Iron and Blood: A Military History of the German-speaking Peoples Since 1500

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Another book, in English, which puts further nails in the coffin of the idea of Germany's Sonderweg (special path); that it is still necessary at the end of the first quarter of the 21st century shows the persistence of popular, and comforting, myths in popular history. Violence had stamped the German state since unification in the late 19th century and Heuss’s own republic had emerged in 1949 from the ashes of two devastating world wars instigated by German governments. A very comprehensive tour of German military history from the Middle Ages to modern times (including GWOT).

The author of definitive books on the Holy Roman Empire and the Thirty Years War, Peter Wilson has with Iron and Blood written his masterpiece. It covers from circa 1500 to the present day and includes Germany, Switzerland, Austria and those countries that were within their imperial realms. As Germans usually faced enemies superior in terms of men and materiel, their consistent strategy was to strike hard and win quickly. Wilson is the author of the highly acclaimed Europe's Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty Years War (2009) and The Holy Roman Empire: A Thousand Years of Europe's History (2016).

Wilson's narrative considers everything from weapons development to recruitment to battlefield strategy. Granted, air power is not a factor before the 20th century, but sometimes, the in-depth breakouts aren’t consistent. Wilson's focus examines the development of weapons, and the logistical evolution that supports the growth of standing armies through this period. Throughout the book, Wilson emphasizes the interplay of power and governance, highlighting the rise and fall of great empires and the emergence of a unified German nation-state. His book - “Iron and Blood” is a history of all things military for German-speaking peoples since 1500.

This astonishingly ambitious and detailed 900-page study of militaries in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland is not for the faint of heart. will become the starting point for all students of military history , not only of Germany but of Europe as a whole. A strength of the book lies in Wilson's ability to strike a balance between academic rigor and engaging storytelling. In 1939 the German General Staff chose not to learn from the mistakes of the First World War, still looking back to the decisive victory against France seventy years earlier. Starting in 1500 with the Holy Roman Empire describing the relationship between the electors and empire and between each other, reasons when the war was deemed as permissible, means to wage the war, day to day of the army, relationship between the army and the civilian, advances in weaponry and strategy and how those changed the face of war.This is what I would describe as “hardcore” military history, covering off areas as diverse as logistics, the rights of soldiers to marry and how armies were funded. Germany of course took the wrong path thanks to 'Prussian' militarism which we had to destroy, twice. Iron and Blood is a monumental and comprehensive exploration of the German-speaking world from the early modern period to modern times.