Austria, Prussia and The Making of Germany

The German state created in 1871 is often presented as the preordained offspring of resurgent nationalist sentiment and Prussian power.John Breuilly here contests this account and looks closely at the role of Austria, which was dominant within the German lands for much of the nineteenth century, as well as the part played by other German states. He argues that German nationalism was an effect of nation-state formation as much as its cause; that a Prussian-led unification was highly unlikely until the 1860s, and that dimly understood and rapidly changing circumstances then came to favour Prussia, although the particular way unification happened remained a matter of chance to the very end.

Now in its second edition, Austria, Prussia and the Making of Germany 1806-1871:

         Demonstrates how Prussias ability to modernise more rapidly than Austria tipped the balance of power in its favour

         Examines German unification as one element in the growth of nationalist ideologies throughout Europe

         Places the case of Germany in the context of wider theoretical debates about both nationalism and nation-state formation

This fully updated and revised second edition will be an invaluable resource to students of this key period of German history.

John Breuilly is Professor of Nationalism and Ethnicity at LSE. His other publications in this field include The Formation of the First German Nation-State (1996) and, with Ronald Speirs (eds), Germanys Two Unifications: Anticipations, Experiences, Responses (2004). He is currently editing The Oxford Handbook of the History of Nationalism.