A Lesson in German Military History with Peter Wilson

Harvard University Press Blog » European History · 3 years ago · 113 views

In his landmark book Iron and Blood: A Military History of the German-Speaking Peoples since 1500, acclaimed historian Peter H. Wilson offers a masterful reappraisal of German militarism and warfighting over the last five centuries, leading to the rise of Prussia and the world wars. Below, Wilson answers our questions about this complex history, breaking down key moments and challenging preconceptions about a specifically “German way of war.” Why did you feel it important to include the histories of Austria and Switzerland in the story of German military history? Modern Germany is a very recent creation. The Federal Republic’s current frontiers date from 1990 with the reunification of the two Germanies created by the Cold War. Germany’s size and location in Europe had shifted significantly several times before, while its political structure underwent profound transformations. War was central to all these processes, but it makes little sense to frame German military history in isolation from that of Austria and Switzerland to which it was intimately connected for centuries. All three countries have their own martial traditions and stories, but these are often entwined and have shared much in common, so the book uses “German” more as a shorthand to encompass the large section of Central Europe to which these states belonged. That’s also why the book starts around 1500, when the countries which are now the German, Austrian, and Swiss republics were part of the Holy Roman Empire. Although the medieval Empire was not short on conflict, wars were usually...