Bismarck: The White Revolutionary

Originally published in English in 1986, these volumes are far more than the story of the life of a powerful statesman. The name Bismarck sums up the entire political, social, economic and intellectual development of central Europe in the second half of the 19th Century and the internal and external shape that Germany then assumed. This book analyses how much of this was Bismarck's personal achievement or whether he was the man who put the nation on the disastrously wrong course that reached its fateful culmination in 1933? It examines whether Bismarck's success was precisely because he implemented policies for which the time was ripe and did so in ways that were in harmony with the historical evolution of central Europe.

Part 3: The Sorcerer's Apprentice 10. New Constellations, New Conflicts 11. The Reich and Europe 12. A Change of course at Home 13. Foreign Policy Reorientation, Domestic Policy Choices 14. New Paths to Old Objectives 15. The 'Stopgap' System 16. The End 17. The Shadow of the Past