Thomas Johnson

“The economic war was lost for Germany as soon as the first shot was fired in August 1914.”
― Katja Hoyer, Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire 1871–1918

“The trauma of the First World War can be compared to that of the Thirty Years’ War, which had begun exactly 300 years earlier. A collective catastrophe that would fuel a shared sense of national defiance.”
― Katja Hoyer, Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire 1871–1918

“Knowing that one is facing a trap does not always mean the trap can be overcome. It simply means you know something your foe does not know you know.”
― Blaine Lee Pardoe, Exodus Road

“The German Empire did not fall to visions of democracy or socialism. Neither was it brought down by the German people or the Allies. The system fell because it was flawed from the outset, built on foundations of war, not fraternity. The maintenance of national unity required a diet of conflict, the constant hunger for which grew until catastrophe loomed in 1914. The German Empire had come full circle. It ended where it had started: in blood and iron.”
― Katja Hoyer, Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire 1871–1918