Title Time and power : visions of history in German politics, from the Thirty Years' War to the Third Reich / Christopher Clark

Published Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2019]

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Description 1 online resource Series The Lawrence Stone lectures Lawrence Stone lectures. Contents Cover; Title; Copyright; Dedication; CONTENTS; Acknowledgements; Introduction; CHAPTER 1 The History Machine; CHAPTER 2 The Historian King; CHAPTER 3 Boatman on the River of Time; CHAPTER 4 Time of the Nazis; Conclusion and Epilogue; Notes; Index Summary From the author of the national bestseller The Sleepwalkers. How four leaders' understanding of time informed their use of state power. This groundbreaking book presents new perspectives on how the exercise of power is shaped by different notions of time. Acclaimed historian Christopher Clark draws on four key figures from German history--Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg-Prussia, Frederick the Great, Otto von Bismarck, and Adolf Hitler--to look at history through a temporal lens and ask how historical actors and their regimes embody unique conceptions of time. Inspired by the insights of Reinhart Koselleck and François Hartog, two pioneers of the "temporal turn" in historiography, Clark shows how Friedrich Wilhelm rejected the notion of continuity with the past, believing instead that a sovereign must liberate the state from the entanglements of tradition to choose freely among different possible futures. He demonstrates how Frederick II abandoned this paradigm for a neoclassical vision of history in which sovereign and state transcend time altogether, and how Bismarck believed that the statesman's duty was to preserve the timeless permanence of the state amid the torrent of historical change. Clark describes how Hitler did not seek to revolutionize history like Stalin and Mussolini, but instead sought to evade history altogether, emphasizing timeless racial archetypes and a prophetically foretold future. Elegantly written and boldly innovative, Time and Power takes readers from the Thirty Years' War to the fall of the Third Reich, revealing the connection between political power and the distinct temporalities of the leaders who wield it Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on January 09, 2019) SUBJECT Bismarck, Otto von 1815-1898 gnd Friedrich Wilhelm Brandenburg, Kurfürst 1620-1688 gnd Friedrich Wilhelm II. Preussen, König 1744-1797. gnd Subject POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Essays. POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Government -- General. POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Government -- National. POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Reference. HISTORY -- Europe -- Germany. Politics and government SUBJECT Germany -- History -- Political aspects Germany -- Politics and government. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85054613 Subject Germany Genre/Form History Form Electronic book ISBN 9780691185989 0691185980

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