2023-05-26 01:21:36
Prussian militarism, which Hitler assumed in its maximum symbolism, has been forever tattooed with the historical stereotype of being German, who by nature presents himself with a square head, the warlike spirit and the body made for the battlefields rather than the pastures of peace. Faced with this deep-rooted myth, the British historian Peter H. Wilson publish the book ‘Iron and Blood: A Military History of Germany’published in Spain by wake up ironwhich dismantles all preconceived ideas about the supposed ‘special genius for war’ of the Germans and embarks on a five-hundred-year journey among empires forged in steel where the first commandment is not to make presentist analysis.
“It’s not predetermined that Germany is going to emerge the way it does, and it’s not a story that should be defined from what we know about the two world wars and then read back as some kind of origin story.” warns Wilson in an interview provided by the publisher. This British specialist is not one of those who investigate easy or short-term things, as confirmed by his latest works, from ‘The Thirty Years’ War. A European tragedy’ to ‘The Holy Roman Empire’, so studying the military history of German-speaking territories over five centuries is not a suit that fits you too much either.
A monumental undertaking that has forced him to delve into states as complex as the Austro-Hungarian Empire or Prussia and in periods as varied as the protestant reformation Or the Nazi rise. Technology, politics, social changes, tactics, economics and logistics, among other technical aspects, are stirred in this brilliantly narrated essay of almost 900 pages that illuminates what is by nature dark: the war in the heart of europe.
Religion and nationalism
In keeping with new scholarship on warfare, the book analyzes conflicts within their human context, showing how warfare was organized and conducted beyond a tabletop view. They are not game pieces for Habsburg generals, Hohenzollern or from the rest of the German kingdoms, but rather human beings who, through a series of twists and turns, have ended up on the front line of combat. The motivation, the legal status of the soldiers, their relationship with society, as well as the demographic and economic impact of the war, are priority issues in a work that goes from the year 1500 to the present.
The starting point of the book is the Holy German Empire, where the warlords boasted of entrenching their borders higher than their neighbor and where the problems of nationalism (first timid and then wild) and religion were undermining coexistence between territories until they converge in the 30 years war. From the ashes of this territory Prussia would be born, called to unify the German territories from the most unexpected place, an extremely infertile state and with little prominence until then.
Archduke Charles at the Battle of Aspern-Essling, by Johann Peter Krafft.
“From these unpromising beginnings comes the great power that is Prussia, which makes for a very powerful story. But in reality, they had a number of assets going for them. In the middle of the 17th century they were the second largest territorial block, so they already had 15% within the empire and controlled the sovereign state of Prussia, a fundamental aspect that differentiated it from the rest of the German principalities. Its subsequent success is due to alliances, ”says Wilson about an empire that did not replace the Habsburgs as the hegemonic power until centuries later, despite the propaganda efforts to bury the Austrians while they were still very much alive.
more blood than iron
‘Iron and Blood’, whose title comes from Bismarck’s famous statement that hard power triumphed over parliamentary debates, seeks the roots of German militarism and the reputation of a terrible people that have dragged on since the 19th century. What is called the German way of waging war originated in Prussia, in the time of Frederick the Great and after Bismarck’s victories over France in 1871. Not that Prussia, a kingdom of great enlightened will and capable of great social conquests, it was only war, but facing the imaginary only the portrait of iron and blood making its way towards the European scepter remained.
«This German way of waging war is based on the idea that one is cornered by hostile powers, and therefore, the ability to attack first must be prioritized, which must be fight quickly and decisively otherwise one will be overwhelmed in a two-front war of attrition. It is an extremely seductive premise because it promises the possibility of a quick and relatively cheap victory, in economic and human terms”, appreciates the author of the work.
That widespread admiration for German methods has often omitted how the German way of warfare was closely related to genocide.
Prussia’s unexpected successes against Austria and France in the 19th century convinced the leaders of this kingdom that they were indeed blessed with a special aura. An idea that the Germans, once unified, came to believe in the face of the first World War and that, together, led to disaster. These methods of waging war were closely related to exploitation and genocide, especially during World War II, and to waging offensive wars which, if the objectives are not previously defined, often lead inevitably to chaos.
Still, Germany was not an easy nut to crack during those two world wars. They were very effective on a tactical level and stretched their resources to the maximum, although not enough to achieve victory. “The German experience in both conflicts deeply impressed her enemies. From this follows the idea that since the Germans successfully fought for so long against all odds, we must learn something from them. So there are these kinds of objective reasons and then, unfortunately, I think we are also attracted to appearances, like the uniforms or the way society was presented during the Nazi regime,” says this professor of History of the war in All Souls College at the University of Oxford about the fascination with a militarism that turned deadly.
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