Duitsland, een natie en haar geschiedenis

by Helmut Walser Smith

In dit scherpzinnige relaas van vijf eeuwen Duitse geschiedenis rekent Helmut Walser Smith af met de wijdverbreide perceptie dat Duitsland in essentie een rabiaat nationalistisch land is, waarvan de geschiedenis wel in excessief geweld en genocide moest uitmonden. De werkelijkheid, zegt Smith, is veel weerbarstiger.
Hij voert ons terug naar de prille, vreedzame geboortejaren van de Duitse natie, naar de Dertigjarige Oorlog, de verlichting, het militarisme, de Weimarrepubliek – en laat overtuigend zien hoe Duitsland in staat was zich steeds opnieuw uit te vinden. Alleen daardoor kon Bauhaus ontstaan, en<\i> Adolf Hitler, en<\i> kon op de puinhopen van het Derde Rijk de moderne tolerante democratie van Angela Merkel worden gebouwd.

Genres: History, Germany, Nonfiction, European History, Audiobook, Politics, German Literature

608 pages, Hardcover

First published March 17, 2020

Reviews

[Brett C · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very well-researched historical look into German nationalism and national identity. The author starts briefly with a Medieval European overview and begins with German history a little before 1500 and drives into the early 2000s. The epilogue briefly covers post-2000 recent events all the way up to 2016-17 migration crisis.

The book covers nationalism in the historical context with an interweaving tie of politics, wars, and civil affairs. The Germanic tribes called themselves the 'diutschiu lant' (German lands) and by the 1480s, the word "German" became regular verbage used by diplomats and statesmen, pg. 12

Part II "The Copernican Turn' and Part III "The Age of Nationalism" were very interesting to me. German nationalism really took off with the rise of the intellectualism (Immanuel Kant) and patriotism, literature and romanticism (like Goethe's Faust, the poet Friedrich Schiller), music (composer Richard Wagner), clockmaking, and art. Part III concluded with the German unification of 1870. Hitler understood the importance of German nationalism. He took full advantage of the Volksgemeinschaft (people's community) and promoted Pan-Germanism taking nationalism to a whole new level.

Overall I really liked this book. The author presented the information with very good readability and lack of stagnation. I recommend this to anyone interested in European history, German nationalism from a historical perspective. Thanks!

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Germany: A Nation in Its Time: Before, During, and After Nationalism, 1500-2000, by Helmut Walser Smith, is a fascinating book examining the growth of German nationalism, and the idea of Germany as a nation. This is a history that has been corrupted by the modern conception of Nazi ideology, the holocaust, and the militaristic side of this idea. Smith does not shy away from these concepts, noting antisemitism and hate when it arises, but also showing that the ideology behind Germany as a concept is not all goose-stepping soldiers and glorious sacrifice, nor does it revolve solely around antisemitism. Instead, Smith examines the long history of Germany as a nation - from a fragmented collection of states, free cities, kingdoms, duchies and feudal possessions that made up the Holy Roman Empire, to the early Prussian led Empire, through the Weimar and Nazi era, and finally ending on an afterword about present day Germany, through its occupation by allied forces, its severing under communism/democracy, and its reunification and integration into the European Union. This is a long and storied history, full of scholars of many schools, who set out ideas and philosophies that shaped Germany and the rest of the world in many ways.

Smith examines this long history through the lens of how Germans would have seen themselves, and Germany as a whole. This conception began to take shape in the 1500's - when mapmakers began to create more and more maps outlining the geographical location of the Holy Roman Empire, and began to call it Germania. This name was little used by most Germans at this time - identities would have been extremely localized, and split between the seigniory ruler, the church, and the Emperor. Ideas began to form around belonging, commonality, rights and space throughout this time period, and through the turbulent 17th century, as multiple wars of religion were fought across Germany, and many areas experienced anarchy, looting, and occupation by foreign powers. Smith then moves on to the growth of nationalism as we know it. In Germany, this first coalesced around states like Prussia, Austria, Hesse, Bavaria and so on - with little consciousness around being "German". Napoleon's occupation and dismantling of many traditional states - even, if indirectly, the Holy Roman Empire, led to some revolutionary changes in how individuals conceived themselves. Instead of being the domain of the scholar, ideas around nationalism began to filter into the common sphere. This began with the idealization of the Volk - the common people. A concept that would take a dark turn into the 20th century, this concept in its early form opened up the intellectual sphere to the common folk - long neglected in feudal considerations of who belonged.

