When writing, or even reading, history there is always an inclination to interpret the past teleologically–that is to assess the importance of events according to how they contributed to some apparently pre-ordained outcome. This inclination veers into overwhelming impulse when the history in question is that of Germany’s. Given that the Third Reich’s reign of a dozen years still exerts unflagging fascination, the hundreds, even thousands, of years of Germanic history are sometimes viewed as little more than a seedbed for National Socialism. This can reach absurd lengths–for example, in a recent romp through the history of Rome, floppy-haired Tory, Boris Johnson, implied that the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, which halted Roman colonization east of the Rhine, could help explain the exceptional, warlike nature of the Germans!

However, some explanations of Germany’s exceptional “character” are more intellectually solid than others. German historians even have a term for their country’s unique trajectory–Sonderweg , or special path. The first steps in this path are typically traced back to Prussia, the eastern German state that “unified” the nation under the Machiavellian guidance of Chancellor Bismarck. The argument goes something like this: Prussia, a state that mirrored Sparta in maintaining a military elite (the Junkers) who lived at the expense of a cowed feudal peasantry, hijacked control of a modern nation that was undergoing rapid industrialization (specifically in the regions along the Rhine). Thus, whereas in Britain and France economic development and a widening democratic franchise supposedly went hand-in-hand, in Germany–the most powerful economy in Europe, perhaps the world–an ultra-modern economy was shackled to the most reactionary of governments. This 18th-century state with 20th-century munitions kicked off World War I, which in turn had a profound influence on a certain Austrian private.

But good historians like to challenge stereotypes, and Christopher Clark, in what might be the history book of 2006, does so with fluid erudition and sympathy in Iron Kingdom. The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947. I’ll mention some of the shading that Clark adds to the usual chiaroscuro portraits of the land of Kaiser Bill and the Iron Chancellor in the next post. (Plus I’m only on page 380 at the moment!)

Two things in passing, however. Did you know that the name “Junker” derives from “Jung Herr,” as it was usually the second sons of aristocratic families who were sent to settle the less-desirable lands east of the Elbe?

Second, Clark’s book costs a substantial 44 euros. Instead of postponing reading it until Christmas, I got my hands on a copy from Tallaght Library, which I joined only recently. It’s an great resource, so good it almost restores my faith in Irish public services.