How did a region full of principalities, wars and contradictions become the country that still shapes Europe today? Anyone who wants to understand Germany, its ruptures, its periods of ascent and its capacity for transformation, will find in this book far more than a mere overview. 'The History of Germany' is a fact rich journey through time that explains, in a clear, accessible and engaging way, how a modern state and ultimately an export powerhouse emerged out of political fragmentation, upheaval and catastrophe.
The early beginning of this development is already compelling. In the Teutoburg Forest, regional resistance becomes a founding myth of German history. The uprising of the Germanic tribes under Hermann the Cheruscan, also known as Arminius, against the Romans, the collapse of the empire in the third century and the turmoil of the Migration Period appear here not as distant schoolbook knowledge, but as the dramatic opening of a long historical movement. With Charlemagne, a new order emerges around the year 800. The Christian Church shapes the empire, monasteries become centres of learning, towns grow, guilds gain influence and, with the 'Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation', a framework comes into being that would shape medieval life for centuries.
The book is equally impressive in the way it traces the eras in which ideas and conflicts reshaped Germany. Martin Luther's translation of the Bible turns language, faith and thought into forces of change. The Thirty Years' War devastates vast areas and profoundly transforms the political order of the German lands. New centres of power then emerge. Under Frederick the Great, Prussia rises to the status of a great power, the old order is shaken after the Napoleonic Wars and the German Confederation marks the beginning of a new chapter. When Wilhelm I founded the German Empire in 1871, many earlier developments culminated in a political new beginning under the first Imperial Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck.
The book is especially strong where it makes Germany's twentieth century history comprehensible. The First World War, the burdens of the Weimar Republic, the global economic crisis, unemployment and political chaos become recognisable as the prehistory of a catastrophe that reached its climax in the National Socialist dictatorship and the Second World War unleashed by Adolf Hitler. What follows is division, the founding of the Federal Republic and the GDR, the economic miracle in the West, the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and its peaceful fall in 1989. With the reunification of Germany under Helmut Kohl, Berlin's new status as capital, the introduction of the euro and Germany's path to international strength, the account reaches right up to the present day.
Bert Alexander Petzold combines historical precision with a reader friendly style that places complex developments in context, makes the larger patterns visible and never loses sight of the decisive dates, figures and turning points. Precisely for that reason, this book is not only a gripping introduction to the history of Germany, but also a reliable working tool for anyone seeking sound knowledge. It is ideally suited to preparing for examinations leading to university entrance qualifications and for study at university.
Anyone who truly wants to understand Germany's path from the early Germanic tribes through the Reformation, the founding of the Reich, dictatorship, division and reunification to the present day will find in this volume an approach that is as informed as it is motivating. Secure this well founded work of non fiction now and discover Germany as a historical space full of conflicts, ideas and renewal, a development that explains our present better than many debates do.