Smith moves into the Age of Nationalism, and this is a very interesting read. Occupation, war mixed with militarism, colonialism and identity to begin the process of developing a idea of what Germany was. The borders of this concept were constantly in flux - sometimes including lands in Poland (owned by Prussia and Austria), sometimes the Baltic, sometimes Bohemia, and sometimes Belgium and the Netherlands. The average German was more patriotic to their state still, with droves of people volunteering to fight for Prussia and Austria in their wars against each other and France. This was a heady time for intellectualism revolving around nationalism, with numerous schools of thought existing. Some espoused humanistic utopia, some blood and iron, and some a more violent and ethnically driven nationalism. This is the nationalism we would come to know best, as it eventually would destroy the lives of millions of innocent people. Even so, this trajectory was far from guaranteed. Numerous scholars and politicians pushed for other options. Socialism, decentralization and inclusion were all options that were considered, and advocated for even into the depths of the Nazil regime and beyond.

Smith's analysis of German nationalism is fascinating. He looks at every avenue: geographic space, maps and conceptions of territory, sovereignty, belonging, inclusion and exclusion, and so on. The environmental sphere, women's rights and the rights of minority groups are examined in detail. Numerous scholars are discussed - Junger, Goethe, Heine and numerous others. Monuments, works of art, books and poetry, historiography, military and economic developments, and general politics are also discussed in great detail. A fascinating and all encompassing book, this is certainly worth a for those interested in reading about Germany.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Birth, Growth, Death and Resurrection

I first came to Helmut Walser Smith’s Germany: A Nation in Its Time after he had written an article on five essential books on Germany. This perked my interest as I had already fallen down the rabbit hole of German history. After it had sat on my ever growing ‘to be read’ shelf, I finally managed time to tackle it. To be honest I should have read it sooner! The book is interesting, fast paced and packed full of information. Is it the ultimate authority on Germany? No, but it doesn’t try to be. What it is, is a sweeping history of the country which traces the idea of nationhood across five centuries, from the Holy Roman Empire to the reunified Federal Republic. Unlike many national histories that begin with the 19th Century and focus narrowly on the rise of nationalism, Smith situates Germany’s story in a longer arc, showing how the concept of ‘Germany’ existed long before a unified state came into being, and how that idea was repeatedly reshaped by religion, war, culture, and politics.

Smith’s premise is that the notion of a ‘nation’ is not simply a political or territorial entity, but also a cultural and imaginative one. He highlights how maps, literature, confessional divides, and memory of historical events (such as the Thirty Years’ War or the Napoleonic Wars) all gave meaning to ‘Germany’ centuries before 1871. His use of visual sources such as maps and images is as you would expect, very useful in demonstrating how Germans pictured themselves in relation to Europe and the wider world.

Germany: A Nation in Its Time is particularly strong in exploring continuities and ruptures. Smith resists the oversimplified narrative that German history was a straight road to Hitler (like Ian Kershaw or Richard J. Evans both suggest) but neither does he ignore the darker legacies of exclusionary nationalism, anti-Semitism, and violent militarism. Instead, he shows how Germany was always marked by competing visions: one of a cultural nation rooted in language, art, and shared memory, and another of a narrowly ethnic and racial community that culminated in the catastrophe of the Third Reich. His treatment of the Holocaust is careful and central, making clear that the exclusionary definition of Germanness had devastating consequences.

At the same time, Smith does not end with 1945. The book’s final sections address how West and East Germany grappled with their past, and how the reunified nation reimagined itself after 1990. In this way, Smith connects centuries of history to questions that remain urgent today (and are perhaps politically very relevant at the moment) about identity, memory, and the place of the nation in an increasingly globalised world.

