A Concise History of Germany (Cambridge Concise Histories) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

A Concise History of Germany is exactly that: it is a brief account of the primary elements that make up the course of Germany's history. The eccentricities and peculiarities of Germany's long history have been at the center of much extensive deliberation in the academic community. Fulbrook's book is essentially an amalgamation of a wide range of preexisting historical material that delves into the principal social, political, and cultural elements contributing to the scholarly controversy surrounding the development of Germany. In her book, Fulbrook reviews and interprets the significant events of the last thousand years of Central European history. Fulbrook explores the major proceedings of Medieval Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, the Age of Confessionalism, the Age of Absolutism, the Age of Industrialization, World War I and its aftermath, World War II and its aftermath, the period of the Two Germanies, and the "revolution of 1989" and the reunification of Germany. Fulbrook details the effects of various events on the development of Germany, including the reign of the Austrian Habsburgs, the Protestant Reformation, the Thirty Years' War, the rise of Prussia, the French Revolution, the rule of Bismark, the Weimar Republic, Hitler's consolidation of power and the subsequent Holocaust, the creation of the two Germanies, and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Mary Fulbrook's predominant aspiration in writing this book was to present a new view on the events surrounding the development of the German state; Fulbrook aimed her book primarily at the scholarly community and those historians concerned with the seemingly inconsistent development of Germany. She intended her book to be a reaction against the existing interpretations of German history, which mostly focused on nationalistic issues such as the latency of German unification following the looseness of the Holy Roman Empire and the multitude of autonomous German states, or on moral issues stemming from the reign of Adolph Hitler and his Nazi Party, or on cultural and societal issues, which have come to dominate historical discussion during the late twentieth century. Fulbrook clearly believes that the German "peculiarities" have been greatly exaggerated and that the wide scope of German culture is only natural and has been misrepresented. She states that the facets of German culture historians have considered in the past have been "selected, reinterpreted, transformed and adapted for current concerns and endeavors at any give time."

Fulbrook's point is well taken, and she makes it obvious to any casual student of history that she speaks the truth. One of the greatest strengths of this book is that it is concise and, despite its brevity, quite encompassing. Additionally, Fulbrook presents her interpretation of the development of Germany in a clear and informative fashion, effectively addressing the apparently paradoxical history of Germany and central Europe. In her research, she used a wide array of existing historical material, mostly dating from the 1970s and '80s. While the breadth of such an assemblage of sources is remarkable, however, the use of primary sources is conspicuously absent. In fact, the only primary sources contained in the book are the reproductions of contemporary engravings and political cartoons, which contribute well to the effectiveness of the book and its message, as well as to its enjoyment. In contrast, however, the maps provided in the book are of poor quality, are not detailed, and do not provide the clarity necessary for the reader to successfully correlate historical events with their geographical locations. These minor flaws, however, do not detract from Fulbrook's overall success at producing a concise, informative, and readable chronicle of the history of Germany.

Mary Fulbrook's A Concise History of Germany effectively addresses the development of Germany beginning with the Medieval Period and continuing through the reunification of Germany in 1989. Fulbrook has successfully presented the reader with her interpretation of the "peculiar" history of the German lands through efficient use of a vast collection of historical material. After reading this book, one finds that the paradox of German history, as it relates to the social, political, and cultural traits of the region, has become much less enigmatic and that the complexities of German history seem less daunting. A Concise History of Germany should be required reading for all students of European history.

The book also contains a moderate number of interesting plates, mainly reproductions of contemporary engravings and political cartoons. The maps, however, while required to correlate events with their geographical location, are not of the highest quality. I was helped by following along in a historical atlas as I read the book (Putzger historischer Weltatlas, Ausgabe mit Register, by Walter Leisering). However, this criticism is minor and does not negate the overall success of Fulbrook's attempt to make a readable overview of the complexities of German history.

I was interested in reading this book to get insight about places I had visited in Germany and hopefully about some I would see in the future.

Mary Fulbrook states that a history of Germany, a country which has not existed as such for so many years, is really a history of the German speaking peoples. Indeed, the history of Germany has been long, complex, and often influenced by war.

There was some of the insight that I sought in this book, for example, in the section, "The German Peasant's War". I had come across references to this conflict a few times in Germany. Fulbrook writes that by 1525, there were 300,000 peasants in armed revolt in German speaking areas. Over 100,000 were ultimately killed when the rebellions were put down. There had been other related rebellions preceding this war in the previous half century, she writes.

The Thirty Years War, from 1618 to 1648, was another conflict, described by the author, that I have seen references to in Germany in association with cities of Rothenburg, Noerdlingen, Heidelberg, and Seligenstadt among others.

Another part of this book that I found interesting was the account of the Weimar Republic. It lasted a little over fourteen years. In the end, large numbers of Germans from the left and right rejected democracy as a form of government. This government failed for a number of reasons. Some related to harsh peace terms after WWI and an unstable economy. The depression in the United States and the cancellation of short-term loans also played a hand.

The most well known part of German history to the reader would seem to be the Nazi times that led up to WWII and led Germany to destruction. The coverage of this aspect of German history is well-trod ground. The description of the era in this book is interesting, but it does not particularly provide fresh insight.

One of the more interesting parts of the book is the favorable comparison of certain aspects of the old East Germany with West Germany. While the latter became economically prosperous and closely aligned with the West, East Germany became the most productive satellite in the communist bloc and one of the USSR's most reliable supporters. Surprisingly, Fulbrook writes also that there was greater social mobility in East Germany with a school system that emphasized work experience. She states that East Germany had a "range of routes" to higher education, so that those who did not take the academic route through upper school could still access higher education. The price to be paid, however, was political conformism.

On the whole, the author of "A Concise History of Germany" accomplishes a difficult feat, which is to write a short book on a subject which is long, covering hundreds of years, and complex. While it is true that the focus of the book is very high-level and often oversimplified, it provides for consumption in smaller doses what otherwise might not be digested at all by readers if available only in unappetizingly larger amounts.