Blood and Iron
The Rise and Fall of the German Empire; 1871-1918
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Narrated by:
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Natasha Soudek
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By:
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Katja Hoyer
About this listen
This vivid 50-year history of Germany from 1871-1918 - which inspired events that forever changed the European continent - is the story of the Second Reich from its violent beginnings and rise to power to its calamitous defeat in the First World War.
Before 1871, Germany was not yet a nation but simply an idea.
Its founder, Otto von Bismarck, had a formidable task at hand. How would he bring 39 individual states under the yoke of a single Kaiser? How would he convince proud Prussians, Bavarians, and Rhinelanders to become Germans? Once united, could the young European nation wield enough power to rival the empires of Britain and France - all without destroying itself in the process?
In this unique study of five decades that changed the course of modern history, Katja Hoyer tells the story of German Empire’s beginning to its defeat in World War I.
This often startling narrative is a dramatic tale of national self-discovery, social upheaval, and realpolitik that ended, as it started, in blood and iron.
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The Russian Revolution of 1917 transformed the face of the Russian empire, politically, economically, socially, and culturally and also profoundly affected the course of world history for the rest of the 20th century. Historian S. A. Smith presents a panoramic account of the history of the Russian empire, from the last years of the 19th century, through the First World War and the revolutions of 1917 and the establishment of the Bolshevik regime, to the end of the 1920s.
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Excellent centenary look at the complete revolutio
- By Privet on 09-13-18
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The End of Tsarist Russia
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World War I and the Russian Revolution together shaped the 20th century in profound ways. In The End of Tsarist Russia, acclaimed scholar Dominic Lieven connects for the first time the two events, providing both a history of the First World War's origins from a Russian perspective and an international history of why the revolution happened.
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A good book done in by bad narration.
- By James on 05-25-16
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1848
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- Narrated by: Hugh Kermode
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In 1848, a violent storm of revolutions ripped through Europe. The torrent all but swept away the conservative order that had kept peace on the continent since Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815 - but which in many countries had also suppressed dreams of national freedom. Political events so dramatic had not been seen in Europe since the French Revolution, and they would not be witnessed again until 1989, with the revolutions in Eastern and Central Europe.
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1848 by Mike Rapport
- By Aria Amirbahman on 02-07-22
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The Birth of Classical Europe
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To an extraordinary extent we continue to live in the shadow of the classical world. At every level, from languages to calendars to political systems, we are the descendants of a “classical Europe,” using frames of reference created by ancient Mediterranean cultures. As this consistently fresh and surprising new audio book makes clear, however, this was no less true for the inhabitants of those classical civilizations themselves, whose myths, history, and buildings were an elaborate engagement with an already old and revered past - one filled with great leaders and writers....
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Excellent overview of the Classical World
- By David I. Williams on 01-12-14
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Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris
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- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 28 hrs and 9 mins
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Hailed as the most compelling biography of the German dictator yet written, Ian Kershaw's Hitler brings us closer than ever before to the heart of its subject's immense darkness. Ian Kershaw's Hitler brings us closer than ever before to the character of the bizarre misfit in his thirty-year ascent from a Viennese shelter for the indigent to uncontested rule over the German nation that had tried and rejected democracy in the crippling aftermath of World War I.
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The heart of evil
- By Mike From Mesa on 01-20-14
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The Russian Revolution: History in an Hour
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History for busy people. Listen to a concise history of the Siege of Leningrad in just one hour. In 1917 the world changed forever. One of the most influential and contentious events in recent history, the Russian Revolution unleashed the greatest political experiment ever conducted, one which continues to influence both Eastern and Western politics today.
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Must read
- By ATM on 08-15-12
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The Red Flag
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In The Red Flag, Oxford professor David Priestland tells the epic story of a movement that has taken root in dozens of countries across 200 years, from its birth after the French Revolution to its ideological maturity in 19th-century Germany to its rise to dominance (and subsequent fall) in the 20th century.
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Best History of Communism I Have Seen
- By David on 06-11-15
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The Long Shadow
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- Length: 19 hrs and 55 mins
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One of the most violent conflicts in the history of civilization, World War I has been strangely forgotten in American culture. It has become a ghostly war fought in a haze of memory, often seen merely as a distant preamble to World War II. In The Long Shadow critically-acclaimed historian David Reynolds seeks to broaden our vision by assessing the impact of the Great War across the twentieth century. He shows how events in that turbulent century—particularly World War II, the Cold War, and the collapse of Communism—shaped and reshaped attitudes to 1914–18.