Furthermore, the book finds that balance between being both scholarly and accessible. Smith balances narrative drive with deep engagement in historiography, which means it has something to offer to all levels of reader. At over 600 pages, it can be heavy, but this history of 500 years! I find that Smith is a good guide through this story and his clear prose and thematic coherence keeps the book from being overwhelming while giving just enough information to back up his arguments.

In the end, Germany: A Nation in Its Time is a landmark work of historical synthesis. It challenges you to think of nations not as fixed entities but as evolving ideas, shaped by culture as much as by politics. If you like German history, nationalism, or the broader question of how nations imagine themselves, this is for you.

[William Schram · Rating 5 out of 5]

The idea of belonging to a nation is a recent one. Helmut Walser Smith discusses maps, belonging, and more in this book about Germany. Smith weaves a fascinating narrative on the development of Germany as a nation. In the beginning, Germany was the equivalent of a flyover state. People stopped there and stayed at inns, but most people just used Germany as a stopping point on the way to the Holy Land. Even at the height of Roman power, Germany was a barbarian land, teeming with savages. Smith follows the development of Germany, going from 1500 to modern times.

[Frederick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book on German history over the past five centuries with nationalism as its thematic thread. In his epilogue, the author indicates that his original intention was to have the book end around 1945. Unfortunately, this is reflected in the way he treats the last section. This is the least elaborated. The author deals extensively with Nazism, but the post-war world is treated poorly. About German unification he goes very quickly and especially the GDR is treated very superficially. Nonetheless, highly recommended!

[Timo Bomhof · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mooi geschreven boek over de fascinerende geschiedenis van Duitsland, met veel aandacht voor hoe wetenschappers en kunstenaars tegen hun Duitsland aankeken en hoe daaruit het (gewelddadig) nationalisme mijn ontstaan. Uitstekend gedocumenteerd met ruim 1800 noten.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the first two sentences are his topic and his argument you know it's gonna be good

[Erik B.K.K. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing as it does not deliver its promise. The first half is slightly more interesting, but the author goes on and on about maps. Many passages are entirely devoted to maps, but the maps themselves (and other pictures) are of low quality: some maps have shifted bullet points. For example the map on concentration camps shows one bullet point in Holwert, Friesland, what I'm assuming is supposed to represent Westerbork in Drenthe. Other maps show monuments for Emperor Wilhelm I in the North Sea. The author also relies heavily on quotes by contemporary writers and artists, and as such a better title would have been "a history of Germany through the eyes of contemporary famous people".
The second half is a exposition on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust that offers nothing new in the discourse and his hammering on the suffering of Jews caused irritation with me simply because this is not a book on them or the Holocaust, nor did I see the extreme relevancy the author appoints it to the idea of the German nation. Wolfszeit by Harald Jähner offers a much better point of view on this last part of German history.
One last thing that bothered me was the author barely introducing Rosa Luxemburg, who in my eyes should gave been a key figure to his story. How does he introduce the socialist, activist, politician, philosopher and author? He calls her "the agitator (I read the Dutch translation which uses "stokebrand", so I'm not 100% sure of the translation) Rosa Luxemburg". That's it.
Finally, I am just glad to be done with it. Was it worth my time? Not really.

[Walter Schutjens · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well written historical account of Germany, not as much its political and social changes, but more how to notion of a 'state' as a concept developed in people's position towards their country.
Would not recommend as an introductory text to German history as it is littered with obscure reference to german literature and cultural figures, which do not add much to the historical aspects of the book. But do help to weave a grander narrative into which you can fit the historical events.

[Ummo Bruns · Rating 5 out of 5]

With thanks to Helmut Walser for this excellent book on Germany and I am happy he did not stop in 1945, but ended in the 21st century! Insightful and with empathy! I intend to send the author a personal note with my findings.

[DRugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an important book for understanding the development of German nationalism into radical nationalism.

[Andrew Canfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

A half millennium's worth of Germanic history is covered in Helmut Walter Smith's Germany: A Nation In its Time: Before, During, and After Nationalism 1500-2000. This is a highly readable account of the evolution of the Germanic lands and the institutions which were developed over that five hundred year span.

