Iron and Blood: A Military History of the German-Speaking Peoples Since 1500

This astonishingly ambitious and detailed 900-page study of militaries in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland is not for the faint of heart. Yet Wilson’s masterful history is a must-read for at least two types of readers. One type is the reader who is professionally or personally interested in military history. Wilson belongs to a new generation of historians for whom military history is far more than a chronicle of commanders, campaigns, and decisive battles. He offers an absorbing overview of how slowly changing societal forces—such as fiscal systems, scientific and technological capabilities, ideological and cultural beliefs, and the social background of soldiers—have transformed the use of military force across modern times. The other type of reader is interested in what caused the great wars that defined European history over this period. The received wisdom is that Germany, flanked by potential enemies and imbued with a Prussian “iron and blood” tradition of militarism, developed a uniquely aggressive culture that provoked not just the two world wars but most other major European conflicts since 1750. Wilson believes this view is at best simplistic, perhaps even wrong. Historically, Germany was both more decentralized and more peaceful than aggressive imperial neighbors such as France, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Only the dominance of Prussia, a foreign power to much of Germany, and severe strategic errors by its leadership led to the two world wars that earned it a reputation for belligerence.