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Hans-Ulrich Wehler on imperial Germany (1871–1918)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2009

Bruce Waller
Bruce Waller
Affiliation:
University College, Swansea
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Extract

Since the appearance of Fritz Fischer's Griff nach der Weltmacht in 19611the study of German history has not been the same. His strong views and the evidence he presents on the question of German responsibility for World War I naturally provoked controversy. But the impact of his book has another equally important, and, at first glance, less apparent aspect. Fischer gave great prominence to economic affairs and the role of various pressure groups. Whether his views on German war guilt are accepted or not, Fischer's approach to history, his attempt to break out of the bonds of diplomatic, purely political and intellectual history and emphasize its economic and social strains, has encouraged a multitude of young German historians to take a fresh look at their past. They have concentrated on the last 100 years, but this method can of course be more widely applied. Since the days of Ranke the writing of German history has been directed towards the analysis of political events and increasingly since the turn of the century towards the study of the history of ideas. After an early and promising start in Germany, social and economic history was either neglected, or studied merely in isolation without reference to politics.

Type
Review Articles
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , April 1975 , pp. 60 - 67
Copyright
Copyright © British International Studies Association 1975

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References

page 60 note 1 The English translation is entitled Germany's aims in the first World War, 1967,

page 60 note 2 Schlachtflottenbau und Parteipolitik 1894–1901 first appeared in 1930. It was reprinted in 1965 and is now available in translation on microfiche, Battleship building and party politics in Germany, 1894–1901, 1973.

page 61 note 1 Grosse Depression und Bismarckeit, 1967. See also his article, ‘Political and social consequences of the Great Depression of 1873–1896 in Central Europe’, Econ. Hist. Revieiv, xiii (1943)Google Scholar

page 61 note 2 Deutschlands Weg %ur Grossmacbt, 1966. For a summary of his views, see his The foundation of the German Empire: select documents, 1971 and ‘Big business pressure groups and Bismarck's turn to protectionism, 1873–79’, Hist. JI. x (1967)Google Scholar.

page 61 note 3 Bismarck und der lmperialismus, 1969. His views are summarized in ‘Bismarck's Imperialism, 1862–1890’, Past and Present, xiviii (1970)Google Scholar.

page 61 note 4 Der Primat der Innenpolitik, 1965.

page 61 note 5 Krisenherde des Kaiserreiches 1871–1918, 1970. ‘Zum Verhaltnis von Geschichtswissenschaft und Psychoanalyse’, Hist. Zeitschr. ccviii (1969)Google Scholar.

page 63 note 1 Das Zeitalter Bismarcks, 1957, p. 148.

page 63 note 2 Der Tirpitz-Plan: Genesis und Verfall einer innenpolitischen Krisenstrategie unter Wilhelm II, 1971. There is an English summary of his views in Berghahn's Germany and the approach of War in 1914, 1973. For another example of this approach, see J. Becker, ‘Zum Problem der Bismarckschen Politik in der spanischen Thronfrage 1870’, Hist. Zeitschr. ccxii (1971)Google Scholar. M. Stiir-mer (ed.), Das kaiserliche Deutschland, 1970 contains a representative collection of essays mainly by this group.

page 63 note 3 Das deutsche Kaiserreich 1871–1918, 1973.

page 64 note 1 The original edition (Die deutsche Katastrophe) appeared in 1946, ‘Irrwege in unserer Geschichte?’ was first published in Der Monat in 1949. It is more readily available in Meinecke's Zur Theorie und Philosophie der Geschichte, 1965.

page 64 note 2 See Waller, Bruce, Bismarck at the crossroads, 1974, pp. 196–8Google Scholar.

page 65 note 1 Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte seit 1789, III, 1963, pp. 9–11Google Scholar.

page 66 note 1 See Miiller, J. H. and Geisenberger, S., Die Einkommenstruktur in verschiedenen deutschen Landern 1874–1913, 1972Google Scholar.