A History of Modern Germany

Featuring revised and extended coverage, the second edition of A History of Modern Germany offers an accessible and engagingly written account of German history from 1800 to the present.

• Provides readers with a long view of modern German history, revealing its continuities and changes

• Features updated and extended coverage of German social change and modernization, class, religion, and gender

• Includes more in depth coverage of the German Democratic Republic

• Examines Germany's social, political, and economic history

• Covers the unification of Germany, the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, post-war division, the collapse of Communism, and developments since re-unification

• Addresses regional history rather than focusing on the dominant role of Prussia

Autorentext
Martin Kitchen is Professor Emeritus of History at Simon Fraser University, Canada. His books include Nazi Germany at War (1994), The Cambridge Illustrated History of Germany (1996), The German Offensives of 1918 (2001), The Third Reich: Charisma and Community (2008) and Rommel's Desert War: Waging World War II in North Africa, 1941-1943 (2009).

Klappentext
This second edition of A History of Modern Germany offers a comprehensive overview of German history from its transformation as a loose patchwork of states in 1800 to its emergence as the most powerful unified nation in Europe today. The narrative begins with the Napoleon's impact on a fragmented Germany, tracing the development of a national consciousness, and the tensions between reform and reaction, culminating in national unification. The book addresses the tumultuous events from Germany's past, including the rise and fall of the German Empire, the failure of the Weimar Republic, the twelve fateful years of the Third Reich, the division of post-war Germany, the collapse of Communism and developments since reunification.

For this new edition, distinguished historian Martin Kitchen delves deeper into issues relating to Germany's social structure to offer additional insights into the complexities of Germany's turbulent history. He also examines the course of the German Democratic Republic in greater depth, and reflects on the country's current internal challenges and its evolving role within the wider international community.

Zusammenfassung

Featuring revised and extended coverage, the second edition of A History of Modern Germany offers an accessible and engagingly written account of German history from 1800 to the present.

• Provides readers with a long view of modern German history, revealing its continuities and changes
• Features updated and extended coverage of German social change and modernization, class, religion, and gender
• Includes more in depth coverage of the German Democratic Republic
• Examines Germany's social, political, and economic history
• Covers the unification of Germany, the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, post-war division, the collapse of Communism, and developments since re-unification
• Addresses regional history rather than focusing on the dominant role of Prussia

Inhalt

List of Illustrations x

Maps xii

Introduction 1

1 Germany Under Napoleon 8

The Continental System 10

Resistance to Napoleon 11

The Prussian Reform Movement 13

Prussian Military Reforms 17

Educational Reform 18

The Confederation of the Rhine 20

Germany and the Defeat of Napoleon 21

The Congress of Vienna 23

2 German Society in Transition 25

Women and Children 29

The Household 31

Town and Country 32

Agriculture 33

Industrialization 36

Class Structure 39

Jews 43

Social Change 44

3 Restoration and Reform: 18151840 47

Demagogues and Radicals 49

Bourgeois Discontent 52

Nationalism 53

The Zollverein 56

Germany Under Metternich 57

Catholicism 61

Liberalism 63

Radicalism 63

4 The Revolutions of 1848 65

Revolution 68

The Frankfurt Parliament 71

Olmütz 78

5 The Struggle for Mastery: 18501866 80

Austro-Prussian Rivalry 81

The New Era 83

Changes in the Social Structure 84

Liberalism and Conservatism 87

Social Democracy 88

Prussian Army Reforms 92

Bismarck 94

The German Question 95

The Schleswig-Holstein Question 97

The Austro-Prussian War 99

6 The Unification Of Germany: 18661871 101

Liberalism, Nationalism, and Particularism 104

The Franco-Prussian War 105

The German Empire 108

Bonapartism 111

The Military and Militarism 113

Nationalism 116

The German Jewish Community 117

7 Bismarck's Germany 124

The Kulturkampf 125

Bismarck and the Liberals 128

Social Democracy 129

From Free Trade to Protectionism 130

The Anti-Socialist Laws 132

Bismarck's New Course 133

Social Policy 134

The Social Structure of Imperial Germany 136

Food and Drink 138

Fashion 140

Women 140

Attitudes Towards Sexuality 143

8 Germany and Europe: 18711890 147

The Congress of Berlin 149

The Dual and Triple Alliances 150

Colonialism 152

The Collapse of Bismarck's System of Alliances 153

9 Wilhelmine Germany: 18901914 156

William II's System of Government 159

The Reichstag 161

Caprivi and the New Course 162

Hohenlohe 165

Tirpitz, the Navy, and World Politics 166

Navalism and Imperialism 168

Criticisms of the Naval Building Program 168

Bülow 169

Anglo-German Rivalry 170

The Bülow Bloc 171

Scandals and Crises 172

Bethmann Hollweg 174

The Challenge from Social Democracy 175

Armaments 177

The Balkan Crisis of 1912 177

10 The First World War 180

Attitudes towards the War 182

War Aims 183

German Society in Wartime 184

Women 187

Mounting Opposition to the War 189

The Peace Resolution 190

The Impact of Bolshevik Revolution 192

The Failure of the March Offensive 193

Armistice Negotiations 195

11 The Weimar Republic: 19191933 197

The Treaty of Versailles 198

The Weimar Constitution 201

The Kapp Putsch 201

Reparations 203

Rapallo 204

Hyperinflation and the Struggle for the Ruhr 206

Hindenburg Elected President 210

Locarno 211

The Depression 212 ...