The book begins with a look at just how poorly defined Germania was at the turn of the sixteenth century. From Moravia to Württemberg to Saxony, the opening section shows how challenging it would be in the early 1500s to properly map the lands which would one day become the nation-state of Germany. As with the rest of Europe, these lands were a confusing and sometimes overlapping set of principalities and duchies.

Smith mentions that the woods were to Germany what the ocean was to England, the mountains to the Swiss, or the Revolution to France. The importance of timber to the area's early economic growth is not to be over overlooked, and its inability to become a sea power akin to England or even France was a difficult fact of its development to miss. While Hamburg was a key port and gateway to international trade, any notion of a dominant German sea presence would forever remain constrained by geography.

Helmut Walser Smith takes umbrage with the notion that the German people are inherently warlike. He points out that German was only at war one-third of the time between 1500 and 2000, a much lower rate of conflict than the other major European powers during that period. He also notes the ethnic diversity present in the principalities throughout much of the late Middle Ages, disputing the idea that the Third Reich's notorious racial policies were necessarily drawn from Germany's past.

He makes a point to spend much of the book analyzing Germany's cultural and literary lights. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Charlotte von Stein were two of the Germanic writers whose lives receive focus in the book's admirable explorations of the individuals who shaped late eighteenth and early nineteenth century thought in Germany.

Rahel Levin is another influential individual on the social scene in Germany's pre-unification years who graces the pages of Smith's work. Adolph Menzel's artwork and contributions to the country's culture and writer Heinrich von Kleist are not skipped over either. This was all undertaken in an attempt to recall the often overlooked influence of Germanic Romanticism in Europe. Germaine de Staël's book d'Allemagne drove this home during a time when Napoleon's threats were forcing the fractious German kingdoms and principalities to consider reinvigorating common cultural bonds.

Martin Luther breakaway Protestant movement figures (as readers would be correct to assume) prominently in much of the book's earlier sections. Unfortunately, as was the case in other parts of late Middle Age Europe as well, anti-Jewish pogroms were not absent from the Germanic lands in the post-Luther years.

The prominence of Protestantism in Germany during the book's five hundred year time span is not something even a casual reader could miss.

The destruction done to Germany's lands during the Thirty Years War, a conflict ostensibly brought about by the Protestant/Catholic schism, comes through during the passages detailing this conflict. The magnitude of hardships visited on Germany would, according to Smith, not be matched until the twentieth century's world wars. Combined with the simultaneous outbreak of plague, an estimated twenty percent of Germany's population died from 1618-1648.

Some of the more compelling sections occur when two power centers-the Hohenzollern Prussian lands in the north and the Austrian Hapsburg empire in the south-lead to imperial competition and conflict. The Holy Roman Empire is a multi-book length topic of its own, but a bare bones, cursory look at its administration is granted to readers in Germany: A Nation in Its Time.

Frederick the Great and Maria Theresa's rivalry is examined, and of course the Seven Years' War and a tug-of-war over Silesia feature prominently in the book’s pages. Poland's dismemberment and its status as a buffer between Russia and eastern Germany's kingdoms are a reminder of the unsettled nature of what would one day become the Soviet Union's satellites.

Carl von Clausewitz plays a starring role as the eighteenth century gave to the nineteenth, with his military strategy coming into play during the wars against Napoleon's Grand Armee. Smith nimbly dissects the role the German lands, and Prussia in particular, played during the Napoleonic Wars. While the notion of togetherness throughout Germany was overplayed, he does leave the impression that early formation of a healthy nationalism did begin to take root during the ultimately victorious battles against Napoleon.

Smith points out that Germans later in the century liked to point back to these conflicts as a time when they stood united and, consequently, when the seeds of national unification were definitively planted. But, he goes on note, things were more complicated: Frederick William III's hesitancy in joining the alliance against France was held up as evidence contrary to nationhood mythmaking.

It would take another conflict against a member of the Bonaparte family before the seeds of German nationhood would be ready for harvest.

The outcome of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 and Germany's ensuing nationhood settled the question of where the power base would lie: Prussia and, more specifically, Berlin would take the lead in a new, unified Germany.

