Bismarcks War, Rachel Chrastil
Bismarcks War, Rachel Chrastil
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Bismarck's War
The Franco-Prussian War and the Making of Modern Europe

Author: Rachel Chrastil

Narrator: Sarah Borges

Unabridged: 17 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 09/05/2023

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

A new history of the war that toppled the French Empire, unified Germany, and set Europe on the path to World War I 
 
Among the conflicts that convulsed Europe during the nineteenth century, none was more startling and consequential than the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. Deliberately engineered by Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the war succeeded in shattering French supremacy, deposing Napoleon III, and uniting a new German Empire. But it also produced brutal military innovations and a precarious new imbalance of power that together set the stage for the devastating world wars of the next century. 
 
In Bismarck’s War, historian Rachel Chrastil chronicles events on the battlefield in full, while also showing in intimate detail how the war reshaped and blurred the boundaries between civilian and soldier as the fighting swept across France. The result is the definitive history of a transformative conflict that changed Europe, and the history of warfare, forever. 

Reviews

Goodreads review by Anthony

Giving Birth to the 20th Century. Germany was forged in three successive wars between 1864 and 1870, masterminded by the political genius Otto von Bismarck. Perhaps a different Germany would have formed eventually, but without him the Germany we know would not exist. Undoubtedly the most important of......more

Goodreads review by Liam

An exceptionally fine new history of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71 which is apparently now absent from most school syllabuses* and although I would not suggest that it supplements or replaces earlier works like Alistair Horne's 1965 'The Siege of Paris' it does demonstrate why more recently his......more

Goodreads review by William

I am pleased to report that I have just completed my read of Rachel Chrastil's "Bismarck's War: The Franco-Prussian War and the Making of Modern Europe," published by Basic Books (who were kind enough to provide me with an ARC). I have recently read several books on this subject, so I had some small......more


Quotes

“Rachel Chrastil colorfully describes how the Franco-Prussian War destroyed the long European peace established after Napoleon's defeat in 1815. Beginning as a midsummer cabinet war between monarchs, one of them Napoleon's nephew, Bismarck's invasion of France bogged down in winter rain and snow, and became a rancorous war of peoples that kindled the inferno of World War I.”
 —Geoffrey Wawro, author of The Franco-Prussian War and A Mad Catastrophe