Iron Kingdom is about the rise and downfall of Prussia, that central German state so central in Germany's unification (and, some argue, its downfall in both World Wars). All quotes presented are from the book.
Summary
It started with Brandenburg, a small territory surrounding Berlin. The Hohenzollerns, a south German family on the rise, purchased this land in 1417. In so doing, they also gained power, as Brandenburg was one of the seven Electorates of the Holy Roman Empire ("a patchwork quilt of states and statelets that extended across German Europe" . . . that was "a loose fabric of constitutional arrangements centred on the imperial court and encompassing over 300 sovereign territorial entities that varied widely in size and legal status"). Thus, Frederick Hohenzollern became Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg, one of the seven "with the right to elect the man who would become Holy Roman Emperor of the German Nation."
An Elector had tremendous power. And in the subsequent centuries, the Brandenburg territory would add patches of land to the east and west through a combination of advantageous marriages (with relatives dying without issue) and concessions granted in exchange for the Electoral vote. Ducal Prussia- a small tract of land now Russian- was incorporated into Brandenburg in 1618. It would eventually lend its name to the entire territory.
Unfortunately, disaster awaited. "During the Thirty Years War (1618-48) the German lands became the theatre of a European catastrophe. A confrontation between the Hapsburg Emperor Ferdinand II and Protestant forces within the Holy Roman Empire expanded to involve Denmark, Sweden, Spain, the Dutch Republic and France. Conflicts that were continental in scope played themselves out on the territories of the German states: the struggle between Spain and the breakaway Dutch Republic, a competition among the northern powers for control of the Baltic, and the traditional great-power rivalry between Bourbon France and the Habsburgs. Although there were battles, sieges and military occupations elsewhere, the bulk of the fighting took place in the German lands. For unprotected, landlocked Brandenburg, the war was a disaster that exposed every weakness of the Electoral state."
But they would recover. After the war, "Brandenburg's resurgence in the second half of the seventeenth century appears remarkable . . . [it] was a substantial regional power on a par with Bavaria and Saxony, a sought-after ally and a significant element in major peace settlements. The man who presided over this transformation was Frederick William, known as the 'Great Elector'."
The Elector was focused on building his army to "restore the independence of his territory and press home his claims." "But the army was just one factor in Brandenburg's recovery and expansion after 1640," as "Frederick William was able to secure major territorial gains simply by playing the international system." France and Sweden helped him obtain eastern Pomerania and other areas. The result? "At the close of the seventeenth century, Brandenburg-Prussia was the largest German principality after Austria. Its long scatter of territories stretched like an uneven line of stepping-stones from the Rhineland to the eastern Baltic. Much of what had been promised in the marriage and inheritance contracts of the sixteenth century had now bee made real." "Prussia's ascent began with the reign of the Great Elector," according to his great-grandson Frederick the Great. (From 1640-1797, there was "not a single reign in which territorial gains were not realized.")
The territory was still known as Brandenburg- but then came a crown. "From 1660, Frederick William was the sovereign ruler of Ducal Prussia." He was now a European prince . . . and during his successor's reign, in 1701, "the Ducal Prussia sovereignty would be used to acquire the title of king for the House of Hollenzollern." Elector Frederick III was crowned 'King in Prussia.' (the title was allowed by Austria because it needed Prussia's support). "In due course, even the ancient and venerable name of Brandenburg would be overshadowed by 'Kingdom of Prussia', the name increasingly used in the eighteenth century for the totality of the northern Hohenzollern lands." Prussia had arrived [the term would be formally adopted in 1807].
Though strong, Brandenburg-Prussia felt vulnerable based on its location . . . the trauma of the Thirty Years War would create a "restless activism that would become a hallmark of Prussian foreign policy." In this and later conflicts, Brandenburg would find itself located at the intersection of the main lines of conflict in Europe. As a result, Berlin became known for oscillating between options, choosing "between alliance, armed neutrality, and independent action." They needed to be on good terms with France, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Russia . . . So they followed a pendulum policy. "Playing the system effectively meant being on the right side at the right moment, and this in turn implied a readiness to switch allegiances when an existing commitment became burdensome or inopportune." In addition, successive rulers would make the military (which was "out of proportion to its population and economic capabilities") and development of domestic industry central objectives.
