Just Finished Reading: Iron Kingdom – The Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600-1947 by Christopher Clark (FP: 2006)

I suppose that, like most people, my knowledge of Germany revolves around WW2 and hundreds of bad movies. So it was good to address that level of ignorance with this rather hefty (just under 700 pages without notes) though highly readable study of a largely misunderstood state. It was also good to move away from my personal focus presently on the 20th century. Delving back into the 17th proved less than fascinating (despite the expression on the cover that this book was ‘gripping’) than I had hoped but I definitely found enough happening in the 18th and onto the 19th that kept my turning those pages.

So what did I discover? I definitely have a much greater appreciation of why the German’s (and especially the Prussians) have acted how they did during both world wars. In a word – Fear. Back in the 17th century the tiny state of Brandenburg, with its capital in Berlin, was the kind of place that your armies travelled through to get to fight someone important. Its fighting capacity was negligible but luckily for the inhabitants they had nothing worth taking. With few natural resources to feed or buy an army and no easily defendable borders the state of Brandenburg was a pushover slowly becoming sick of being central Europe’s whipping boy. But then things changed – partially through luck, partially through advantageous marriages and therefore alliances but mostly through the fact that four of the country’s leaders in a row actually seemed to know what they were doing. Generation on generation built wealth, position and power and Brandenburg stated to be somewhere you wanted to be involved with, allied with, and invested in. Progressive leader’s copied new ways from their more powerful neighbours and the Brandenburgers even won a few battles much to the surprise of those who knew the area well. For decades in any conflict (large or small) they had become involved in the burgers in Berlin, through wheeling and dealing and an eye on the prize, usually ended up on the winning side. Territory was accumulated as was gold and defensible borders became a real possibility. Security was slowly coming into their grasp and they liked it.

The turning point, as with much of European history, was the wars with Napoleon. Chaffing under French occupation they finally had the chance the throw off their oppressor when the decimated armies retreated from Moscow through Germany. With an often frightening ferocity the German people fell upon the stragglers and, after some heavy fighting, threw the French out of German territory (and event mythologised ever since). Coming to the aid of Wellington at Waterloo sealed the myth forever and put Prussia on a collision course with history. With yet more territory and an army to be reckoned with it was about time that other countries thought twice before they took Prussia for granted. After several decisive battles against Austria in the intervening years it was the turn of France again in 1870-71 and the founding of the German state itself. After that there was only one way to go – up – and Germany moved from being a regional power to a world player thinking of colonies in the sun and a navy to rival Britain. But to the West there was France and to the East Russia. Both were threats and both needed to be neutralised if lasting security was to be achieved. The rest we know – it was in all of the papers. The search for stability, respect and, above all, security resulted in two world wars and millions of deaths.

The vast majority of the book is deep ground work. Although running over 300 years in time the modern age is only briefly addressed. What we see here are the foundations of the German state not the later superstructure. What we are left with is, at least from my perspective, a much clearer appreciation of why the Prussians and later the Germans acted as they did. Neither world war was inexplicable nor did it suddenly emerge out of nowhere. The shot in Sarajevo lit the fuse but much of the explosives had been in place for decades or longer. The early history of Prussia was a significant part of this. Without this appreciation, without this understanding, both world wars seem a little less explicable. If you manage to make it through this book – it took me around a month to do so – you’ll understand 20 century history a great deal more than you did before. A must read for anyone who wants to understand the Why of the last century.  

Oh, and one more thing - the author has interesting sections both on the Revolutions of 1848 and the uprising in 1918-19 that provided me with more information than I'd had before. More on that to follow with more books on Germany to come.