Iron and blood A military history of the German-speaking peoples since 1500

This massive new tome calls for a reconceptualization of German military history from the 1500s to the end of WW II. Wilson (Univ. of Oxford, UK) focuses on the role of so-called militarism in the development of the political space known as Germany or the German lands. Though he agrees that militarism played a critical role in Germany's history, he also argues that militarism "was neither an end destination nor a single trajectory of development" (p. xlii). By placing German military history within a longer context, Wilson illustrates that there was no uniquely German way of war dominated by generals. He also removes the focus from Prussia, yielding interesting insights. Wilson's synthesis deftly handles the enormous historiography on German military history that would overwhelm lesser scholars. Organized into five parts, the book examines how leaders balanced war and peace, accepted war as permanent, professionalized war, nationalized war, and democratized war, respectively. The avalanche of information at times threatens to bury readers, but the author's clear and lively prose safely guides them to the top of the mountain where they can see the entirety of German military history in full panoramic view. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty. --Mark A. Mengerink, Lamar University

Oxford historian Wilson (The Thirty Years War) delivers an encyclopedic survey of the "German way of war" as it developed in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland from the 16th century to the present day. Pushing back against the notion that German-speaking states "followed a uniquely belligerent and authoritarian Special Path (Sonderweg) that deviated from the rest of Europe," Wilson contends that the horrific violence of the Thirty Years War (1618--1648) was "the inevitable consequence of the repeated failure of all parties to pay and supply their armies properly," and explains how the 18th-century Prussian king Frederick II's preference for "invading rapidly with overwhelming force" was influenced by his admiration for French king Louis XIV and Swedish monarch Charles XII. Prussia's victory over Napoleon III in 1871 and "widespread admiration" for Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz helped shape the notion, especially among outsiders, "that the Germans possessed a peculiar 'genius for war,' " but Wilson highlights plenty of missteps and failures, including Austria-Hungary's "over-hasty" declaration of war against Serbia in 1914 and Hitler's doomed invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Wilson's relentless march across five centuries' worth of military and political history is not for neophytes, but he successfully upends a regiment's worth of prevailing wisdom. It's a monumental achievement. (Feb.)