Category: World Civ-Nationalism in Europe

German Nationalism Lecture Notes

My Lecture Outline

  • Neither holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire: “300 Germanies”
  • Impact of the Congress of Vienna on Germany and Prussia
  • “Siamese Twins”: Zollverien and Railroads
  • Struggles for Nationalism, Liberalism and Democracy in Vormaerz:
    • Wartburg Festival (1817)
    • Carlsbad Decrees (1819)
    • Hambach Festival (1832)
    • Gottingen Seven (1837)
  • The Spirit of ‘48
  • Frankfurt Parliament
  • Constitution of St. Paul’s Church
  • Erfurt Union & Punctuation/Humiliation of Olmutz
    • Germany: Born of War?
    • Von Roon, von Moltke, and the Prussian military machine
    • Schleswig-Holstein Wars (1848-52, 1864)
    • Austro-Prussian War (1866)
    • Franco-Prussian War (1870-71)
  • Proclamation of German Empire (18 January 1871)
  • More Than Iron & Blood: Karl Baedeker, Brothers Grimm, von Fallersleben, and von Humboldt

Here is my Power Point on the road to German unity.  Enjoy!

German Caricatures of Napoleon's Army "In Shambles"

While Napoleon Bonaparte waged war across the continent in the early 19th century, European satirists living in countries threatened by his encroachments represented his progress in a flood of caricatures.

These prints, published in French-occupied Germany in 1813, depict a parade of ragged French soldiers. Some are mounted on sorry-looking horses, some are missing limbs, and most lack shoes and lean heavily on canes. Any semblance of military uniformity has dropped away, as the men appear swathed in rags and tatters.

After Napoleon’s ill-fated attempt to wage war on Russia in the summer of 1812, his army of half a million men suffered greatly—first from the heat, as the Russians withdrew inland and dragged the invading army along, and later from the winter snow and cold, as they retreated, pursued by the Russian forces. As Joe Knight wrote for Slate last year, the army was also plagued by lice, and large numbers of men died of typhus carried by the insects.

STW: Germany and the EU

On Start the Week Andrew Marr looks at Germany’s role in Europe. Katinka Barysch argues that despite the crisis, support for EU integration still dominates, and that unlike Britain, the ability to compromise is seen as a skill, not a weakness. Two British MPs, from left and right, Gisela Stuart and Douglas Carswell, remain sceptical about the EU, but German-born Stuart understands her birth country’s emotional connection to it. Carswell argues that the digital revolution calls for smaller, not larger governments, and Karen Leeder believes that despite Germany’s belief in the European project it still has not laid to rest the ghosts of unification.

In Our Time Podcast: Clausewitz and On War

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss On War, a treatise on the theory and practice of warfare written by the Prussian soldier and intellectual Carl von Clausewitz. First published in 1832, Clausewitz’s magnum opus is commonly regarded as the most important book about military theory ever written. Informed by its author’s experience of fighting against the mighty armies of Napoleon, the work looks not just at the practicalities of warfare, but offers a subtle philosophical analysis of the nature of war and its relationship with politics. Notions such as the Clausewitzian Trinity have had an enormous effect on later military leaders. But its influence is felt today not just on the battlefield but also in politics and business.

LSE Lecture – From Kaiser Wilhelm to Chancellor Merkel. The German Question on the European Stage

Speaker: Professor Andreas Rödder

Recorded on 7 November 2012 in New Theatre, East Building.
The German Question has kept Europe in suspense for more than a century. It appeared to have eventually been solved by German unification and through the integration of the D-Mark – the German “atomic bomb” – into the European Monetary Union. However, after losing two world wars and a third of its territory, having committed the holocaust and expelled huge numbers of its elites, after Europeanising central elements of its power and yet being strained by the economical impact of reunification, Germany is once more suspected of aspiring to supremacy. The lecture will follow the twisted story of Germany in Europe since the late 19th century. In particular it will analyse the connection between German reunification and the decision to introduce the Euro in order to highlight the current “German question” from a historical perspective.

Andreas Rödder holds the chair for Contemporary History at the Johannes Gutenberg-University in Mainz (Germany). He has published books on the mid 19th-century English Conservatives, in German foreign politics in the interwar period as well as on Germany in the 1970s and 80s and at last on German reunification.

Opinion Poll, Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung, 1899

  1. Who is the greatest statesman of the century?
  2. Who is the greatest military commander of the century?
  3. Whom would you name the greatest hero of the century?
  4. Who was the most significant woman of the century?
  5. Who is the greatest inventor…?
  6. Which is the most useful invention/discovery?
  7. The greatest historical event…?
  8. The most important battle?
  9. The greatest deed of civilization?
  10. What was the happiest period of time in this century?
  11. The unhappiest period?
  12. Who were the two greatest Berliners?

