TY - JOUR
AU - Rahal,, Nisrine
AB - Writing comprehensive histories of nineteenth-century Germany is a difficult task. Constructing a clear narrative and convincing interpretation requires trade-offs between approaches, timelines and events in which various developments are inevitably minimized or neglected. This is precisely the reason, as John Breuilly writes in the introduction to the second edition of this collection of chapters on nineteenth-century Germany, ‘there can be no “total history”’ (p. 1). Rather than try to provide a comprehensive history of the period, Breuilly offers the reader a collection of essays written by a range of experts that highlight a ‘sense of the distinctive ways in which social, economic, political and cultural historians work’ (p. 1). Discussions on political developments are matched with an overview on economic structures, cultural and intellectual trends, an examination of the ways gender was shaped and challenged, and the global dimensions of German history through analyses of migration and imperialism. The thirteen chapters that make up the edited volume could stand alone, nonetheless certain themes unify them: constant play of chance, instability and the need to re-establish borders and ideas of belonging during the long nineteenth century. In this second edition, eight of the original authors have revised and updated their chapters. This new edition also includes three completely new chapters from Astrid Köhler, James Brophy and Mark Hewitson. This edition also importantly includes new chapters on transnational global approaches to German history, by Ulrike Linder, and an overview of gender history during the century, by Ute Frevert. These additions undoubtedly reflect current trends in the field as dissertations and monographs on German imperialism, gender and sexuality gain ground in a rapidly changing historiography. Finally, this second edition also includes a new conclusion by Breuilly that examined the processes of ‘becoming German’, and therefore ‘becoming modern’, during the century. The essays within the volume provide valuable discussions that break down traditional narratives regarding political, social, economic and cultural developments in German history. Joachim Whaley, Christopher Clark, Wolfram Siemann and Roger Chickering provide the reader with essays on the ways in which the German lands handled new political realities during and after the Napoleonic Wars, the Revolutions of 1848–49, and the First World War. In all cases, they draw attention to a struggle between modernity and tradition and conflicts among different parties. In all cases, they show that there was no clear destruction of old authorities and traditions. The essays by Robert Lee and Volker Berghahn examine continuity and discontinuity within social structures and economic growth during the century. The reader also gains a valuable overview on cultural and intellectual trends throughout the entire century in Astrid Köhler’s chapter. Matthew Jefferies’ chapter provides an in-depth discussion of art and culture, focusing on the changes that marked cultural modernism. John Breuilly’s and James Brophy’s chapters highlight another aspect of the breakdown of traditional histories of Bismarckian Germany. Both highlight the place of chance in German history. Breuilly’s chapter focuses on Bismarck as an ‘outsider’ whose views on Prussia and the national question were unrealistic in 1850. By the mid-1860s however, the social and political context had changed. Changes in relations between the European powers, economic and technological performance and warfare provided Bismarck with an opportunity to succeed with his plans (p. 140). By placing the discussion of Bismarck as an outsider, the reader sees clearly how social-political contexts had changed by the later part of the decade, allowing Bismarck’s views on the national question, military might and power to take centre stage. In James Brophy’s chapter, we follow the balancing act that Bismarck put in place following the Wars of Unification in an attempt to satisfy various monarchical states and ensure the prominent place of Prussia. As Brophy stated, the new political system brought in following unification had the ‘unintended consequence of opening up more vistas of political reform, not fewer’ (p. 166). Germany’s laws and political culture, Brophy states, ‘pointed towards greater constitutional rule as readily as towards authoritarianism’ (p. 166). These two chapters in particular reflect a growing historiography on Bismarckian Germany that is moving away from strict notions of authoritarian Prussian rule to one based more on negotiation, spaces of dissent and reform, and interaction among different social parties. Mark Hewitson’s chapter also unpacks the notion of stability and instability throughout late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century Germany by focusing on the concept of ‘nervousness’. This aspect of ‘nervousness’ referred to social change, unending possibilities, but the inability to achieve anything concrete. Germans faced ‘the multiplicities of possibility’ and ‘untamed desires’ that emerged during Germany’s rapid growth, competing for a spot in the sun but increasingly