The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape, and the Making of Modern Germany [Paperback]

David Blackbourn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 17, 2007

"Brilliantly conceived....[A] tour de force in historical writing."—Ian Kershaw

Majestic and lyrically written, The Conquest of Nature traces the rise of Germany through the development of water and landscape. David Blackbourn begins his morality tale in the mid-1700s, with the epic story of Frederick the Great, who attempted—by importing the great scientific minds of the West and by harnessing the power of his army—to transform the uninhabitable marshlands of his scattered kingdom into a modern state. Chronicling the great engineering projects that reshaped the mighty Rhine, the emergence of an ambitious German navy, and the development of hydroelectric power to fuel Germany's convulsive industrial growth before World War I, Blackbourn goes on to show how Nazi racial policies rested on German ideas of mastery of the natural world. Filled with striking reproductions of paintings, maps, and photographs, this grand work of modern history links culture, politics, and the environment in an exploration of the perils faced by nations that attempt to conquer nature. 70 illustrations

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A modern-day German magically transported back 250 years would barely recognize his own country, says Blackbourn, a professor of history at Harvard. Where today manicured fields, straight canals and windmills dominate, then the landscape was "[d]ark and waterlogged, filled with snaking channels half-hidden by overhanging lianas" and inhabited by mosquitoes, frogs, wild boar and wolves. Blackbourn investigates this remarkable feat of aquaforming as Germans sought to manacle nature by means of mammoth hydrological projects, from building dams to "remaking" the Rhine. The simple act of draining a marsh, Blackbourn points out, can be interpreted in multiple ways. Liberals saw in human mastery of the waters a shining instance of scientific rationalism—which could be applied to settling national conflicts. Conservatives thought that reclaiming marshland would provide Frederick the Great's regiments with an unimpeded line of march to the battlefront. The Nazis, too, perceived land reclamation as a duty for a "people without space." More recently, Greens have highlighted the downsides of water engineering (loss of biodiversity, pollution, overconsumption) even as its supporters trumpet its successes (free commerce, the end of malaria, control of flooding). The unique framing of Blackbourn's interpretation of German history and the lavish illustrations make this an engrossing read. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From The New Yorker

A contemporary German who visited his country in 1750, Blackbourn writes, would not recognize much of the scenery: modern fields and farms were marshland, and even the rivers, speckled with sandbars and islands, would have flowed in different courses. Blackbourn explains the social and scientific ideas behind the impressive schemes that "rationalized" the German environment, provides lively portraits of the engineers and politicians involved, and traces the sometimes unintended consequences. The nineteenth-century "rectification" of the Rhine (the work on one stretch between Basel and Worms shortened the length of the river by a quarter and removed more than two thousand islands) reduced flooding and increased arable land, but it also destroyed populations of shad and salmon. Blackbourn argues that the "conquest of nature" has been "all too closely linked to the conquest of others"; the Nazi plan to "reclaim" the Pripet marshes, in Poland, was tied to an image of their Slavic inhabitants as primitive "swamp-dwellers."
Copyright © 2006 Click here to subscribe to The New Yorker --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (August 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393329992
• ISBN-13: 978-0393329995
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #135,439 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant masterpiece, March 24, 2008

By 

Seth J. Frantzman (Jerusalem, Israel) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape, and the Making of Modern Germany (Paperback)

In this masterful and original account the author takes the reader on a virtual tour de force examination of the way in which nature was changed, conquered, preserved, destroyed and manipulated in Germany between the time of Fredrick the Great and the present. The author notes that to "write about the shaping of the modern German landscape is to write about how modern Germany itself was shaped." It begins with the tale of the draining of the Oderburch, a great swamp on the river Oder from Oderberg to Lebus. This swamp along with others was progressively drained and settled in the 18th century. Colonists were brought in and the wolves were hunted to extinction. This was a frontier like any other and the author compares it to other conquests of nature in the New World and South Africa. It was a "conquest from barbarism". This use of science and technology to tame the wild beast of nature is as old as man itself but found a special expression in Germany.

The next section of the book examines the taming of the Rhine river and the harnessing of it to agriculture and the state. The book takes the reader on a wonderful journey alongside the German engineers and statesmen and visionaries who tried the utmost to control flooding and build ports and canals such as Wilhelmshaven. Land reclamation followed. Once again people had to settle and colonize the new areas. The same was being done across Europe, for instance South of Rome where in the 1920s and 1930s colonists would be set to colonizing the Malarial swamps.

But where once colonizing and reclamation were peaceful pursuits they eventually turned sinister with the advent of Nazism and the decision to reclaim the East for German settlers. The idea was that the `barbaric' Slavic peoples could be harnessed as well or removed from the swamps they were `indigenous' to. Propaganda saw them as growing out of the swamps themselves. The `dead space' of the Pripet marshes. Everywhere German `model villages' were designed to replace the `natural' villages that seethed with disease and closed spaces in the `east'.

A brilliant book that weaves together so many topics and is hard to put down, the subject seems staid, but is fascinating.

Seth J. Frantzman

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent environmental history., October 13, 2006

By 

Michael Williams (Geneva, Switzerland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape, and the Making of Modern Germany (Hardcover)

There are many fine environmental histories of North America but seemingly very few of Europe. Following a brief description of how the end of the Ice Age produced the sodden, water-filled plains of central and northern Germany, this book explores how man created the modern German landscape by straightening the Rhine River and "reclaiming" the southern coast of the North Sea and other watery regions. The maps are useful. Great stuff, I wish there were more books on the transformation of the European environment over the past 12,000 years.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Changing the Face of Germany, November 1, 2006

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape, and the Making of Modern Germany (Hardcover)

This is quite a book.

There are a number of books on how the he U.S. Army Corp of Engineers has modified rivers like the Mississippi in the United States (with more or less success, witness Katrina). This is the first one I've seen on what was done in Northern Europe. The projects in Germany were monumental in scale, taking some 250 years to accomplish. This is part of what made Germany into a nation.

It is quite interesting as it talks not only about what was done but about other aspects such as the health, econonic, cultural, and political aspects. The Nazi's for instance looked at the work done as proof of the natural superiority of the German people.

With all of the success of the projects, the book at the end turns to the problems the efforts have caused: flooding, fish habitat destroyed. In essence all of the problems we are having with these same areas in the United States.