Was German Unification Inevitable?
In January 1871 Bismarck declared the German nation united. Following a tragic 20th century, Germany reunified once more in 1990. Four historians offer their perspectives on both events.
Germany
Who’s Afraid of the Stasi?
The sinister reach of East Germany’s Ministry for State Security did not end in 1989. According to the British press, the Stasi is still with us.
Berlin’s Other Anniversary
The fall of the Berlin Wall was as much about beginnings as it was about endings. Out of the rubble came a new hope: techno music.
Day of Dissent in the DDR
The East German Uprising of 1953 was the first major revolt to take place in the Soviet Bloc.
Postwar Germany and the legacy of Nazism
How did Germany’s postwar politicians deal with the legacy of Nazism and defeat?
Telling Trabbies from Junkers
Though fast-faced and refreshingly different, this short study of Germany is more political manifesto than historical analysis.
New Avenues of Germany’s Past
As Holocaust survivors die, new approaches are required to tell their history, as shown in this unsentimental, emphatic account of the inhabitants of a Berlin street.
The Limits of Nationhood
In the interwar period, France and Germany worked towards an integrated Europe.
Henry IV of Germany: a ‘Bad King’?
Looking beyond the usual rogues’ gallery of historical figures can help us to better understand the past.
The Media’s First Moral Panic
Goethe’s novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther, was blamed for a spate of suicides during the ‘reading fever’ of the 1700s. It set a trend for manufactured outrage that is with us still.