An Economist and Sunday Times Best Book of the Year

Deserves to be hailed as a magnum opus.
--Tom Holland, The Telegraph

Ambitious...seeks to rehabilitate the Holy Roman Empire's reputation by re-examining its place within the larger sweep of European history...Succeeds splendidly in rescuing the empire from its critics.
--Wall Street Journal

Massive, ancient, and powerful, the Holy Roman Empire formed the heart of Europe from its founding by Charlemagne to its destruction by Napoleon a millennium later. An engine for inventions and ideas, with no fixed capital and no common language or culture, it derived its legitimacy from the ideal of a unified Christian civilization--though this did not prevent emperors from clashing with the pope for supremacy.

In this strikingly ambitious book, Peter H. Wilson explains how the Holy Roman Empire worked, why it was so important, and how it changed over the course of its existence. The result is a tour de force that raises countless questions about the nature of political and military power and the legacy of its offspring, from Nazi Germany to the European Union.

Engrossing...Wilson is to be congratulated on writing the only English-language work that deals with the empire from start to finish...A book that is relevant to our own times.
--Brendan Simms, The Times

The culmination of a lifetime of research and thought...an astonishing scholarly achievement.
--The Spectator

Remarkable...Wilson has set himself a staggering task, but it is one at which he succeeds heroically.
--Times Literary Supplement

A deadly continental struggle, the Thirty Years War devastated seventeenth-century Europe, killing nearly a quarter of all Germans and laying waste to towns and countryside alike. Peter Wilson offers the first new history in a generation of a horrifying conflict that transformed the map of the modern world.

When defiant Bohemians tossed the Habsburg emperor's envoys from the castle windows in Prague in 1618, the Holy Roman Empire struck back with a vengeance. Bohemia was ravaged by mercenary troops in the first battle of a conflagration that would engulf Europe from Spain to Sweden. The sweeping narrative encompasses dramatic events and unforgettable individuals--the sack of Magdeburg; the Dutch revolt; the Swedish militant king Gustavus Adolphus; the imperial generals, opportunistic Wallenstein and pious Tilly; and crafty diplomat Cardinal Richelieu. In a major reassessment, Wilson argues that religion was not the catalyst, but one element in a lethal stew of political, social, and dynastic forces that fed the conflict.

By war's end a recognizably modern Europe had been created, but at what price? The Thirty Years War condemned the Germans to two centuries of internal division and international impotence and became a benchmark of brutality for centuries. As late as the 1960s, Germans placed it ahead of both world wars and the Black Death as their country's greatest disaster.

An understanding of the Thirty Years War is essential to comprehending modern European history. Wilson's masterful book will stand as the definitive account of this epic conflict.

For a map of Central Europe in 1618, referenced on page XVI, please visit this book's page on the Harvard University Press website.

From the author of the acclaimed The Thirty Years War and Heart of Europe, a masterful, landmark reappraisal of German military history, and of the preconceptions about German militarism since before the rise of Prussia and the world wars.

German military history is typically viewed as an inexorable march to the rise of Prussia and the two world wars, the road paved by militarism and the result a specifically German way of war. Peter Wilson challenges this narrative. Looking beyond Prussia to German-speaking Europe across the last five centuries, Wilson finds little unique or preordained in German militarism or warfighting.

Iron and Blood takes as its starting point the consolidation of the Holy Roman Empire, which created new mechanisms for raising troops but also for resolving disputes diplomatically. Both the empire and the Swiss Confederation were largely defensive in orientation, while German participation in foreign wars was most often in partnership with allies. The primary aggressor in Central Europe was not Prussia but the Austrian Habsburg monarchy, yet Austria's strength owed much to its ability to secure allies. Prussia, meanwhile, invested in militarization but maintained a part-time army well into the nineteenth century. Alongside Switzerland, which relied on traditional militia, both states exemplify the longstanding civilian element within German military power.

Only after Prussia's unexpected victory over France in 1871 did Germans and outsiders come to believe in a German gift for warfare--a special capacity for high-speed, high-intensity combat that could overcome numerical disadvantage. It took two world wars to expose the fallacy of German military genius. Yet even today, Wilson argues, Germany's strategic position is misunderstood. The country now seen as a bastion of peace spends heavily on defense in comparison to its peers and is deeply invested in less kinetic contemporary forms of coercive power.

The scholarship of this book is breathtaking...No one interested in the history of Europe, and of the Germans in particular, can afford not to read this stupendous book. --Simon Heffer, The Telegraph

[Iron and Blood's] long view of Germany's military history, magisterial detail and acute analysis provide a new understanding of what was once Europe's warring heart. --The Economist

Astonishingly ambitious and detailed...An absorbing overview of how slowly changing societal forces... have transformed the use of military force across modern times. --Foreign Affairs

German military history is typically viewed as an inexorable march to the rise of Prussia and the two world wars, the road paved by militarism and the result a specifically German way of war. Looking beyond Prussia to German-speaking Europe across the last five centuries, Peter Wilson challenges this narrative. In fact, he finds little unique or preordained in German militarism or warfighting.

