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The century intervening from the fall of Napoleon in 1815 to the beginning of the First World War in 1914 is usually regarded as a sort of golden age for Prusso-German militarism. In this period, the Prussian military establishment won a series of spectacular victories over Austria and France, establishing an aura of German military supremacy and realizing the dream of a unified Germany through force of arms. Prussia in this era also produced three of history’s iconic military personalities - Carl von Clausewitz (a theoretician), Helmuth von Moltke (a practitioner), and Hans Delburk (a historian). As the story usually...

Archaeologists from the University of Gdańsk conducting excavations in Barczewko near Olsztyn discovered a deposit of about 150 14th-century bracteates, as well as a medieval sword pommel and other military items....at an early stage of its development, the city of Wartberg was completely destroyed by the invasion of the Lithuanian army of princes Kęstutis and Olgierd in 1354. It was never rebuilt or repopulated, so the ruins have been remained intact for centuries...Analysis will also reveal whether, apart from the Teutonic coins from the mints in Toruń and Elbląg, there are others that could indicate the existence of a bishop's...

So asks Newsweek's cover, which features a full-length photo of the prime minister his people voted the greatest Briton of them all. Quite a tribute, when one realizes Churchill's career coincides with the collapse of the British empire and the fall of his nation from world pre-eminence to third-rate power. That the Newsweek cover was sparked by my book "Churchill, Hitler and The Unnecessary War" seems apparent, as one of the three essays, by Christopher Hitchens, was a scathing review. Though in places complimentary, Hitchens charmingly concludes: This book "stinks." Understandable. No Brit can easily concede my central thesis: The...

On July 15, 1870, the French Empire mobilized its armed forces, and the following day, the North German Confederation—led by Prussia—followed suit. Once the Franco-Prussian War was declared, actual combat began with startling rapidity. The Prussians won a decisive victory at Sedan at the start of September, capturing French Emperor Napoleon III. Even so, the French managed a heroic second effort that kept the war going into 1871, but the Prussians still emerged victorious. This short struggle killed some 200,000 people and involved more combatants on both sides than the recently concluded American Civil War, which had spanned four years....

This Day In History | General Interest NAPOLEON DEFEATED AT WATERLOO: June 18, 1815 At Waterloo in Belgium, Napoleon Bonaparte suffers defeat at the hands of the Duke of Wellington, bringing an end to the Napoleonic era of European history. Beginning in 1812, Napoleon began to encounter the first significant defeats of his military career, suffering through a disastrous invasion of Russia, losing Spain to the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsula War, and enduring total defeat against an allied force by 1814. Exiled to the island of Elba in the Mediterranean, he escaped to France in early 1815 and...

A plain dark cloak still streaked with mud from the battle of Waterloo – which the Duke of Wellington is said to have draped around the shoulders of Lady Caroline Lamb when he was one of the most famous, and she one of the most infamous people in Europe – is to be sold for the first time in 200 years. The victor of Waterloo and the tempestuous aristocrat, who was once served up naked in a silver dish at a dinner, had a brief fling in Brussels in the weeks after the battle on 18 June 1815 which changed...

June 18 is the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo in 1815, in which British forces under the Duke of Wellington and the Prussians under Field Marshal Blücher decisively defeated the French under Napoleon to end the "Hundred Days Campaign." After the allies took Paris in March 1814, Napoleon was initially exiled to Elba. A year later, however, he returned to France amid great acclaim, re-entered Paris, declared himself emperor again, and retook command of the French armies to renew the struggle. Four days after the debacle at Waterloo - which Wellington described as "the nearest-run thing you ever saw...

Bismarck's Blood and Iron Speech 150 Years Later Written by Bruce Walker One hundred and fifty years ago, on September 30, 1862, Otto von Bismarck gave his famous “Blut und Eisen” (“Blood and Iron”) speech before the Landtag, the Prussian legislature. In his speech, Bismarck claimed that the international policy of a modern state is built upon the willingness to fight — “Blut” (blood) — and the willingness to spend vast amounts of public treasure in creating giant armies — “Eisen” (iron). "The great questions of the time will not be resolved by speeches and majority decisions ... but by...

