usually get cut to the bone. Fulbrook obviously has a deep mastery of her subject and she’s a good writer who can convey complex topics in an easy-to-follow fashion. If you’re interested in Germany, this is a good place to start.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
July 5, 2021
This is a very bad concise history. I wonder how it got through the reviews in such a big publishing house.
If you don't know much about history of Germany, don't start here. The writing is bad, the book is very unbalanced (HALF of it is about XXth century), things are mentioned, but not explained (like Retchtstaat) and the author jumps from one thing to another. If you already know something about the topic, you will be annoyed by superficiality, silly explanations ("Frederick William I sought out tall men for his prize troop of ‘giant soldiers’; since contemporaries tended to laugh at this, it enabled him to build up an army almost unnoticed.") or even factual errors (e.g. Lithuanian is not a slavic language). The sketchy chapter about Middle Ages (ca 20 p) will give you an impression, that Germany was one of many countries in Central Europe, backward in many ways, which, thanks to Prussia, grew later to wealth and importance.
If you don't know much about history of Germany, don't start here. The writing is bad, the book is very unbalanced (HALF of it is about XXth century), things are mentioned, but not explained (like Retchtstaat) and the author jumps from one thing to another. If you already know something about the topic, you will be annoyed by superficiality, silly explanations ("Frederick William I sought out tall men for his prize troop of ‘giant soldiers’; since contemporaries tended to laugh at this, it enabled him to build up an army almost unnoticed.") or even factual errors (e.g. Lithuanian is not a slavic language). The sketchy chapter about Middle Ages (ca 20 p) will give you an impression, that Germany was one of many countries in Central Europe, backward in many ways, which, thanks to Prussia, grew later to wealth and importance.
February 5, 2020
Germanic tribes wandering and raiding, forming small principalities and warring, forming bigger Bundeslands and not unifying, Parliament being dysfunctional, revolutions and fear of the French revolution, Prussia broiling and expanding and then unifying, those bloody landed Prussians distorting democracy, something about Weimar, unimaginable evil, the West becoming a symbol of consumerism and the East showing solidarity and repression and a wall to separate the two, people choosing consumerism, more and more people choosing consumerism, the Wall coming down and the West making economic sacrifices to welcome the East but maintaining an alienating sense of superiority, something, something, finally dominating Europe fiscally & monetarily via the EU.
A small step towards assimilation. Now I need to remember that Austria =/= Germany because that pisses off the locals.
A small step towards assimilation. Now I need to remember that Austria =/= Germany because that pisses off the locals.
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June 13, 2024
A solid but fascinating page-turner about the germanic lands and peoples!
Fulbrook, being more of an academic than a popular author, spends quite a bit of time highlighting the controversies and areas that are still being debated which shows the complexity of the issues and allows reader to make their own conclusions, though that sometimes distracts from the main storyline.
That said, I found the writing engaging, and the topic fascinating. I liked the nuance in the story, and probing of different themes and patterns that are peculiar to Germany.
I would recommend this book to everyone as a fun read, but also as a good background for how the world came to be the way it is in the West: Europe and the US were much influenced by Germany.
Fulbrook, being more of an academic than a popular author, spends quite a bit of time highlighting the controversies and areas that are still being debated which shows the complexity of the issues and allows reader to make their own conclusions, though that sometimes distracts from the main storyline.
That said, I found the writing engaging, and the topic fascinating. I liked the nuance in the story, and probing of different themes and patterns that are peculiar to Germany.
I would recommend this book to everyone as a fun read, but also as a good background for how the world came to be the way it is in the West: Europe and the US were much influenced by Germany.
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