Cassell's dictionary of modern German history

'Cassell's dictionary of modern German history' is a guide to the people, events, movements and ideas which have shaped modern Germany. Taking as its starting-point the expansion of Prussia under Frederick the Great in the mid-18th century, the dictionary guides the reader through the turmoil of the late 18th and 19th centuries - examining the traumatic impact of the Napoleonic Wars on German-speaking Europe and the achievement of German unification under Bismarck - and goes on to chart the rise of German militarism and its role in instigating two calamitous 20th-century global conflicts. In addition the volume chronicles in detail the fortunes of the divided Germany of the cold War period, the years of the West German Wirtschaftswunder, the events that led to the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and reunification in 1989-90, and finally Germany's role in the integration of Europe and the adoption of a single currency in the early 21st century. The dictionary contains over 1800 articles focusing not only on major political, diplomatic and military topics but also on economic, social and cultural matters. Extensive thematic articles on core subjects such as absolutism and anti-Semitism blend clear and readable narrative with trenchant analysis, whilst a wealth of briefer entries define essential terms from appeasement to Alltagsgeschichte, provide biographical data on figures as diverse as Hegel and Himmler, and deliver essential facts about key battles, treaties and locations from Sadová to Stalingrad and from Danzig to Dresden. Extensively cross-referenced and with a full complement of maps, tables and other appendices.