RC Series Bundle: The Course of German History (Routledge Classics) [Paperback]

A.J.P. Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Series: Routledge Classics | Publication Date: May 23, 2001

One of A.J.P. Taylor's best-known books, The Course of German History is a notoriously idiosyncratic work. Composed in his famously witty style, yet succinct to the point of sharpness, this is one of the great historian's finest, if more controversial, accomplishments. As Taylor himself noted, 'the history of the Germans is a history of extremes. It contains everything except moderation.' He could, of course, simply be referring to his own book.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Mr Taylor, by cutting down to a minimum the ballast of dates and names that so often encumbers historical writing, and concentrating on the fundamental trends and events, has achieved both brevity and lucidity.' - The Observer

About the Author

A.J.P. Taylor (1906-90). British political and diplomatic historian, and noted journalist. He was the author of numerous bestselling works, including Bismarck, English History 1914-1945, The Origins of the Second World War and The War Lords.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 2 edition (May 23, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415254051
• ISBN-13: 978-0415254052
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #877,246 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Perspective of a German history novice, November 17, 2004

By 

David S. (Oklahoma City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: RC Series Bundle: The Course of German History (Routledge Classics) (Paperback)

A couple of years ago, an economist I knew said the following to me "Germans are hard workers but they're easily led." First of all it was difficult to imagine someone as intelligent as an economist would use such a sweeping generalization about a particular ethnic group. But despite the silliness of the statement, I didn't know enough about German history to say anything.

"The Course of German History" covers over a thousand years of German history in about 300 pages. You would think this would make it a shallow overview (which is what I was looking for). But this was by no means an introductory level textbook; it seems to have been written for an advanced student of German history. It is not heavy on dates or events, but rather emphasizes interpretation of events and institutions that the reader is expected to already be familiar with.

Like my economist acquaintance, the book made some generalizations of its own- statements like, "The industrialists secretly resented the Chancellor" or "the farmland policy was a surface manifestation of prejudice against the Slavs".

Now these exact quotes you may not find in the book (I don't want to flip through 300 pages of the point 8 font to find one or two exact quotes). But the examples above are very characteristic of many passages. It made me wonder exactly what were the sources that clued the author in on hidden agendas and secret resentments of entire social classes? It was if the author was psychoanalyzing policies and politics.

In this book, "easily led" certainly did not characterize the German people when we take into account how difficult it was for the various dynasties, landowners, and industrialists to collaborate. The only thing it seems they could collaborate on was military expansion, which was in their interests of the upper classes. My interpretation of this book is that the Junkers, royal houses, and Prussian militarists were consciously avoiding liberalization and democratization at home by occupying the country's resources with military campaigns into new areas.

Unlike England or France, which were moving away from the feudal methods of governance, Germany's upper classes were able to hold onto their status for much longer. Those that wanted democratic reform were either not influential enough or could not cooperate enough to effect change, although there were a few revolutionary attempts. With the Napoleanic wars and the massive emigrations of Germans away from their homeland during the 1800s and early 1900s, Germany never developed the institutions or attitudes that would lay the foundation for a peaceful democracy.

I'm glad others can enjoy the book, but for me- a novice in German history- it was a tedious read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Well Written, Well Researched Book that Has Some Bias, November 2, 2010

By 

James E. Egolf "James E. Egolf, MA" (Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: RC Series Bundle: The Course of German History (Routledge Classics) (Paperback)

A.J.P. Taylor (1906-1990)wrote THE COURSE OF GERMAN HISTORY shortly after the end of W.W. II when all the sources were not readily available. This book was originally published in 1946 and reissued in 1961 with a new preface. Readers should know that THE COURSE OF GERMAN HISTORY was published about the same time as Taylor's masterful book titled THE ORIGINS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR. Taylor demonstrated his rare ability of combinning good research with good written expression which has become a lost art among "apprehensively conventional" historians who are too timid to be accused of not being politically correct and too lazy to to exert themselves in careful research.

Taylor began this book with an honest admission that his views re the Germans changed and admitted errors due to recent sources that were not immediately available especially re the Germans and the events leading to W.W. II and thereafter. He presented the status of the Germans whose history and geography placed the Germans between Western and Eastern Europe. The Germans, including the Hapsburgs, faced military threats from the West AND the East. Taylor could have placed more emphasis on the fact that during the 1240s, the Germans and other Eastern Europeans faced the Mongolians ruled by Genghis Khan (1162-1227) and Kublai Khan (1216-1294) who destroyed much of the Kievan State. Taylor could have also dealt with the tensions between the Russians ruled by the Alexander Nevsky (1220-1263)and the Livonian Germans which was settled by the what is known as the Battle of the Ice.

One of the problems that Taylor effectively handled was that of German Nationalism. The German princes, kings, emperors, etc. feared such nationalism which they thought could destroy their position. They greatly feard that German Nationalism could emerge from the lower classes which could destroy German nobility. Taylor treated the situation re Martin Luther (1483-1546)who inadvertently touched the chord of German Nationalism which he then feared because Luther knew that the German princes protected him. As Taylor aptly noted, Luther changed from a German nationalist to a timid mystic.

