Fatherlands
State-Building and Nationhood in Nineteenth-Century Germany

An exploration of the nature of identity in nineteenth-century Germany.

Abigail Green (Author)

9780521616232, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 2 December 2004

400 pages, 18 b/w illus. 3 maps
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm, 0.59 kg

'… for scholars interested in nationalism, state formation, or nineteenth-century Germany, this book is indispensable.' Journal of Social History

Fatherlands is an original study of the nature of identity in nineteenth-century Germany, which has crucial implications for the understanding of nationalism, German unification and the German nation state in the modern era. The book approaches these questions from a new and important angle, that of the non-national territorial state. It explores the nature and impact of state-building in non-Prussian Germany. The issues covered range from railway construction and German industrialisation, to the modernisation of German monarchy, the emergence of a free press, the development of a modern educational system, and the role of monuments, museums and public festivities. Fatherlands draws principally on extensive primary research focusing on the three kingdoms of Hanover, Saxony and Württemberg. It is an attempt to 'join up the dots' of German history - moving beyond isolated local, regional and state-based studies to a general understanding of the state formation process in Germany.

Introduction
1. Variations of German experience: Hanover, Saxony and Württemberg
2. Modernising monarchy
3. Cultures of the fatherland
4. Propaganda
5. Educating patriots
6. Communications
7. Imagined identities
8. Nationhood
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Nationalism [JPFN], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], European history [HBJD]