Blood and Iron

The Rise and Fall of the German Empire 1871-1918

By: Katja Hoyer

Narrated by: Kristin Atherton

In a unique study of five decades that changed the course of modern history, Katja Hoyer tells the story of the German Empire from its violent beginnings to its calamitous defeat in the First World War.

Before 1871, Germany was not a nation but an idea. Its founder, Otto von Bismarck, had a formidable task at hand. How would he bring thirty-nine individual states under the yoke of a single Kaiser, convincing proud Prussians, Bavarians and Rhinelanders to become Germans? Once united, could the young European nation wield enough power to rival the empires of Britain and France—all without destroying itself in the process?

©2021 Katja Hoyer (P)2022 W. F. Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

"The best biography of the Second Reich in years.... It will undoubtedly become the essential account of this vitally important part of European history." (Andrew Roberts)

Interesting narrative.

problems are (1) the book is mostly focused on domestic politics, whereas the title and subtitle suggest it is focused on foreign and military policy. (2) a few factual errors appear - e.g. Alexander II, and not Nicholas II, sent a letter to Wilhelm I, and in 1878, not 1879.
On the plus side, the book pays attention to cultural trends and ideologies affecting politics; and is a fine primer on Bismarck's rise to power and early machinations.