Modern Germany:
1815 to the Present

Department of History Dr. David A. Meier
Dickinson State University
Spring 2005

A Reminder from Melanchton

Philippe Melanchton wrote in Glaube und Bildung: Das menschliche Leben ist ohne Kenntnis der Geschichte nichts anderes als gewissermaßen eine immerdauerende Kindheit, ja sogar eine ständige Finsternis und Blindheit.

I. Course Description

History is an intense integral part of the German identity. In this context, the term history is a blend of traditional high culture, literature, politics, and economics linked by Germans in an individual person's coupling with those areas -- with diverging regional orientations. On the one hand, the German vision of history is quite Hegelian in its intimate link with a specific geographical area, German language and literature, and a common sense of history linking all who consider themselves German. In other words, German history is strongly linked with the physical-materialistic manifestations of their history and is given a transcendent meaning in a romanticized vision of that same past. Thus, Germans have continually experienced dramatic and concurrent processes of renovation and restoration. These feeling are reinforced by an internal German dialogue between the creative drive, e.g., demonstrated in German architectural trends, to break with the past and an even more powerful drive to retain images of that same past -- including more recently of the former GDR! -- integrated into the conscious German identity. One of the consequences of the German identity question has been an occasional rush to the extremes. Extremes have done more to give shape to German thought and action that perhaps anywhere else in Europe -- or this is at least the image conveyed by the German press to its recipient public. However, in postwar West Germany and now in unified Germany, political and social challenges were/are largely worked out within the major political parties. This course aspires to acquaint students with more than the major trends in German history. Students will also be expected to develop a reasonable understanding of German geography, i.e., the locations of cities, rivers, state borders, German life, and German culture.

Another Option: Images of Ossian

Napoeon Bonapart thought of Ossian as "the Northern Homer" and commissioned François Gérard (1770-1837) to use Ossian as the central figure in a bedroom painting at his palace at Malmaison. Byron's "The Death of Calmar and Orla" included the subtitle "An Imitation of Macpherson's Ossian" first published in 1807... Goethe, similarly, perceived in Ossian a romantic figure (Werther 2. Buch. 12. Oktober): "Ossian hat in meinem herzen den Homor verdrängt. Welch eine Welt, in die der Herrliche mich führt!" -- both despire the fact that Samuel Johnson proved Ossian to be a product of the mind of his so-called interpreter in the 1770's. Nevertheless, the Celtic bard became a point of romantic facination by 1815 circulating in most European languages and intellectual circles. A unique strain of European romanticism, German romanticism also found comparable expression in Franz von Stuck's "Wilde Jagd" which stressed the long enduring and wide-spread nature of the folklore theme (Celtic and Germanic) of the Wild Hunt and of the many personages, male and female, who could be candidates for the popular leaders. Refering to Heinrich Voss's Franz von Stuck, 1863-1928: Werkkatalog der Gemaelde . . . (München: Prestel-Verlag, 1973), which presents most of von Stuck's paintings in black and white, one sees that "Wilde Jagd" has two later variants, one done about 1894, and one in 1899. In both the rider has become grizzled, balding, and haggard; in 1894 he wields a scythe and rides a skeletal horse; in 1899 he wields a whip and in both his features have become dehumanized in comparison to the 1889 original..."Wilde Jagd" is reproduced on the back jacket of Robert G.L. Waite's The Psychopathic God. Where these truly visions of the emerging modern Germany or simply playful notions about identity and modern times?

II. Required Textbooks

History of Modern Germany since 1815 by Frank B. Tipton (University of California Press, August 2003), ISBN: 0520240499, Paperback, 751pp.
The Longing for Myth in Germany: Religion and Aesthetic Culture from Romanticism to Nietzsche by George S. Williamson (University of Chicago Press, July 2004) ISBN: 0226899462, Paperback, 428pp.

IV. Course Requirements

First, you are expected to read the assigned chapters ahead of time, prepared for discussion, and in attendance. Second, there will be two exams (a Midterm worth 100 points and a final worth 200 points) and ten three-page reviews covering segments of the Williamson text (20 points each). They will be due in class on the first class "Monday" after assigned.

V. Policy on Late Papers and Make-up Examinations

Students would do well to hand in their papers ahead of the deadline and thus avoid possible last minute emergencies such as typing problems, dental appointments, and the like. Take note, late papers will not be accepted without a written valid excuse such as a medical excuse. Similarly, students will not be given make-up examinations without such a valid excuse. Make-up examinations with a valid excuse will in no case be given prior to the announced time of an examination.

