Bismarck (left) built an empire. But his Emperor (right) destroyed it. The German Empire's swift rise to world power status frightened Europe and threatened its balance of power. So Bismark convinced Germany's neighbors and other world powers that while Germany was prosperous and powerful, it was also peaceful. Wilhelm II, however, flexed his imperial muscles, frightened his neighbors and insulted world leaders.

The brief history of the German Empire holds valuable lessons for the United Sates (the incumbent superpower) and China (the rising world power).

In this interview, we discuss the following:

►The term Reich. And why this term is no longer used in Germany.

►The Year of Three Emperors

►The term 48ers (not to be confused with the 49ers)

►Bismarck: a giant statesman in world history

►Wilhelm II: the man who destroyed what Bismarck had meticulously built

►In the 19th century, did Germans call themselves German?

►Why Bismarck believed that to build a German nation-state, Germans needed blood and iron?

►How German wars led to the creation of the German Empire?

►Why was the German Empire founded in Paris, and not in Germany?

►How did Darwinism figure into the history of the German Empire?

►How did Wilhelm II make enemies for the German Empire?

►How did Wilhelm II interact with the media?

🚩About My 176th Guest:

My guest is Katja Hoyer, a German-British historian, journalist and writer. She is a Visiting Research Fellow at King's College London and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Her publications include the following books:

• Beyond the Wall, East Germany, 1949-1990, and
• Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire, 1871-1918 - a book that we discuss in this interview.

🚩Recommendations:

⁠⁠🎧S1E31⁠⁠: history of the Spanish Flu, John Barry, author of The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History

⁠⁠🎧S5E12⁠⁠: history of Germany's deportation of Turks and the rise of Neo-Nazis in Germany, Dr. Michelle Lynn Kahn , author of Two Homelands: Racism, Return Migration, and Turkish-German History

⁠⁠🎧S2E36⁠⁠: history of the China's rise and aggressive foreign policy, Dr. Susan Shirk, author of Overreach: How China Derailed Its Peaceful Rise

🚩Image Attribution:

Flag of the German Empire, aka, Reichsflagge (the Realm Flag).

Image by User:B1mbo and User:Madden - Recoloured Image:Flag of the Germans (2-3).svg, Public Domain.

Wilhelm II (right) & Bismarck.

🚩Adel Aali

host & producer

☑️Where to find my program:

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