Jason Furman's Reviews > Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire 1871–1918

A concise, informative, insightful, and readable introduction to the Second Reich. The book begins with the fallout of the Napoleonic wars and the defensive nationalism it helped to created in the German-speaking peoples who had been weak, divided, and conquered by Napoleon. It then charts the next decades, eventually zooming in on Bismarck, as continued external threats--real and trumped up--are used to unify the German states under the reluctant Prussian Kaiser. Then it gives the development of this state, its debates over a constitution and liberalism, the rise of Kaiser Wilhem II, how it handled the rising threat of socialism by adopting a generous welfare state, and its increased militarization culminating in a disastrous war (which Katja Hoyer argues was an accident waiting to happen not a deliberate German plan). The writer is a British-German historian who grew up in East Germany and has a generally nuanced perspective on the issues she covers.