The construction of a functioning German nation-state is delved into in as much detail as the author could muster in a book covering such a long stretch of time. He also looks at the First World War from a German-centric perspective, writing about the suffering visited both on the Germans as well as their adversaries. The interwar years and the ups and ultimate downs of the Weimar Republic years are delved into, a frustrating interlude where attempts to establish a peaceful democracy were undone by cascading events.

Smith focuses a lot on the Holocaust and Germany's clashes with the Red Army during the chapter on the Second World War. He details the days of Polish ghettoes and massacres of Jews early on in the war before proceeding to the more industrial-style killing as the conflict wore on. He makes the blame out to be widespread during this, questioning if many civilian Germans were as unaware of what was actually going on as they later claimed to be.

The book does not spend excessive energy or detail on any one of the Germany has been involved in during the years 1500-2000. With the exception of the occasional Helmut von Moltke or Frederick the Great, the lives of every day soldiers are given as much attention as the Germanic military commanders many ranks above them.

In the years after 1945, Smith cites surprising postwar data which indicated many Germans still possessed Nazi sympathies and adopted a "Hitler had good ideas but took it too far" sort of mentality until the early to mid 1960s. There also seemed to be lingering anti-Semitic biases among much of the population until a few decades after the Second World War.

Smith tries to close the book on a positive note by detailing how Germany has become a more welcoming, largely post-racial society in the early twentieth century.

The dying out of an unhealthy nationalism is also cited as reason for optimism. But, he cannot help but point out, the same sort of xenophobia and nativism that struck parts of Europe and the the U.S. during the Syrian refugee crisis also made headway in German elections. The gains made by the anti-immigrant AfD party during Angela Merkel's tenure (particularly pronounced in eastern Germany and the country's less educated and less cosmopolitan regions) reflected the same sort of ugly nationalism represented by Trumpism in the United States.

And yet Smith has a positive outlook going forward, stating that the vast majority of Germans reject the sort of xenophobia peddled by Alternatives for Germany and other right wing parties and instead embrace a tolerant, social democratic form of a healthier nationalism.

This book provides a deeply informative look at Germany's development from disparate principalities and duchies into a modern nation-state. The relentless commitment to maintaining a nationalistic lens redounds to the author's credit, as this theme is continually returned to throughout five centuries of Germanic history.

A supple and admirable balance between the cultural and military is maintained throughout Germany: A Nation in Its Time. The strategy pays off, as does the theme it constantly weaves throughout one era of Germany's past after another. This makes for an immensely enjoyable walk through five hundred years of a people's development into nationhood and onward into a twenty-first century multicultural Western democracy.

-Andrew Canfield Denver, Colorado

[Nick Gaschler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helmut Walter Smith provides an enticing argument about Germany in “Germany: A Nation in its Time”. This book grabbed me in beginning with the introduction and refused to let me go. Smith chooses to study Germany through its intimate relationship with Nationalism. Germany remains one of the first countries one considers when thinking about Nationalism. Smith chronicles five hundred years of thinking about Germany beginning with the early two-dimensional imaginations of the land, continuing with the formation of a “German culture” and culminating with the direct Nationalist influence that led to the unification of Germany and the fallout of what destructive and toxic nationalism ultimately meant to Germany.
Smith is an eloquent and informative writer. His prose is academic in tone, but easy to digest. He conveys his ideas well and that made this book extremely compelling. In the introduction, Smith outlines his arguments and purposes behind this book and throughout the rest of it, I felt Smith tied back his discussions to his arguments superbly. Smith also was capable of approaching the tough topic - Nazi Germany - and explaining how it fits into his narrative in a sober yet impactful way. This wasn’t quite what I expected, but the argument was excellent and the way Smith conveys the narrative has reshaped the way I wish to view German history. He balances a more conceptual approach of a nation with enough information about actual events and history to provide everyone with something they can take away from this read. I have little qualms about this history and it ranks among some of the best I have read this year.