Throughout the 20th Century, Karl Marx’s visage often appeared on communist banners in the guise of a mighty, bearded prophet, the first and greatest in an array of great thinkers that also included Engels, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao. So it may be slightly odd and amusing to think of him in his mid-20s living in Paris as the editor of a magazine. Digging into the letters and writings that Marx produced in those years, and the writings of those who knew him, always turns up something interesting—and occasionally something utterly fascinating. The year was 1844. Hoping to unite German and...

Tim Blanning, Frederick the Great: King of Prussia (New York: Random House, 2016), 688 pp., $35.00. NAPOLEON SWIFTLY conquered Prussia in October 1806, inflicting crushing defeats at Jena and Auerstedt that humbled a realm long known for its military tradition. A bulletin announcing news of the two battles described them as expunging the fifty-year stain left by Frederick the Great’s victory over a French army at Rossbach in 1757. When he visited Frederick the Great’s tomb with a group of his generals, Napoleon purportedly instructed them, “hats off gentlemen, if he were alive we wouldn’t be here today.”

On June 18th, 1815, 400 Hanoverian soldiers were the only thing standing between defeat and victory for the alliance against Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.In 1811, Napoleon's empire and its allies had over 44 million subjects and covered most of Europe. But after being defeated in 1813 and 1814 by the Sixth Coalition, which included Austria, Prussia, Russia, Britain, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and other German states, Napoleon was forced to abdicate and exiled to the island of Elba. The First French Empire was dissolved, and the Bourbon monarchy restored, but in February 1815 Napoleon escaped from his exile and...

The Guelph collection, a trove of medieval Christian art, was sold to Nazi-run Prussia in 1935. Was the sale fair, or did Goering make its Jewish owners an offer they couldn’t refuse?In October 1935, Prussian premier Hermann Goering proudly announced in a much circulated press release that he would soon present Adolf Hitler with a “surprise gift” — an extraordinary collection of medieval gold artifacts known as the Welfenschatz, or Guelph treasure. Forged of jewel-encrusted gold at the dawn of the second millennium CE, the dozens of Christian devotional masterpieces — ornate crucifixes, reliquaries of improbable detail, portable altars —...

By the late spring of 1945, Germany had lost a war, its honor and millions of dead. There was more to come. The Allies had decided that the country's east should be carved up between Poland and the Soviet Union and that its German inhabitants should be moved to the truncated Reich. There they would encounter Sudeten Germans, Czechoslovakia's second largest ethnic group, now also scheduled for deportation. In August 1945, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed at Potsdam that these transfers, which had in any case already begun, should be "orderly and humane."

Germans bury Prussia taboo to fete Frederick (Reuters) - Portraits of Frederick the Great line the streets, bookshops are bursting with new biographies, talk shows debate his legacy and toymaker Steiff has made a limited edition teddy bear of the Prussian ruler in his blue uniform coat and tricorn hat. Germans gearing up for a year of celebrations to mark Frederick's 300th birthday are showing a new, relaxed pride in the much-disputed figure and in Prussia itself, long considered a byword for the militarism glorified by the Nazis. Between 1740 and 1786, Frederick the Great transformed Prussia from a small,...

HERE is a link to an amazing little video, 6 minutes 25 seconds long, that covers 200 years of compulsory education. Memorable quotes, worth sharing widely.

Polish Prime Minster Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Sunday he has cleared the air with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and they would meet again in Berlin on Oct. 30. He told reporters in Helsinki that a short meeting between the two was "very nice" and had allowed him to explain misunderstandings, which he claimed had been created by false media reports. "We've managed to clarify some issues that were just a matter of misunderstanding. I noticed that the chancellor had learned something from the press that was complete nonsense." He was referring to media reports that junior coalition partner — the League...

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