Prussia would continue to grow. In 1740, Frederick II invaded (and conquered) Silesia, the acquisition of which "changed permanently the political balance within the Holy Roman Empire and thrust Prussia into a dangerous new world of great-power politics." He was able to take it from an Austria exhausted by other conflicts, "and its annexation would bring to the Prussian lands an element of productive intensity that they had hitherto lacked." This was big. "For the first time, a lesser German principality had successfully challenged Habsburg primacy within the Empire to place itself on an equal footing with Vienna." "The annexation of Silesia provided Prussia not only with money, produce and subjects, but also with a broad corridor of land extending from the Brandenburg heartland straight to the margins of Habsburg Bohemia, Moravia and the Austrian hereditary lands." "For the first time, the political life of the Empire began to orient itself around a bipolar balance of power. The era of Austro-Prussian 'dualism' had begun." Prussia would solidify itself in the
Seven Years' War (1756-83), overcoming against both France and Austria. They would subsequently acquire parts of Poland during three partitions of the country (1772-1795), splitting it with Russia. But the French were coming.
Napoleon took Europe by storm- including Prussia. Major defeats in 1806 (at
Jena-Auerstedt) would lead to French subjugation and shock Prussia into transformation. The country would spend the next few years working to re-establish itself as autonomous power. The French re-partitioned Germany, taking territories in the west from Prussia but granting them some in the east. Based on these territorial reorganizations, "the basic outlines of a simplified nineteenth-century Germany were already visible."
Prussia would get their revenge at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813, "the greatest single military engagement to that date in the history of continental Europe, and probably of human warfare." It was a decisive Napoleon defeat, bringing "to a close his dominion in Germany." Prussia re-emerged from the humiliation imposed at Tilsit [where the peace treaty was signed] in 1807." How? They improved the military quality of command and used new strategies, aiming to destroy forces and capacity for making war (as outlined by Clausewitz in his famous work,
On War). This victory was later considered a moment of liberation in German history.
Napoleon had lost, and the map of Europe was re-drawn. "The territorial settlements agreed at the Vienna Peace Congress of 1814-15 created a new Europe." Prussia traded some territory with the Russians, and "the Hohenzollern kingdom was now a colossus that stretched across the north of Germany . . ." They reinforced their presence in German Europe by accepting territory in the 'west' and giving up some Polish land. They then dominated in the surrounding German-speaking lands through "customs harmonization and federal security policy." Though the southern states (Baden, W
ürttemberg, and Bavaria) didn't trust them, Prussia excelled at "harnessing [German] national enthusiasms to its own interests." There were hints at a forthcoming unified Germany.
The time was approaching. "1848 was the year of the nationalists. Across Europe, the political and social upheavals of the revolution were intertwined with national aspirations." But "nationalism was subversive because in many parts of Europe, the realization of the national vision implied fundamental transformations of the political map." It "implied the political disintegration of the Habsburg monarchy," but was integrative in Germany, aiming to create "a putatively single German fatherland."
"The German question was ultimately a European question. It could not be addressed (let alone resolved) in isolation." Why? Because German unity "would require a fundamental change in the power-political constellation of Europe."
Austria had dominated German-speaking affairs for centuries; how did they respond to talks of unifying? There was a 'greater-German' solution that incorporated them, but they wouldn't have it, so things "shifted in the direction of the 'lesser-German' solution . . . [where] Austria would be excluded from the new national polity, [and] pre-eminence within . . . would pass . . . to Prussia." Didn't work initially- not all states were keen to join. But soon, Prussia 'began playing a leading role in German affairs." But there was work to do.
In 1862, to assuage the political unrest, the king appointed Otto von Bismarck to the minister-presidency of Prussia. "Bismarck was not a man of principle; he is better described as the man of detachment from principle, the man who . . . practise[d] a new kind of politics, flexible, pragmatic, emancipated from fixed ideological commitments." He "never behaved as if he had a boss." He was aggressive and shrewd, and "to meet the challenges of a more aggressive German policy, Prussia needed a flexible and highly effective military instrument."
