The Epochs of German History

by Johannes Haller

250 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1930

Reviews

[Carlos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was simply a fascinating book. I can’t recall how it got in my reading list but it seems to be the exact book I had been looking for without knowing it. More than anything Haller seeks to analyze the political fragmentation that dominated Germany for most of its history, the single question that puzzled me most when I was studying European history. Writing during the Weimar Republic and aiming with laser focus on the German audience that had just seen its promising unified empire collapse, Haller writes in a style that grows on the reader conveying his frustration at the missed opportunities for uniting the country earlier. Focusing on the barriers to unity Haller manages a brilliant compromise of detailed analysis and overarching narrative that communicates to the reader the complexities of German history. While it is a pity that he assumed that the actual unification of Germany was a story too recent and well-known to deserve retelling, this work is still by far the most elucidating history I’ve read of the road towards unification from the breakup of Charlemagne’s empire through the ebbs and flows of the Holy Roman Empire to the promise of Prussian dominance.