Customer Reviews

Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947

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It is hard to believe that in 1947 the Allies signed a law abolishing the state of Prussia. It like imposing a similar ban on Texas. However, this longstanding bearer of militarism became a handy target and a scapegoat for both Germany and the Allies following WW2. A direct association was made with Hitler as an 'elective Prussian' in his mentality and the state was directly implicated based on the following: "habits of authoritarianism, servility, and obedience prepared the ground for the collapse of democracy and the advent of dictatorship."

The author balances the ledger by highlighting Prussia's incorruptible civil service, tolerance to religious minorities, and an enviable code of law. And he points out that contrary to stereotypes and generalities, the state worked hard at being relevant. However, many Germans found it synonymous with conquest, rigidity, and illiberality which the author attempts to combat with the argument, "The core and essence of the Prussian tradition was an absence of tradition."

There is clearly a disconnect between the assumed perception and the historic reality. Clark takes his time presenting the latter through a detailed review of the Prussian state. He attempts to explain Junker feudal priviledge but fails to remove the airs of superiority and entitlement it exuded. The book's pace picked up significantly in the mid-1850's and I was interested in the author's take on Hindenburg as a "man of image, manipulation and betrayal."

Clark concludes that "Prussia" and it's ideals had become so abstract, that it's very definition was "up for grabs". Then when it had found itself on the other side of freedom, a value from it's origins, it became a convenient target to eliminate as a "mental construct" so that German imagination could "deprussianize".

This is a great book especially for history buffs. There are things in this book I never learnt in school.

Read this if you want the big picture on Prussia and Germany and how all the pieces fit together up to and including WWII. Christopher Clark writes well - this is a fairly hefty volume, given it covers 350 years or thereabouts, but Clark's writing keeps it from getting too dry.

Prussia was a messy and complicated construct, in some ways better and in some ways worse than its contemporaries. Clark suggests that the unification of Germany with Prussia was Prussia's undoing, and the way its presented here that thesis is fairly convincing. The construct of Prussia became a useful scapegoat to destroy and bury in an effort to leave Nazism behind, but Clark demonstrates that the links between Nazism and Prussianism are more perceived than real.