Responses:

1. Bismarck (Baron vom Stein got a few dozen votes; Gladstone mentioned)
2. Napoleon (3300 votes); Moltke (3000); “alcoholism” because it conquers all generals.
3. Wilhelm I (2400); Bismarck (1600): Stanley, Garibaldi mentioned; Dr. Mueller of Vienna nominated himself.
4. Queen Luise of Prussia (2100); Queen Victoria (800); George Sand
5. Edison; Stephenson, Morse, Fulton, Howe distant runners-up
6. The railroad; also mentioned electric power, steamship, telegraph, x-ray
7. German unification (some say defeat of Napoleon; a few, the Revolution of 1848)
8. Battle of Leipzig (4300); Sedan (2000)
9. Slave emancipation (a close second, colonialism); social legislation of the Reich; Suez Canal
10. The majority, 1871-1900; a close second, 1871-1880
11. 1806-1812; a few, 1815-1848; 1867-73; 1848, 1878-1890
12. Alexander von Humboldt (1500); Wilhelm I (1200); Wilhelm II mentioned.

From Kaiser Wilhelm to Chancellor Merkel. The German Question on the European Stage

Recorded at LSE on 7 November 2012.

The German Question has kept Europe in suspense for more than a century. It appeared to have eventually been solved by German unification and through the integration of the D-Mark – the German “atomic bomb” – into the European Monetary Union. However, after losing two world wars and a third of its territory, having committed the holocaust and expelled huge numbers of its elites, after Europeanising central elements of its power and yet being strained by the economical impact of reunification, Germany is once more suspected of aspiring to supremacy. The lecture will follow the twisted story of Germany in Europe since the late 19th century. In particular it will analyse the connection between German reunification and the decision to introduce the Euro in order to highlight the current “German question” from a historical perspective.

Andreas Rödder holds the chair for Contemporary History at the Johannes Gutenberg-University in Mainz (Germany).

In Our Time: Bismarck

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the original Iron Chancellor, Otto Von Bismarck. 45 minutes. One of Europe’s leading statesmen in the 19th Century he is credited with unifying Germany under the military might of his home state of Prussia.

An enthusiastic expansionist, Bismarck undertook a war against Denmark that has become a by-word for incomprehensible conflict. The British Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, said: “The Schleswig-Holstein question is so complicated, only three men in Europe have ever understood it. One was Prince Albert, who is dead. The second was a German professor who became mad. I am the third and I have forgotten all about it.”

Was the unification of Germany a carefully planned campaign or a series of unpredictable events that Bismarck made the most of? Did his encouragement of militaristic nationalism bear fruit in Nazi Germany, and what is his legacy today in contemporary Germany?

With Richard J Evans, Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge; Christopher Clark, Reader in Modern European History at the University of Cambridge; and Katharine Lerman, Senior Lecturer in Modern European History at London Metropolitan University

New Yorker Book Review of The Insurgent: Garibaldi and his Enemies

Suddenly you are looking in his eyes. Officially, they’re brown, but for you they’ll always be blue. He is speaking in a soft, seductive voice. Glory if you follow, eternal shame if you don’t. Rome or Death. In a moment, your destiny shifts. Incredibly, you have volunteered. You are given a red shirt, an obsolete rifle, a bayonet. You are taught to sing a hymn full of antique rhetoric recalling a magnificent past, foreseeing a triumphant future. You learn to march at night in any weather and over the most rugged terrain, to sleep on the bare ground, to forgo regular meals, to charge under fire at disciplined men in uniform. You learn to kill with your bayonet. You see your friends killed. You grow familiar with the shrieks of the wounded, the stench of corpses. If you turn tail in battle, you will be shot. Those are his orders. If you loot, you will be shot. You write enthusiastic letters home. You have discovered patriotism and comradeship. You have been welcomed by cheering crowds, kissed by admiring young women. Italy will be restored to greatness. From Sicily to the Alps, your country will be free. Then, with no warning, it’s over. A politician has not kept faith. An armistice has been signed. Your leader is furious. You hardly understand. Rome is still a dream. Your group disbanded, you receive nothing: no money, no respect, no help in finding work. But, years later, when he calls again, you go. You will follow him to your death.

The Insurgent: Garibaldi and his Enemies

Garibaldi and his Enemies Response Sheet