Starting with the consolidation of the Holy Roman Empire, which was largely defensive in orientation, Iron and Blood shows that German participation in foreign wars was most often in partnership with allies. The primary aggressor in Central Europe was not Prussia but the Austrian Habsburg monarchy, which owed much of its strength to its ability to secure alliances. Prussia, meanwhile, invested in militarization but maintained a part-time army well into the nineteenth century. Both states, Wilson shows, exemplify the longstanding civilian element within German military power. Only after Prussia's unexpected victory over France in 1871 did Germans and outsiders come to believe in a German gift for warfare--a special capacity for high-speed, high-intensity combat that could overcome numerical disadvantage.

It took two world wars to expose the fallacy of German military genius. Yet even today, Wilson argues, Germany's strategic position is misunderstood. The country now seen as a bastion of peace spends heavily on defense in comparison to its peers and is deeply invested in less kinetic contemporary forms of coercive power.

The indecisive military outcome found an immediate echo in image and print, and became the object of political and historical disputes. Swedish propaganda swiftly fostered the lasting image of the king's sacrifice for the Protestant cause against the spectre of Catholic Habsburg 'universal monarchy'. The standard assumption that the king had 'met his death in the hour of victory' became integral to how Gustavus Adolphus's contribution to modern warfare has been remembered, even celebrated, while the study of Lutzen's wider legacy shows how such events are constantly rewritten as elements of propaganda, religious and national identity, and professional military culture. The battle's religious and political associations also led to its adoption as a symbol by those advocating German unification under Prussian leadership. The battlefield remains a place of pilgrimage to this day and a site for the celebration of Protestant German and Nordic culture.

This book is the first to combine analysis of the battle itself with an assessment of its cultural, political and military legacy, and the first to incorporate recent archaeological research within a reappraisal of the events and their significance. It challenges the accepted view that Lutzen is a milestone in military development, arguing instead that its impact was more significant on the cultural and political level.

German history after the Reformation is often seen as a confusing period of political failures before the emergence of powerful states like Prussia give some coherence to the national story. The inability of Emperor Charles V to solve Germany's political and religious problems by 1558 seems to condemn the country to the chaos of the Thirty Years War and the subsequent partition of the Reich, or Holy Roman Empire, into virtually independent states until its final collapse in 1806.

Peter H. Wilson's major new study:
- Weaves insights from the latest research into a comprehensive account of German social, political and cultural development across two and a half centuries
- Addresses fundamental questions, such as how the apparently fragile structure of the Reich survived the trauma of the Thirty Years War and why, despite gross social inequality, Germany did not experience mass French-style revolution
- Provides a helpful glossary, detailed appendices and a guide to further reading to aid study

A COMPANION TO EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY EUROPE

This is an impressive volume, with leading experts providing a wide-ranging coverage that should satisfy most requirements for effective and thoughtful introductory surveys... All specialists on this period will find much of value in this excellent volume.
History, The Journal of the Historical Association

This Companion contains 31 essays by leading international scholars to provide an overview of the key debates on eighteenth-century Europe. It considers not just major western European states, but also the often neglected countries of eastern and northern Europe.

Placing Europe within an international context, contributors investigate key areas of society, economics, culture, and political development. The book concludes with the French and other European revolutions that brought the century to a close, both chronologically and as regards the Ancien Régime.

A Companion to Eighteenth-Century Europe examines both established and emerging areas of interest in the field, making it an essential guide for students and scholars.

This Companion contains 31 essays by leading international scholars to provide an overview of the key debates on eighteenth-century Europe.

• Examines the social, intellectual, economic, cultural, and political changes that took place throughout eighteenth-century Europe
• Focuses on Europe while placing it within its international context
• Considers not just major western European states, but also the often neglected countries of eastern and northern Europe

Originally published in 1989, the primary aim of this text was to provide a guide to the interview assessment of a wide range of common adult psychological problems. Emphasis is placed on the kinds of problems that were frequently encountered in outpatient centres at the time. The authors provide a general introduction to the nature and causes of each of the selected problems, with a focus on the kind of background knowledge that may be useful in the planning of initial interviews and the selection of appropriate interventions. Detailed examples are provided of the questions that may help elicit information on the history, severity, and causes of the problems for individual clients, and there is also a brief discussion of selected formal assessment instruments for each problem area. A major aim of the text is to teach basic principles of problem identification, behavioural analysis and a structured approach to assessment.

Originally published in 1989, the primary aim of this text was to provide a guide to the interview assessment of a wide range of common adult psychological problems. Emphasis is placed on the kinds of problems that were frequently encountered in outpatient centres at the time. The authors provide a general introduction to the nature and causes of each of the selected problems, with a focus on the kind of background knowledge that may be useful in the planning of initial interviews and the selection of appropriate interventions. Detailed examples are provided of the questions that may help elicit information on the history, severity, and causes of the problems for individual clients, and there is also a brief discussion of selected formal assessment instruments for each problem area. A major aim of the text is to teach basic principles of problem identification, behavioural analysis and a structured approach to assessment.