The German Empire: A Short History (Modern Library Chronicles #4)
Description
In a remarkably vibrant narrative, Michael Stürmer blends high politics, social history, portraiture, and an unparalleled command of military and economic developments to tell the story of Germany’s breakneck rise from new nation to Continental superpower. It begins with the German military’s greatest triumph, the Franco-Prussian War, and then tracks the forces of unification, industrialization, colonization, and militarization as they combined to propel Germany to become the force that fatally destabilized Europe’s balance of power. Without The German Empire’s masterly rendering of this story, a full understanding of the roots of World War I and World War II is impossible.
Praise for The German Empire: A Short History (Modern Library Chronicles #4)
“A concise, richly descriptive, and authoritative history.” —The New York Times Book Review
“A brief yet thorough introduction to an episode of German history that has proven pivotal . . . over the past century and a half. . . . Stürmer’s superlative analysis of Bismarck the man, of his motives and actions, is a masterpiece of clarity and brevity.” —Publishers Weekly (starred)
“Clear, concise, and compelling—a welcome corrective to the view that a principle task of historiography is to assign blame.” —Kirkus Reviews
“[A] concise, information-packed history of imperial Germany, from its creation in 1870 to its collapse in the aftermath of World War I, that makes one acutely aware of what-might-have-beens.” —Forbes