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The World According to David Reynolds (feat. WWI)
- By Steve on 02-26-15
By: David Reynolds
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At the end of the fifteenth century, Burgundy was extinguished as an independent state. It had been a fabulously wealthy, turbulent region situated between France and Germany, with close links to the English kingdom. Torn apart by the dynastic struggles of early modern Europe, this extraordinary realm vanished from the map. But it became the cradle of what we now know as the Low Countries, modern Belgium and the Netherlands. This is the story of a thousand years, a must-listen narrative history of ambitious aristocrats, family dysfunction, treachery, savage battles, luxury, and madness.
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Less caffeine, narrator
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What listeners say about Blood and Iron
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 04-05-23
phenomenally informative, beautifully executed
the information was a great all around view of the information from the period and the narrator had an incredible performance. her voice sounded truly interested in the subject.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall
- Kevin McFarlane
- 12-28-21
An Intersection History
Full of good information. Clear and organized reading of the book. Pleasant voice. You will enjoy this book.
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1 person found this helpful
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- FerrousJack
- 06-09-22
Great overview of the period
Really enjoyed this broad overview of the empire’s history. Some commenters are criticizing the pronunciation in the performance but they probably aren’t accustomed to this more accurate pronunciation of German names and places.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Amzoomer
- 03-24-24
Excellent listen
I’ve been wanting to learn more about the events leading up to World War I in Germany, and this book is an excellent introduction to that history. I was particularly intrigued by the story about Kathe Kollwitz the artist and the death of her son in the Great War.
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- Fr. S.
- 05-02-23
Fascinating History of a Key Period
This very rich history of the Second Reich clarifies so many elements of German history of that period. It's impact on the two World Wars, the rise of Marxism, and the rest of the twentieth century fills in so many blank spaces in historical background. I found this so helpful.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Kindle Customer
- 03-21-24
outstanding work.
Clearly written and structured. Answered questions I had pondered for years on the people and events between 1815 and 1870 that led to the Unification War. Also the complex economic, social and political issues and events afterwards. The narrator was exceptional. The author was meticulous in research and very well written. I plan to follow up and read her other books especially if she obtains the services of the narrator.
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- Mary B.
- 05-26-24
Useful social history; dreadful narrator
I listened to this after Beyond the Wall by the same author. I found it a good social history of Germany in the 18th- early 19th centuries - a very complicated subject, presented clearly and in some useful detail.
The narrator is just AWFUL. So ignorant she cannot even pronounce "armistice" correctly, and obviously couldn't be bothered to check how to pronounce the names even of world-famous World War I battles - Verdun, the Somme - or of German rivers correctly. But she kept getting all breathy about events in history. Obviously, if anyone 'edited' her recitation was equally uninformed or just couldn't be bothered. Will never listen to anything this narrator has wrecked again.
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- Annie Armstrong
- 12-22-21
Page turner. Gorgeous narration. Incredible voice.
It’s rare that a narrator’s voice will hold me captive in non-fiction. It’s also rare that a historical non-fiction can be written as a page turner. For me, this audiobook achieved both. I’ve always wanted to learn about this period in German history, and this audiobook kept me spellbound. I found the narrator’s voice incredibly satisfying to listen to. Her warmth, power, empathy, and charisma made it the opposite of the typically drone monosyllabic ness typical in these kinds of books. And it was refreshing that she was obviously a native German speaker, despite having no German accent when speaking English. I hate it when non-native speakers narrate German, and the opposite was true here. This woman’s German is gorgeous, and I loved this book.
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6 people found this helpful
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- S. Brannan
- 12-27-21
Succinct, Informative, and Enjoyable
While I’ve read a few histories of the immediate pre-WWI period, this is the first I have read focusing on Germany. I found myself learning about new events and dispelling some myths throughout, and it felt like the book gave a fresh treatment to periods and subject figures. While the book adequately covers the main cast like Bismarck and the Kaisers, it also sheds light on some of the other chancellors and most importantly on events pertaining to the German people of the time. I am already looking forward to Ms. Hoyer’s next book.
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the book, and I give the narrator, Natasha Soudek, special credit for her performance and correct pronunciation.
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- Rarely rate
- 01-22-22
Excellent survey of German and European history
A really good high level survey of the German Empire. Some parts were slow, and a I know maps aren’t possible in an audio book but a book like this really needs maps for better understanding. That said I really did enjoy the narrator and I learned several new things about German and European history in the late 19th and early 20th century. This book is a must read for anyone who enjoys either WW1 or WW2 history. German history is such a tragedy. I get a sense that It could have turned out so much better than it did and the world as well as German people have suffered needlessly if only they had had better leadership that favored a more peaceful path.
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1 person found this helpful