The Thirty Years War (1618-1648)divided the Germans who suffered terribly from this war. What Taylor could have emphasized is that the Hapsburg Germans and the Italians thwarted Turkish invasions which basically ended in 1682. In other words, much of German History involved protecting Europe from invasions from non-European invaders.

Taylor then treated German History during the wars of the French Revolution and French invasions during the reign of Napolean. An interesting anecdote was the fact the Czar Alexander I (1801-1825)saved the Prussian Germans from elimination when he thought he could save a fellow Prussian ruler from elimination from power. Another interesting unintended consequence of the French invasions was that the Germans were reduced from over 300 political units to 30 which later led to German unification.

Taylor also wrote good comments re the 1848 European Revolutions many of which were based on nationalism. This was the one thing the Prussian Germans and the Hapsburgs feared because these revolutions were based on mass rebellions. The Hapsburgs feared German nationalism AND Magyar (Hungarian)nationalism. The Hapsburgs could not crush the Hungarians led by Louis Kossouth (1802-1894), and only when Russian forces entered Hungary during the reign of Czar Nicolous I (1825-1855)was the Hungarian uprising defeated.

Taylor then dealt with the unification of the Germans excluding the Hapsburgs. The Prussian king William I (1862-1888)and his Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck (1815-1899)diplomatically organzied three short wars (1863, 1866, and 1870-1871)to defeat the Danes,Hapsburgs,and the French to unite Germany. Contrary to what some historians assume, the Germans won the Franco-Prussian War more by careful planning of railroad time tables than superior arms.

German political problems after German unification were effectively handle by Bismarck and co. Bismarck was smart enough to end his campaign against the Catholic Church. He also blunted the political support for the German Socialists by pushing such popular programs such as workmen's compensation, national health insurance, and social security benefits during the 1880s. In other words, Bismarck got legislation passed which the German Socialists could not do on their own.

While Bismarck made effective political moves in Germany, Taylor gave Bismarck praise for keeping the Europeans at peace. Between 1873-1886, Bismarck's diplomacy kept the French isolated and the Russians and Hapsburgs pacified. Bismarck's policy was so effective that no one could go to war without the Germans which is the last thing Bismarck wanted after 1871. Somehow, Bismarck was able to keep Eastern Europe stable.

World War I did not start because of Bismarck's policy. It started because of the collapse of this system. The Germans never thought they would ever face an alliance of the British, Franch, and the Russians. When W.W. I started, the Germans and other diplomatic experts were very surprised at the allignment vs. the Germans. Yet, German defeat and the Versailles Treaty of 1919 did not end German power. What happened was that the old Junker officer corps was destroyed early in the war, and the Germans inadvertently created a mass army which became the norm. A point which Taylor could have exploited was the fact that during W.W. I, the Germans WON that war on the Russian Front via the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918). This fact was not lost on Post W.W.I Germans.

A few knowledegable men knew that German defeat and the subsequent harsh Versailles Treaty (1919) would not last. The reparations, Article 231 of the Versailles Treaty (The War Guilt Clause), etc. were reasons for German resentment and renewed German nationalism from the masses. Due to ineffective politcal leaders and overwhelming circumstances, only time would produce "a man of the people" to take power. When Hitler came to power in 1933, there was only a matter of time for events to unfold leading to W.W. II. The Russo-Polish War between 1918-1922 should have been mentioned. Taylor should have written about terrible events in Russia when the Bolsheviks took power. He could have dealt with sporadic Communist uprisings in German after W.W. I which were crushed by the German army. Mention could have been made that the Polish invaded Czechoslovakia and Lituania in 1938 which obviously raised the eyebrows of Stalin and Hitler.

Taylor argued that German defeat in W.W. II eliminated the Germans as a political power. Actually, W.W.II eliminated almost all the Europeans as powers with the exception of the Russians. Taylor focused too much on the Germans and too little on other Euroepean powers throughout German history.

The undersigned thought Taylor wrote a good book. However, he is unduly harsh about Germans and did not give proper emphasis about other events that affected German history. However, Taylor wrote so well and did a thorough job with his reseach that this book is still recommended. Study prose from a master.

James E. Egolf

November 2, 2010

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An Exercise in Polemics, February 6, 2010

By 

A. Hunt (Everett, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: RC Series Bundle: The Course of German History (Routledge Classics) (Paperback)

As much as I enjoy Taylor's writing for it's own sake, for me, this one was more anti-German rhetoric than serious historical essay. His intrepration of the reforms implemented by the Prussians during the Napoleanic period in particular are invariably viewed in the most negative possible light. For example (and i'm paraphrasing here): The school teacher, the head master, and the professor, became willing accomplises in the German engine of conquest. Really? It's difficult to see this as having value in discussing the Germans of the era, since quite frankly the Germans were actually pretty damned quiet for most of the rest of the century. Certainly in comparison to the French or the British, or hell, the Dutch even.

Aside from this in my opinion faulty analysis, this actually is a fairly good and concise view of several hundred years of history. His grasp of the intricately complex relationships between the HRE and the various independent states is excellent - though even here his pro-Austrian/anti-German bias is a bit too obvious. Still a worthwhile read, if you keep these issues in mind.