VI. Back-Up Copies of Papers and Graded Materials

Students are asked to retain copies of all papers which they submit as insurance against lost or misplaced papers. Graded materials returned to you should be carefully stored away as insurance against an incorrect or incomplete grade at the conclusion of the semester. You may be called upon to return some graded materials to the instructor from time to time. Students are encouraged to study their graded materials in order to improve their performance during the course of the semester.

VII. Course Outline

Week Topic Reading/Assigments

1) Introduction: Emergence of Germany
2) French Revolution
3) A Conservative Interlude and Iindustrial Growth
4) Revolution, Unity, and War, 1848-1918
5) Weimar Germany: Casting the Die, 1918-1933
6) Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939
7) Hitler's War, 1939-1945
8) Defeat and Disintegration, 1945
9) Three D's of Reconstruction, 1945-1949
10) Birth of Two Germanies: Adenauer & Ulbricht, 1949-1951
11) Stalin Notes and Uprising in the GDR, 1952-1953
12) A Thaw?, 1954-1956
13) International Consolidation -- Domestic Drift, 1957-1963
14) Erhard to Grand Coalition, 1963-1969
15) Brandt's Experiment in Social Democracy, 1969-1974
16) A Chancellor Leads: Helmut Schmid, 1974-1982
17) A Chancellor with Vision: Helmut Kohl, 1982-1988
18) Revolution and Unity, 1989-2003

VIII. Recommened Supplemental Topics and Readings

The Origins of Modern Germany

Hajo Holborn, A History of Modern Germany, 1648-1840, Chapt. 1.
G. Barraclough, The Origins of Modern Germany, Chapt. 10.
L. von Ranke, Preußische Geschichte 1415-1871, Chapt. II.
C.V. Wedgwood, The Thirty Years' War, Chapt. 12.
F. Schevill, The Great Elector, Chapt. 17.
F.L. Carstens, Princes and Parliaments in Germany, Chapt. 6.

The Rise of German Dualism

G. Ritter, Frederick the Great, Chapt. 9.
R. Asprey, Frederick the Great, Chapt. 7.
W.L. Dorn, Competition for Empire, Chapt. 17.

The Era of Enlightened Despotism

W.H. Bruford, Germany in the Eighteenth Century, Part IV. Chapt. 2.
H. Rosenberg, Bureacracy, Aristocracy, and Autocracy, Chapt. 5.

The Years of French Hegemony

G.P. Gooch, Germany and the French Revolution, Chapt. 22.
F. Meinecke, Cosmopolitanism and the National State, Bk I, Chapt. 8.
F.M. Anderson, Constitutions and Other Select Documents, pp. 206-298, 261-267, 339-314, & 397-416.

Reform, Liberation, and the New Social Order

A. Germaine de Staël-Holstein, On Germany, Part I.
E.N. Anderson, Nationalism and the Cultural Crisis in Prussia, chapt. 7.
E. Kohn-Bramstedt, Aristocracy and the Middles in Germany, Chap.4.
F. List, The National System of Political Economy (1904 edition), Chap. 34 & 36.

From the Congress of Vienna to 1848

H. Kissinger, A World Restored, Chap. 9.
H. Nicolson, The Congress of Vienna, Chapt. 15-16.
W.O. Henderson, The Zollverein, Chapt. 3.
T. Hamerow, Restoration, Revolution, Reaction, Chapt. 2-3.
J.C. Legge, Rhyme and Revolution in Germany, pp. 124-153.
H. von Treitschke, History of Germany in the Nineteenth Century, Vol. III, pp. 206-233.
E.L. Woodward, Three Studies in European Conservatism, pp. 15-43.

1848 Revolutions to Unification

G.A. Craig, The Politics of the Prussian Army, pp. 120-148.
W.E. Mosse, The European Powers and the German Question, Chap. 1.
V. Valentine, 1848: Chapter of German History, Chapt. 8.
O. Pflanze, Bismarck and the Development of Germany, Chapt. 9.
A.W. Ward, Germany 1815-1890, Vol. I, Chap. 11.

