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A review by jdintr
Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600–1947 by Christopher Clark
4.0
The Kingdom of Prussia has been so thoroughly obliterated from the history books, Clark's book is a welcome reminder to Germanophiles like me.
Beginning in the ashes of the 30 Years War, Clark shows the way competent kings and an effective bureaucracy elevated both the Prussian military and the country's education system to among the finest in Europe. The devastation wrought by Napoleon's invasion served the kingdom, spurring all of Germany towards unification under the Prussian umbrella by 1870.
Clark traces the kingdom's path through the end of the monarchy/empire following World War I--this was the first source I had read which called Germany's overthrow of the Kaiser, a "revolution." He shows how the Weimar Republic raced against time and the strong conservative interests in Prussia to reform the police and judiciary. And Clark takes on the mythology of Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg, showing how he elevated himself to the detriment and destruction of the kingdom he tried so hard to exemplify.
This was a longer read than I would have preferred, but I learned new elements of German history in every chapter. I'm glad I read all the way through to the end.
Beginning in the ashes of the 30 Years War, Clark shows the way competent kings and an effective bureaucracy elevated both the Prussian military and the country's education system to among the finest in Europe. The devastation wrought by Napoleon's invasion served the kingdom, spurring all of Germany towards unification under the Prussian umbrella by 1870.
Clark traces the kingdom's path through the end of the monarchy/empire following World War I--this was the first source I had read which called Germany's overthrow of the Kaiser, a "revolution." He shows how the Weimar Republic raced against time and the strong conservative interests in Prussia to reform the police and judiciary. And Clark takes on the mythology of Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg, showing how he elevated himself to the detriment and destruction of the kingdom he tried so hard to exemplify.
This was a longer read than I would have preferred, but I learned new elements of German history in every chapter. I'm glad I read all the way through to the end.