The Vanished Kingdom: Travels Through The History Of Prussia [Paperback]

James Charles Roy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 26, 2000

Twice in this century, Germany initiated wars of unimagined terror and destruction. In both cases, defense of the “Prussian” realm, the German homeland, was the perceived and vilified perpetrator. Few today understand with any precision what “Prussia” means, either geographically or nationalistically, but neither would they deny the psychic resonance of the single word. To most, it means unbridled aggression, the image of the goose-stepping Junker.But what was once Prussia is now a significant portion of Eastern Europe, a contested homeland first won by Christian knights of the Teutonic Order. For centuries thereafter its terrain has been crisscrossed by war and partitioned by barbed wire. In its final catastrophe of 1945, nearly two million German refugees fled the region as Russian armies broke the eastern front, perhaps the greatest dislocation of a civilian population at any time during World War II. With the Berlin Wall now a memory and the Soviet Union in a state of collapse, this remains a geography in shambles. Modern travelers can now, for the first time in decades, see and ponder for themselves what Prussia really was and now is.James Charles Roy and Amos Elon, two writers noted for their inquisitive natures, have gone to search through the rubble themselves. They intermingle present-day observations with moving vignettes from the German and Prussian past, sketching a portrait of the Europe we know today. The story is spiced with interviews and reminiscences, unforgettable in their sadness, of people looking back at a life now gone, a life full of turmoil and heartache, memories both fond and tragic. The final result: a far deeper understanding of the tattered lands of today’s Eastern Europe.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Most people accurately associate Prussia with duty, discipline, and fervent militarism. They may be hard-pressed, however, to define it geographically or summarize its rise and fall. With The Vanished Kingdom: Travels Through the History of Prussia, James Charles Roy attempts to fill in the gaps of our knowledge about the former German state, from its 12th-century origins to 1945. Founded by Christian knights of the Teutonic Order, Prussia and its hereditary rulers, the Hohenzollerns, reached their political zenith in 1871, when they effectively ruled the Second German Empire. After World War I and the abdication of Wilhelm II (the last ruling Hohenzollern), Prussia ceased to exist as a political entity and its territory was incorporated into a greater Germany.

Combining historical documentation with travel narrative and personal interview, Roy's prose is frequently heavy on narration and light on history. The Vanished Kingdom succeeds, however, in succinctly chronicling significant events in Prussian history, such as Bismarck's rise to power and Germany's World War I victory at Tannenberg. Maps, historical and contemporary photographs, and an extensive bibliography supplement Roy's study. An introduction by Amos Elon brings the history of Prussia up to the present day with its examination of East Prussia's former capital, Königsberg, which was incorporated into Russian territory in 1945. The fate of the city, today physically and economically devastated, remains precarious; will it return to Germany or remain a Russian territory? Together, Roy and Elon provide a comprehensive overview of Prussia's past, present, and future. --Bertina Loeffler Sedlack --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Roy traveled through what used to be the ancient kingdom of Prussia, the cradle of modern Germany, contrasting what he saw and heard from current Polish citizens with the memories of former German residents. The forced relocation of millions of Germans who had lived there for more than 700 years certainly added to the misery of 1945. What makes this book interesting is that few readers know much of the "Great Trek" during the winter of 1944-45 that turned Danzig into Gdansk and K?nigsberg into Kaliningrad. Many readers have heard of the alleged connection of Prussian militarism to Hitler's rise, but for those who lack an understanding of Prussia's cultural history, such allegations are meaningless. Roy, whose previous books have all dealt with Ireland, presents a solid popular history of Prussia but adds nothing new in the final chapters on the war. The book relies too heavily on secondary sources to be of use to academics, though it has a good bibliography for those unfamiliar with Prussia. Recommended for undergraduate collections and public libraries.ARandall L. Schroeder, Wartburg Coll. Lib., Waverly, IA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (May 26, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813337933
• ISBN-13: 978-0813337937
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #121,168 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #79 in Books > History > Europe > Eastern

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally Someone Presents a Living History!, December 28, 2000

By 

Andrew Freborg (Stow, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Vanished Kingdom: Travels Through The History Of Prussia (Paperback)

I just wanted to personally thank James Roy for writing such a totally compelling account of Prussian history, with the inclusion of personal stories of the human tragedies endured as Prussia ceased to exist after 1945. My mother and grandparents were among those expelled by Russia and Poland. Asside from their personal accounts of these events, this is one of the only English publications I've seen which discusses the human drama in the German east at the end of the war (asside from some occasional token mention in a History Channel documentary).

Yes, parts of the history are portrayed as "romantic", esp. the Teutonic Knights, the landed aristocracy (Junkers), Frederick the Great et.al. , but so what ---- show me a history that doesn't describe the war mongering Napoleon in a similar light. The book is well tempered with the author's experience traveling through now Polish and Russian Prussia, describing the decay and ignorance of the local population with respect to relevance of historic sights (the use of the Hindenburg family cemetary as a garbage dump, with the former estate a collective farm is a case-in-point --> the locals claimed never to have heard of Hindenburg -----> the leveling of historic Koenigsberg and removal of 800 years of German history from East Prussia - including bulldozing cemetaries - is another). Both proud and disgracful history (witness Stutthof concentration camp) - its all here both inspiring and painful. And someone finally wrote it. Should be required reading in any Modern European history course - and would make a wonderful History Channel documentary.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars East Prussian American Looks Back and Forward, March 2, 2000

By 

John V. Proesch (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Vanished Kingdom: Travels Through The History Of Prussia (Hardcover)

My great grandmother came from near Danzig. Her name was Tarnowski, and obviously had Slavic origins. Her husband, a Proesch from Mecklenburg, was a descendant of the Slavic Abotrite tribes (ca. 800). They both considered themselves German. This book explained to me the ethic confusion of areas like Poland/Prussia. It also highlighted a fact that history has witnessed with Poland: You can wipe it off the map politically, but a Polish/Prussian sensibility will remain. What can this mean for the future? I believe Prussia is, indeed, not dead. Also, that WWIII is not neccesarily the inevitible result of such a conflict. Is the extinction of Prussia another Versailles-like offense to the German people, or can accommodation be made to deflate this "ethnic" horror? I welcome response.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What of Prussia Today?, October 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Vanished Kingdom: Travels Through The History Of Prussia (Hardcover)

This is the first time I've read this author, and was impressed at the handling of the topic. Far from a dull citing of historical fact, he has brought a perspective on Prussia into the relevance by his "travels through the history of Prussia". As a modern Germany attempts to define itself in Europe, the look back at Prussian history may provide foundation or a map for the certain aspects of a new German future. Topics including the importance to Germany of Konigsberg, and the "ethnic cleansing" of the German territories after the war I've heard mentioned, but never in the first person as dramatically in the book's interviews. The photos further add to his "travels" quite well.