Many point to 1871 as a starting point for Germany, but Smith chooses to move back a further three centuries to 1500. In 1500, the lands that constitute Germany were under the domain of the Holy Roman Empire. However, there was a two-dimensional vision of Germany and the German lands inspired by the rediscovery of Tacitus and the ever-present revitalized humanist idea of a common culture within these German lands. Smith argues that it was first these humanists and cartographers that championed the early formation of Germany. He underscores this with a discussion concerning the religious differences of Germany, the impact of Martin Luther and ultimately the carnage of the Thirty Years War. The religious question was, I think, the first instance of the Germans establishing a unique contour in its culture.
Following that, we enter the Age of Enlightenment where the ideas of a common culture among Germans are reinforced by thinkers like Goethe or Fichte. Here, historians can detect the formation of a concrete German culture defined by the thinkers of the time and independent from the religious fanaticism of the pre-modern eras. Rather than the HRE being the dominant societal force that it once was, the Peace of Westphalia, I will always argue was the death blow for the HRE and allowed Prussia and Habsburg Austria to duel for dominance in the German sphere. This relationship between the two “mega-states” and the medium-sized states like Bavaria or Saxony or Wurttemberg signal the later rise of Nationalism.
In the aftermath of the Age of Enlightenment, Germans find themselves free from the obligation of the Holy Roman Empire and the occupation of Napoleon Bonaparte. Yet, the French bestowed Germany with the Nationalism that led to its unification. Prussia, in response to the French aggression and the liberal 1848 revolutions, militarized its society. This allowed it to bring much of the small North German territories into its sphere of influence. Its defeat of first Austria finalized the separation of Austria from Germany. Its defeat of France, engineered by Bismarck gave Germans a definitive common cause - nationalism - and allowed it to unify into one.
The German Empire was a short-lived failed state. Once unified, Germany faced the challenge of industrialization which occupied much of the end of the 19th century. Once it became a strong, global power it indulged in Imperialism like the other Western powers. Despite its militaristic tendencies, Germany reached its zenith at this point as the attitudes of nationalism prevailed in a peaceful society. This is the idealized version of Nationalism. However, the Great War commenced and Imperial Germany lose all of its credibility. Patriotism was strong at first, yet once it was revealed that Germany was the true belligerent in the conflict, the German “sacrifice for” the nation ripped the German psyche apart. Assisted with the genuine horror of modern warfare, German’s were directionless and angry at their government.
Imperial Germany gave way to the Weimar Republic. A government that was so burdened by the sins of its predecessor and the harsh peace conditions thrown onto it by the Allies, the Weimar era was characterized by the hyper-inflation and grief that followed the nation in the shadow of World War I. This allowed a fanatical brand of Nationalism and restoration politics to dominate. Championed by Adolf Hitler, the Nazi Party seized Germany peacefully and devastated it further than anyone could have imagined.
In an effort to forge a nation similar to what had once been, Hitler utilized misguided, chauvinist, racist, and downright false ideas to brainwash the public. Charismatic authoritarianism is a dangerous brand of politics and when it is seen, must be emphasized and avoided at all costs. His aggressive militarization and vision to reconstitute a German Empire led to the deaths of not just six million Jews, but millions of political enemies, Communists, non-German peoples and German men. A truly destructive regime, the Nazis and the twisted leaders represented the unambiguous evil of humanity. What is even more striking is the complicity Germans displayed. Smith left no doubt that the German people knew about the killing. Smith emphasizes that the vast majority, while not directly endorsing it, allowed it to happen. This guilt paralyzed Germans for half a century until the 1990s.
Smith outlines Germany’s post-war years as a time for reluctant reconciliation. How can a people come to terms with the atrocities their nation committed? The answer seems to be slowly. From 1945 to the turn of the century, the German people reconciled the genocide that occurred while reforming their allegiance to the nation and thus nationalism. The work is not done, as the epilogue of this book points to, but the progress made should serve as the shining example for all nations of how to directly confront past transgression.
Ultimately, nationalism as a concept with its strengths and weaknesses can be best studied through the examination of Germany as a nation. However, the idea of Germany and the German common culture predates the concept of nationalism. Thus, one cannot study Germany strictly through a nationalist lens.

