IRON AND BLOOD

Peter H. Wilson is the author of the highly acclaimed Europes Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty Years War (2009) and The Holy Roman Empire: A Thousand Years of Europes History (2016). He is the Chichele Professor of the History of War at the University of Oxford.The scholarship of this book is breathtaking [and] Wilson relates it with a command of his subject that is unparalleled. No one interested in the history of Europe and of the Germans in particular can afford not to read this stupendous book.Endlessly fascinating ... History has returned to Europe and Iron and Blood is an excellent place to start getting reacquainted with it.Hugely impressive ... By setting his account in the broader context of European history Wilson launches a sustained attack on the teleological Prussocentrism of the traditional story.Iron and Blood delves into politics economics technology and social developments. Its long view of Germanys military history magisterial detail and acute analysis provide a new understanding of what was once Europes warring heart.Ambitious ... While Germany cannot leave its past behind it can learn from it if it dares to look ... Iron and Blood is a timely book arguing powerfully that German history should not be read backwards.Formidably erudite ... What is now Germanys shameful past was once Adolf Hitlers vision of the future. Reimagined by Vladimir Putin that spectral vision now haunts our present. Hence the importance and urgency of Wilsons investigation.A work of firstrate scholarship ... will become the starting point for all students of military history not only of Germany but of Europe as a whole.An ambitious book which was badly needed ... illuminating on the complicated relationship between Prussia both state and society and its army .... required reading for serious military historians.There is much to admire in this book from the astounding breadth of its scholarshipto its exceedingly ambitious scope ... a fresh perspective on German history.*WINNER OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON MEDAL FOR MILITARY HISTORY**A DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022*No one interested in the history of Europe can afford not to read this stupendous book Simon Heffer Daily TelegraphIron and Blood is a startlingly ambitious and absorbing book encompassing five centuries of political military technological and economic change to tell the story of the Germanspeaking lands from the Rhine to the Balkan frontier from Switzerland to the North Sea. Wilsons narrative considers everything from weapons development to recruitment to battlefield strategy.Germans military impact on the rest of Europe has been immense. If there is one constant it has been the sense of being beset by seemingly more powerful enemies France or Russia or Turkey and the need to strike a rapid knockout blow to ensure a favourable result. Almost inevitably this has in practice meant protracted relentless and often unwinnable wars and in 19391945