The Age of Bismarck

E. Berstein, Evolutionary Socialism, Chap. 1.
O. von Bismarck, The Man and the Statesman, Vol. I, Chap. 11.
M. Busch, Bismarck..., Vol. III Chap. 3.
G. Craig, Germany 1866-1945, Chap. 7-8.
W.H. Dawson, The German Empire, Vol. I, Chap. 7.
W.T.S. Dugdale, German Diplomatic Documents, Vol. I, Chap. 4-7.
E. Eyck, Bismarck and the German Empire, Chapt. 6.
H. Friedjung, The Struggle for Supremacy in Germany, Chap. 5.
H. Holborn, A History of Modern Germany, Vol. II, Chap.4.
M. Howard, The Franco-Prussian War, Chap. 1.
H.S. Hughes, Consciousness and Society, pp. 183-200 and 229-248.
W. Langer, European Alliances and Alignments, Chap. 13.
K. Pinson, Modern Germany, Chapt. VIII.
O. Pflanze, Bismarck and the Development of Germany, Chap. 6.
F. Stern, Gold and Iron, Chap. 9.
G. Stolper, German Economy, pp. 36-77.
H. von Sybel, The Founding of the German Empire, Vol. V, pp. 479-506.
E. Ollivier, The Franco-Prussian War and Its Hidden Causes, pp. 468-494.
Wilhelm I, The Correspondence of William I and Bismarck, Vol. I.

The Age of Wilhelm II, 1890-1918

R. Dahrendorf, Society and Democracy in Germany, Chap. 3-4.
F. Fischer, Germany's Aims in the First World War, Chap. 6.
G.P. Gooch, Before the War, vol. II, pp. 203-238.
H.S. Hughes, Conscious and Society, pp. 183-200 & 229-248.
R.H. Lutz, Fall of the German Empire, Vol. I, Chap. 16.
A. Rosenberg, The Birth of the German Republic, Chapt. 5.

Versailles, Reparations, and the Weimar Republic

K. Epstein, Matthais Erzberger, Chap. 13-14.
P. Scheidemann, The Making of a New Germany, Chapt.6
G. Stresemann, Diaries, Letters, and Papers, vol. II, pp. 404-438.
S.W. Halperin, Germany Tried Democracy, Chapt. 22-24.
R. Sontag, A Broken World, 1919-1939, pp. 45-60.

The Decline of Weimar Gemany

K.D. Barcher, The German Dictatorship, pp. 168-198.
G. Craig, Germany 1866-1945, Chapt. XVI.
T. Mann, Magic Mountain.
F. von Papen, Memoirs, Chapt. 12-13.
J.W. Wheeler-Bennett, The Nemesis of Power, pp. 210-244.

National Socialist Dictatorship and Revolution, 1933-1945

G. Wright, The Ordeal of Total War, 1939-1945, pp. 107-166.
R. Sontag, A Broken World. 1919-1939, pp. 253-285.
W. Laqueur, ed., Fascism, Chapt. 3.
M. Broszat, Hitler's State.
K. Klemperer, German Resistance.
A. Hitler, Mein Kampf.
E. Jaeckel, Hitler's World View.
W. Allen, The Nazi Seizure of Power.
G. Goebbels, Final Entries 1945, pp. 368-384.
H.R. Trevor-Roper, The Last Days of Hitler.

Defeat, Disarmament, and Dismemberment in 1945

F. Meinecke, The German Catastrophe, Chapt. 13-15.
L. Clay, Decision in Germany, Chapt. 19-20.
A. Read and D. Fisher, The Fall of Berlin.
W. Loth, Die Teilung der Welt, Chap. 4.
F. Roy Willis, The French in Germany, Chapt. V.
U.S., Dept. of State, Occupation of Germany.

Occupied Germany, Cold War, and the Emergence of Two Germanies

D. Acheson, Present at the Creation, Chap. 8.
C. Bohlen, Witness to History, Part II.
H.A. Turner, The Two Germanies, Chapt. 2.
H. Zink, The United States in Germany, Chapt. 12.
M. Hogan, The Marshall Plan, Chapt. 3-4.
J. Golay, The Founding of the Federal Republic of Germany.
C. Friedrich, The Soviet Zone of Germany.The Federal Republic of Germany, 1949-1969
K. Adenauer, Germany Reports.
T. Schwartz, America's Germany.
P. Weymar, Adenauer, Chapt. 16-17.
A. Grosser, Germany in Our Time, Chapt. 9.
L. Erhard, Germany's Comeback in the World Market.