[Kasey Dietrich · Rating 1 out of 5]

This historian is super lazy. It's like this author tries to shock people with the following common knowledge: The Germans were the big baddie in WWII and started a massive genocide in the process, and two, the nationalism was prominent in Germany. WOW!!! Sarcasm. Just depending on these two incomplete tidbits of info is not helpful or intelligent or insightful, it's the opposite actually. Every country, every person, does what they do for a reason, even when people are evil, they are heroes to their own story, and they even view themselves as tragic heroes to distance themselves from their cruelty. It doesn't change what's right and wrong, it just makes history complex and not simple. And there's no way you or any other wannabe historian can tell me that all Germans hated Jews since the dawn of time, you cannot convince me that world war II is all there is to know about German history.

[Vipin M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't age very well. Germans have a blond spot the size of a Ford Pickup truck on their nose.
1. Support for new dictatorship check
2. Funding old dictatorship check
3. Protecting right-wing government check
4. Polity tailor made for fanning fascism check
5. Funding Apartheid check
6. Blaming someone else for own problems check
.......

Replace Jew with Immigrants, and Germans will feel right at home with their cuddly 3rd Reich.
Next time, we should let Red Army have a full run, given that most Germans and especially AfD voters have forgotten what Soviets did last time.

[Deb W · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't persuaded by his argument. In addition, I found it odd that he references authors literature as if it was an actual reality rather than someone's artistry.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

How do you form a nation? A nation is distinct from culture, distinct from the institutions of a state. Like most modern myths, nationhood is a complicated identity with uncertain origins. So it is difficult to provide a roadmap for the steps necessary to construct a new nation. What comes first? How do you build that sense of cohesiveness that builds a narrative around history?

Few countries have wrestled with the concept of a nation more than 20th century Germany. A relative latecomer to the nation-state scene, Germany was born from a complicated geography of religions, rulers, and ethnicities. It seemed to struggle constantly with its sense of self and the appropriate boundaries and definitions of its nationhood. And then of course, it took nationalism further than anyone else with an ideology steeped in blood and soil.

In this unique and far-reaching history, Walser Smith explores the concept of nationhood through a 500 year survey of Germany. It is eminently readable, reaching far beyond traditional sourcing to explore visual, topographical, religious, and anthropological foundations for what became the modern state of Germany. While the breadth may be too esoteric for some, the book's candor and clear writing style are very appealing. I would certainly recommend this for anyone seeking to understand the appeal and complications that arise from the very concept of a nation, particularly the German one.

Read more at https://znovels.blogspot.com/2023/07/...

[Christian Singer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book traces the history of Germany through the ways people have conceived of it over time. At first, there was no real sense of Germany, as people viewed the world more in terms of one-dimensional itineraries that led from one place to another. In the 16th century, people first began to imagine Germany as a two-dimensional space—one that had something akin to borders and could be distinguished from other regions. With the advent of the 18th century, the idea of a German identity started to gain traction. Initially, this identity was cultural and linguistic and, as contemporaries noted, non-bellicose. However, after the Napoleonic Wars, the question of identity took a more nationalistic turn, culminating in the total destruction of World War II, after which German identity became less oriented toward the nation or the idea of a unified German people.

All in all, I think the book’s historical narrative is quite compelling, but I would have liked more discussion of the philosophical ideas underlying the development of German identity and the rise of Naziism. I also found the last part of the book—dealing with the period after 1950—too shallow, and the epilogue, which discusses Germany after 2000, somewhat one-sided, portraying anti-migration sentiment as motivated more by residual chauvinism than by genuine concerns about safety or cultural change.

If you want to read a book explaining the historical development of Germany up to World War II, this is definitely a good place to start—but for contemporary history, there are probably better works available.

[Jonathon McKenney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rainy day good for finishing up books. A lot of food for thought from the book, and an interestingly focused history of the nation, both as a concept and as a practice. Definitely a slow start, but part three and four were excellent (unification to wwii). The ending section, “After Nationalism” didn’t do what I thought it would, discussing the view of Germans about nationalism as a whole, instead it mostly focused on the legacy of the holocaust. Fascinating stuff, no doubt, but not as on topic as I wish. Also conspicuously missing was any real discussion beyond a passing reference to Germany’s role in European unification, which disappointed me. The epilogue was very good.

