What do you think?
Rate this book
Imperial Germany 1867-1918: Politics, Culture, and Society in an Authoritarian State
The studies in this book are the harvest of more than 20 years intensive research into the history of the German Empire by one of Germany's leading historians. Taken together, they offer a cogent analysis of the main developments and issues in a formative and portentous period of Germany's history.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
51 people want to read
About the author
Wolfgang J. Mommsen
72 books2 followersWolfgang Justin Mommsen was a German historian best known for his influential work on Max Weber and his studies of modern German and British history. Educated in Marburg, Cologne, and Leeds, he taught at the University of Cologne before holding a professorship at the University of Düsseldorf, where he remained for nearly three decades, and also directed the German Historical Institute in London. His early biography of Weber and subsequent dissertation challenged prevailing interpretations, situating Weber as a liberal nationalist and imperialist and reshaping understanding of his political thought. Mommsen was a central figure in editing the Max Weber-Gesamtausgabe, the comprehensive edition of Weber’s works. His scholarship explored the “Sonderweg” thesis, arguing that Germany’s incomplete modernization and the persistence of authoritarian elites shaped the country’s trajectory toward the First World War and the rise of Nazism. Widely respected for his comparative perspective, he was also active in the Historikerstreit, affirming the Holocaust’s singularity.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 7, 2018
Collection of essays revolving around the idea that the German Empire was defined by a 'series of skirted decisions', which hopelessly enmeshed a number of disparate forces. This confusion led towards imperialism, and then war as the only way out of the predicament.
Interesting Quotes:
1. “The excessive emphasis on the Bonapartist or manipulative aspect of Bismarck’s method of exerting power actually ends up making Bismarck a heroic figure of the old model, albeit one with negative rather than positive connotations.” (4)
2. “It does not, then, seem appropriate to describe the German Empire of the Bismarck era as a ‘Bonapartist dictatorial regime; or as an authoritarian system governed with the aid of extra-constitutional threats of a coup. Rather, it was a semi-constitutional system with supplementary party-political features, which was incapable of undergoing evolutionary change both because of the conflicts of political principle that were present within it and because of the social tensions between the lower classes and the propertied classes.” (5)
3. “The constitutional system was one in which individual centres of power existed cheek by jowl in relatively uncoordinated fashion… with each of the different dominant groups of society enjoying an ascendency in its own domain.”
“The growth of this unstable political system was not the effect of Bismarck’s specific policies, which were designed to prevent the emergence of solidly based parties of any colour… It was, rather, the effect of the changes in the structure of society that came about in the wake of the turbulent surge of industrialization that began at the start of the 1880s.” (15)
4. “The German Empire, far from being an arrangement serving to strengthen, indirectly, the power of Prussia, hastened the inescapable decline of Prussia as a unique, independent political system. Prussia was incorporated into the structure of the Empire as a mere conservative bulwark, debarred from pursuing progressive reforms on its own account. Conversely, the Empire’s authoritarian traditions, which sprang indirectly from Prussia’s position of hegemony, and its official political culture, which strongly proclaimed itself as Prussian, contributed significantly to the system’s collapse.” (55)
5. “The rising tide of socialism seemed to be an almost unconquerable force, threatening to sweep away the very foundations of social order. Many businessmen were caught up by the nationalist and imperialist cause simply because it seemed to be the only political ideology that was capable of stemming the further spread of socialist doctrine: certainly, it offered them few prospects in purely economic terms.” (204)
Interesting Quotes:
1. “The excessive emphasis on the Bonapartist or manipulative aspect of Bismarck’s method of exerting power actually ends up making Bismarck a heroic figure of the old model, albeit one with negative rather than positive connotations.” (4)
2. “It does not, then, seem appropriate to describe the German Empire of the Bismarck era as a ‘Bonapartist dictatorial regime; or as an authoritarian system governed with the aid of extra-constitutional threats of a coup. Rather, it was a semi-constitutional system with supplementary party-political features, which was incapable of undergoing evolutionary change both because of the conflicts of political principle that were present within it and because of the social tensions between the lower classes and the propertied classes.” (5)
3. “The constitutional system was one in which individual centres of power existed cheek by jowl in relatively uncoordinated fashion… with each of the different dominant groups of society enjoying an ascendency in its own domain.”
“The growth of this unstable political system was not the effect of Bismarck’s specific policies, which were designed to prevent the emergence of solidly based parties of any colour… It was, rather, the effect of the changes in the structure of society that came about in the wake of the turbulent surge of industrialization that began at the start of the 1880s.” (15)
4. “The German Empire, far from being an arrangement serving to strengthen, indirectly, the power of Prussia, hastened the inescapable decline of Prussia as a unique, independent political system. Prussia was incorporated into the structure of the Empire as a mere conservative bulwark, debarred from pursuing progressive reforms on its own account. Conversely, the Empire’s authoritarian traditions, which sprang indirectly from Prussia’s position of hegemony, and its official political culture, which strongly proclaimed itself as Prussian, contributed significantly to the system’s collapse.” (55)
5. “The rising tide of socialism seemed to be an almost unconquerable force, threatening to sweep away the very foundations of social order. Many businessmen were caught up by the nationalist and imperialist cause simply because it seemed to be the only political ideology that was capable of stemming the further spread of socialist doctrine: certainly, it offered them few prospects in purely economic terms.” (204)
Displaying 1 of 1 review