Military was essential. Victories in Denmark (1864) and against an Austro-German alliance (
Austro-Prussian War, 1866) enabled Prussia to create a new German Confederation. "With the victory of 1866, the long history of Prussia's contest with Austia for hegemony over Germany came to an end." Prussia now had everything except Baden, W
ürttemberg, Hesse-Darmstadt, and Bavaria. France declared war, but a giant German victory at Sedan (1870) eventually proved crippling. Bismarck secured the southern states in a union, unifying them in 1871, when "a new German Empire was proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles." King William I becamse German Emperor 170 years to the day after Frederick I was coronated as Prussian King. In summary, by 1871, "the Kingdom of Prussia had reinvigorated its armed forces, driven Austria out of Germany, destroyed the military might of France, built a new nation-state and transformed the European balance of power in a burst of political and military energy that astonished the world."
Europe had changed. "For centuries, Europe's German centre had been politically fragmented and weak. The continent was dominated by the states on its periphery, whose interest was to maintain the power vacuum at the centre. Now, however, for the first time, the centre was united and strong. Austria-Hungary became Germany's junior ally. And "Germany was unified under Prussian leadership." Not surprisingly, "the military was woven deeply into the fabric of everyday life after 1871." But in Prussia, the Emperor, not parliament, controlled the military. This would cause great strife.
World War I was on the horizon. Germany would encourage Austria to invade the Balkans after Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassination, and a chain-reaction set in place by alliances on both sides would soon have the world at war. Germany would lose- the Kaiser William abdicated in 1918. Though reduced in size and importance, Prussia survived WWI. It remained the dominant state in German affairs.
World War II was soon in coming. The Nazis celebrated 'Prussiandom,' cementing Prussia's legacy in an unfortunate way. "Nazi-Prussia was a glittering fetish assembled from fragments of a legendary past. It was a manufactured memory, a talismanic adornment to the pretensions of the regime." The Nazis focused on loyalty and obedience, looking to Prussian characteristics, but these qualities were "severed from their ethical and religious roots." Yet "in the end, it was the Nazi view of Prussia that prevailed. The western allies needed no persuading that Nazism was merely the latest manifestation of Prussianism." After Germany's defeat in 1945, Prussia would be deliberately and completely dissolved by the victorious allies (it was formally abolished by law in 1947). Millions of Germans left or were expelled from the historical Prussian lands. K
önigsberg- the most important city in Ducal Prussia- would become Soviet Kaliningrad (it remains so this day, an island of Russian sovereignty next to Poland). Statues were destroyed or buried. Prussia, as an identity, was deliberately erased from public memory. The Iron Kingdom had fallen.
Review
This is very specifically a history of
Prussia. Major events like World Wars I and II were glanced over (not even summarized). The author discusses cultural attributes of various monarchs, the role religious confessions played, societal tendencies, governmental structures, and many other things. The book was informative and enlightening. The writing was outstanding, and the perspective seemed fair. Nowadays, of course, the concept of 'Prussia' is synonymous with a militaristic, chauvinist, aggressive inclination exemplified by the Nazis. As always, the truth is more complex and nuanced than popular simplifications portray, and Clark did a good job looking at the positive elements of Prussian society (like its outstanding educational system, "more principled commitment to tolerance," frequent "pragmatic and flexible governance," and pioneering social legislation). Overall, it looks like several key figures (Bismarck, Hindenburg, and several dominant or capitulating Kaisers) drove this patchwork territory- and Germany along with it- into twentieth century ruin. A good, if sobering, read.
Rating: A-
P.S. The book has a series of helpful maps; most specifically, six at the beginning that show Prussia's growth through the centuries. You can view those maps
here.
P.P.S. In 1817, students gathered in Wartburg to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Reformation and 4th of the Battle of Leipzig. They adopted the black/red/gold colors of the L
ützow volunteer corps flag, and some claim today's
German tricolor would be born from this.
