The Struggle for Mastery in Germany, 1779-1850

The Struggle for Mastery in Germany, 1779-1850
ISBN-10
0312213107
ISBN-13
9780312213107
Category
History
Pages
242
Language
English
Published
1998
Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
Author
Brendan Simms

Description

This book attempts to combine geopolitics, modernization theory and the primacy of foreign policy to provide a fresh perspective on the struggle for mastery in Germany before 1850. Any form of rigid determinism is eschewed; the outcome of this contest was still relatively open in 1780. Nevertheless, the book shows why after the upheavals--domestic and internal--of the revolutionary period, and the geopolitical revolution of 1815, Prussia and not Austria was on the verge of winning the struggle for mastery by mid-century. At every decisive stage along the way, it was Prussia rather than Austria or the "Third Germany" which showed itself capable of socio-economic and (partial) political modernization in order to adapt to external pressures and opportunities.

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