The Shortest History of Germany

February 25, 2019
With this pocket-size history, Hawes (Englanders and Huns) delivers a wide-ranging yet precise chronicle of political leaders who have served and shaped what is now Germany. He opens with Julius Caesar, who named the country and described a people preoccupied by “the pursuits of the military arts,” (his contemporary Tacitus, meanwhile, noted its “pure race”). Following snapshots of Charlemagne’s reign, the founding of Lutheranism, and the emperors Frederick I, II, and III, Hawes covers history from the internecine 17th-century power struggle among three dynasties (Habsburgs, Hohenzollers, and Wettins) to the emergence of the Third Reich. The author shows how after WWI, Munich became “a haven for extreme right-wingers” who galvanized the “Lutheran countryside” and laid the groundwork for WWII. While the book ends on a cautionary note about the current rise of nationalism throughout Europe, in light of Germany’s lengthy history, the author concludes that the Nazi era was “a terrible aberration” and that Chancellor Angela Merkel must “hold firm” in invoking the Germany of Charlemagne. The book is embellished with maps, illustrations, diagrams, and boxes that break up the text nicely and clarify various concepts and geographical changes. (Curiously, post-WWII West Germany closely resembled what the Romans called Germania.) This clearly presented history will be of particular interest to readers following the political machinations of the European Union.