Review A magisterial history of Europes only extinct power, nuanced, dispassionate and utterly gripping -- Financial Times
`A terrific book ... the definitive history of this much-maligned state -- Daily Telegraph Books of the Year
`Exemplary ... an illuminating, profoundly satisfying work of history-- The New York Times
`The best history of Prussia in any language -- Sunday Telegraph
`Written with great clarity and vigour ... I was completely hooked -- Antonia Fraser, Guardian Books of the Year
...thorough, sensitive and well-written-- Justin Cartwright, Spectator Books of the Year 自1947年2月25日起,普鲁士这一孕育了早期德国军国主义和行动的国家在事实上不复存在,自此,从欧洲政治地图上被消除的普鲁士,其历史也悄然成为一个噩梦,无声又深沉地压在人们心头。 普鲁士曾是理性行政、推动进步的助推器,也是解放德国新教摆脱奥地利哈布斯堡和法国政治独裁的重要力量,而这样的美好看法却被纳粹政权的种种罪行蒙上了层层阴影。独自沿着一条“特殊道路”前进的德国,终走向12年的纳粹独裁。普鲁士在这一畸形的政治体系中发挥了关键作用,因为正是它负载了“特殊道路”中那些清晰而典型的传统。 多年来,人们对普鲁士的争论一直有增无减。从二元道德范畴评判普鲁士,单单赞扬其光明或批判其黑暗是不可取的。普鲁士的历史也是其历史记述的发展史,普鲁士在发展过程中编写着自己的历史,甚至创作出了比它本身更详尽的历史叙述。 Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947《钢铁帝国:普鲁士的兴衰》主要探讨普鲁士的兴衰。只有通过对其兴和衰两个过程进行评价,我们才能理解众多人记忆中如此强大的普鲁士何以突然间彻底从政治舞台消失,且无人哀悼。
Winner of the Wolfson History Prize, Christopher Clarks Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600-1947 is a compelling account of a country that played a pivotal role in Europes fortunes and fundamentally shaped our world.
Prussia began as a medieval backwater, but transformed itself into a major European power and the force behind the creation of the German empire, until it was finally abolished by the Allies after the Second World War.
With great flair and authority, Christopher Clark describes Prussias great battles, dynastic marriages and astonishing reversals of fortune, its brilliant and charismatic leaders from the Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg to Bismarck and Frederick the Great, the military machine and the progressive, enlightened values on which it was built.
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