Description
Book Synopsis In a work based on new archival, press, and literary sources, the author revises the picture of German imperialism as being the brainchild of a Machiavellian Bismarck or the "conservative revolutionaries" of the twentieth century. Instead, Fitzpatrick argues for the liberal origins of German imperialism, by demonstrating the links between nationalism and expansionism in a study that surveys the half century of imperialist agitation and activity leading up to the official founding of Germany’s colonial empire in 1884.
Trade Review " This is an important.[and] a very strong book. It successfully challenges older paradigms that separate German liberalism from imperialism or see the conjoining of the two as a late aberration." · German History
"The author’s] elegant account…represents a timely and important contribution to the existing literature...[that] represents the most sustained attempt to reframe the argument." · The American Historical Review
"...this is a stimulating work with a solid argument and place in the current historiography. In this, it draws attention to the importance of discourse on overseas expansion within many sectors of the German liberal-nationalist movement." · Canadian Journal of History/Annales canadiennes d’histoire
"Fitzpatrick's short but hard-hitting book seeks to reinstate imperialism as a fundamental constituent of German liberalism. As such it is a welcome and worthy addition to Berghahn's invaluable 'Monographs in German History' series." · Central European History
Table of Contents List of Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction
PART I: A LIBERAL EMPIRE FOR A LIBERAL NATION
Chapter 1. National Unification and Overseas Expansion at the Frankfurt National Assembly, 1848 – 1849
Chapter 2. Mythopoesis –Imperialism as Nationalism
PART II: RECONFIGURING EMPIRE IN THE 'POST-LIBERAL' ERA
Chapter 3. Informal Empire and Private Sector Imperialism, 1849-1884
Chapter 4. Bürgerlich Agency and the World of the Verein
Chapter 5. Bismarck and the Socio-Political Context of the Colonial Umschwung
PART III: THE TEXTS OF IMPERIALISM
Chapter 6. Expansionist Agitation after 1849
Chapter 7. Geography and Anthropology in the Service of Imperialism
Chapter 8. Popular Culture and the Transmission of Imperialist Values
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