The German Democratic Republic

D. Childs, The GDR: Moscow's Ally.
M. Dennis, German democratic Republic, Chapt. 1.
A. Dorpalen, German History in Marxist Perspective, Chap. 9.
C. Harmon, Class Struggles in Eastern Europe, pp. 63-79.
H. Weber, Geschichte der DDR.
DDR Handbuch.
D. Staritz, Die Gründung der DDR.

Federal Republic of Germany: Era of Social Democracy, 1969-1982

W. Brandt, A Peace Policy for Europe, Chapt. 26-27.
W. Brandt, Erinnerungen.
W. Schlauch, "Defense and Security: The SPD and East-West Relations," unpublished article.
H. Schmidt, People and Powers, Part 1.
Keesing's Research Report, Germany and eastern Europe since 1945, Part IV.

The Two Germanies Between East and West: 1982-1988

D. Conradt, The German Polity, Chapt. 9.
W. Brandt, Erinnerungen, pp. 501-512.
F.J. Strauss, Erinnerungen, pp. 552-565.

German Reunification

W. Weidenfeld, Nachdenken über Deutschland.
W. Weidenfeld, Deutschland-Handbuch, pp. 699-718.
E. Pond, After the Wall.
D. Hamilton, After the Revolution.
D. Conradt, Unified Germany at the Polls.

IX. Student LearningOutcomes (Institutional, Program, and Course Outcomes)

Institutional Student Learning Outcomes

Consistent with Dickinson State University's six Institutional Student Learning Outcomes, this course will develop higher order and critical thinking skills by comparing and contrasting the perspectives offered by various leading thinkers and significant figures which emerge in the course of german history.  Second, students will be expected to demonstrate the aforementioned skills through two in-class written examination as well as through three in-depthbook reviews.  To this end, students will be expected to use the Internet to review various primary materials and special preparations developed by the publisher.  Third and fourth, history as an essential liberal arts discipline serves to enhance these values while this course builds upon the foundation of the student's knowledge of history established in the two surveys of world history.  Fifth and sixth, this type of course is essential to preparing the student for both classroom teaching, in the pursuit of degrees in education, history, completing general education requirements, and covering the required multi-cultural experience.

Program Student Learning Outcomes

Specifically, Modern Germany (HIST 350) serves the various history majors and minor fields.  It provides the student with an upper division class designed to assist in the fulfillment of graduation requirements for the major/minor in question.   It merges with materials covered in the first survey of World Civilizations (HIST 206) survey courses and issues addressed in The World since 1890 (HIST 440).  Its unique contribution is in the presentation of unique elements of historical analysis explaining in general the elements commonly addressed in dealing with the course of world and European history. 

Course Student Learning Outcomes

These outcomes follow closely the materials outlined below under Course Content Outline and in the items described above.  The definition of the items listed below and their historical significance is the intended subject of the course and constitutes the core of the lectures presented during the class.  Given the limitations of student knowledge of foreignlanguages and relative inability to access the materials through either the Internet or through published works, lectures will provide the key meansby which students will develop a proper understanding of the materials over which they willbe tested.

X. Teaching Strategies

The key teaching strategy involved in handling a course such as this focused largely on the lecture component.  However, students are expected to manipulate lecture materials with those presented in the assigned texts and readings.  The students ultimate ability to handle this spectrumof materials is largely contingent upon consistent attendance.

XII. Assessment of the Student's Performance in the Course According to Established Rubrics as They Relate to Student Learning Outcomes

Applying the traditional grading scale of A as excellent, B as very good, C as average, D as poor, and F as failing, the determination of the grade will be determined by the extent to which the student demonstrates a successful handling of the assigned materials, including a basic factual knowledge ofthe time period or region in question. While there are numerous interpretationsof the historical period in question,it will be incumbent upon the studentto demonstrate in test, in discussion,and in assigned book reviews to demonstrate a basic competency in addressing the basic issues confronting modern world history.

XIII. Attendance Policy

XIV. Your Instructor

Your instructor can be reached through a variety of channels, including email, during office hours (to be announced in class), and by appointment. Do not to call him at home. (Dr.Meier's email addressis  David.Meier@dsu.nodak.edu. His primary world wide web pages can be found at http://www2.dsu.nodak.edu/users/dmeier/Homepage.html.

© 2005 by David A. Meier