feeling insecure and under constant pressure (p. 213). ‘The instability and dynamism of pre-war Germany’, Hewitson writes, continues to be a focus point for many historians. However, these unlimited desires and possibilities stood side by side with traditional community networks. The turbulence of foreign policy, global rivalries and colonial competition were defused and stabilized by political parties and domestic politics. Turning to address rapidly changing cities with a new industrial workforce, Hewitson shows how religious values and traditions remained pervasive, helping individuals to ‘insulate the apparent turmoil and transience of the big cities, avant-gardes and sensationalist journalism’ (p. 224). ‘Politics’, Hewitson continues, ‘benefited from such order and continuity’ (p. 224). The two new chapters by Ute Frevert and Ulrike Lindner expand on the theme of instability and continuities by adding discussions on belonging and blurring boundaries. In many ways, these additions provide a valuable look at how ideas of Germanness were constantly remade and defined as well as aspects of ‘non-Germanness’ and ‘unbelonging’. Frevert highlights how organizing gender roles was the marker of political and social stability. Male writers defined gender-specific spaces, such as parliaments and workplaces, that had to be guarded from women. Efficiency, productivity and morality were all tied into this order. The leaders of the women’s movement of 1848, such as Louise Otto-Peters, worked within the ideal of middle-class femininity to create a space for their activism and politics. With changing political and social conditions, lines of gender segregation were challenged. Linder’s chapter divides a discussion on migration and imperialism into two separate sections as a way to examine the global and transnational aspects of German history. Linder shows how mass migration from the German states, as a result of labour shortages and political turmoil, resulted in discussions over how to maintain one’s Germanness abroad and their relationship to the homeland. This however differed with migration into Germany as migrants from Russia and Austria-Hungary were the object of state policy and control. This aspect of policing and defining Germanness was epitomized in the 1913 citizenship law that enabled settlers in German colonies and in other countries to uphold their citizenship and maintain their connection with the German nation while fiercely guarding against supposed outsiders. All this is entangled with the growth of imperialist desires and fantasies. The divide between these two sections prevents the necessary unpacking needed to understand the violence that comes not only with defining Germanness but also with practices of exclusion. This is evident not only in the cases of migrant workers’ inability to remain in Germany but also in areas under German control abroad. The genocide against the Herero and Nama people in German Southwest Africa was an attempt at claiming power in a territory and enforcing a racial-class hierarchy. Breuilly’s conclusion rightly captures the ways ‘becoming’ is a valuable concept to examine these historical trends discussed throughout the chapters. However, there remains a lot to be said about the processes of ‘unbecoming’ that is muted in this discussion. The history of religion, antisemitism and nationalism are discussed but only in quick instances. In Köhler’s chapter, antisemitism is discussed in one sentence on trends on the national question during the late nineteenth century. The national idea at this time, Köhler writes, ‘took a more nationalist (völkish) direction, including Franco-phobia and antisemitism’ (p. 97). In Siemann’s chapter antisemitism is mentioned as one of the many ways to respond to industrial change during the 1840s (p. 103). In Brophy’s essay, antisemitism is mentioned when Bismarck protected and supported anti-Semitic agitators and writers, such as Adolf Stöcker and Moritz Busch (p. 148). And we last see antisemitism mentioned in Volker Berghahn’s chapter where he discusses growing discrimination against the German Jewish population in one paragraph on the 1880s (p. 172). The history of German imperialism also remains relegated to a small space in the volume, despite its large shadow. In Lindner’s chapter the genocide of the Herero and Nama people is only discussed in one-and-a-half pages (pp. 321–2). In many ways, these fragmented discussions provide another view to the notion of ‘becoming’. These were the processes of ‘unbecoming’ and ‘unbelonging’ at work that emerged from within the new Bismarckian and Wilhelmian system. How these processes developed and progressed throughout the century needs to be unpacked further. © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the German History Society. All rights reserved. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model)
TI - Nineteenth-Century Germany: Politics, Culture, and Society 1780–1918
JO - German History
DO - 10.1093/gerhis/ghaa077
DA - 2020-12-31
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/oxford-university-press/nineteenth-century-germany-politics-culture-and-society-1780-1918-1n66uL045v
SP - 669
EP - 671
VL - 38
IS - 4
DP - DeepDyve
ER -