And an especial shoutout to the first chapter, discussion visual representation of states in the forms of maps was a game changer… that was a great read.

Overall, a very optimistic view of nationalism and the power of history in a country that has seen extremes. Refreshing after that awful “the virtue of nationalism” book. And kudos to Mr. Walser-Smith for his integration on graphs, maps, charts, etc. Always a pet peeve of mine when they are just plunked there with no context, and he certainly did not do that.

[M. Schoedel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great, educational read! I highly recommend for academics and laypeople alike. Anyone interested in better understanding German history in the longue duré (long-term). This book is special not only because of its analysis across multiple centuries but also analyzes important literary and cultural artifacts in their contemporary contexts.

It is a marvelous feat of academic writing with well-researched facts. Almost a decade after the books’ original conception, it is now available in print and digitally. Well worth the cost!

[Nate Bate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book took me an unusually long time to read due to a lot of things going on in my life. That did not diminish my appreciation for it though. Helmut Smith helped me understand things that I was not able to before. A couple examples would be the history of map-making as well as how the pre-German states relate to the formation of a unified German nation. I know this has been explained to me before, but Smith helped me finally understand it. I appreciated how he probed the fabric of German history and I loved his endnotes.

[Nikhil · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good overview of a half millennium of German history. I thought the coverage of the first three-fifths of this period was a lot stronger. Certainly, I learned more and the author's attempt to locate the concept of Germany in this time was both new and persuasive to me. With the latter periods, I think it attempts to keep concise but at the expense of communicating the depth of events and social changes. With that said, even in these sections one will learn much. The book has a number of interesting maps along the way as well.

[Travis Stahlman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Smiths look at German nationalism, from the very conception of the idea of Germany to the present day is very ambitious and I think thats where this book has its downfall. The subject matter is so broad it's hard to condense it down into something digestible. The first half of the book is basically just about maps which was interesting, but then it devolved into a sporadic look at German history in general. Overall I enjoyed the individual chapters and sections of the book, but as an entire work its not very strong.

[Julien Decoutere · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gewaagd boek waarbij de Duitse geschiedenis wordt opgedeeld in verschillende fases van nationalisme. Niet het zoveelste clichegevoede boek waarbij de Duitse nationale trauma's worden versterkt maar eerder genuanceerd. De auteur kiest voor moderne invalshoeken (o.a. grotere rol voor de vrouw) en andere onbewandelde paden. Afknapper van je welste is het gebrek aan aandacht voor de naoorlogse geschiedenis waardoor de link tussen verleden en heden wat in duigen valt.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I understand the necessity of being forthcoming about Germany's sins as a country during the Holocaust, this book dwells on the particulars far too much - everything up to that point is focused on how Germans conceived of themselves as a member of either Germany or the tribal affiliations that existed prior to the concept of Germany as a nation. Otherwise, this book absolutely delivers on its promise of examining how the idea of "Germany" evolved over time.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Smith wrote a history of the idea of Germany as a nation. He traced the idealism and drive to become a nation, the constructive and destructive forces that brought land, language and culture together into one nation.

Why I started this book: Love history books and this one jumped out to me.

Why I finished it: Smith did a wonderful job of tracing the paths of ideas, both good and bad that have shaped the conversation of and about a German nation.

[Xroldx · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interessante manier van naar de Duitse geschiedenis te kijken, maar andere boeken weten ook meer over de Duitse cultuur te brengen. Dit is vooral een studie naar wat is een natie, hoe ontstaat het en hoe gevaarlijk kan het zijn.

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was curious about pre-WWI Germanic part of Europe.

Was interesting but major changes seemed to have been quickly gone through as if there is an assumption that the reader already has a good grasp of those events from schooling.

[Marion Lougheed · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, erudite, thoroughly researched, eminently readable, and entirely compassionate book.

[Kevin Christiansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid German history.