Otto von Bismarck: The Life and Legacy of the German Empire's First Chancellor
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Narrated by:
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Mark Norman
About this listen
In 1832, 17-year-old Otto von Bismarck had just entered university and was already rejecting the republican indoctrination of his grade school years. Unlike so many of his day who had championed representative government, Bismarck longed for the glory of a nation he believed would only be found under a single, strong leader. Though his early university days showed him he would be isolated by this thinking, he strongly believed not only in the ideal of a national German state, but in its possibility. In his memoirs, Bismarck recalls that at this young age, he “retained [his] own private National sentiments, and [his] belief that in the near future events would lead to German unity; in fact, [he] made a bet with [his] American friend Coffin that this aim would be attained in 20 years.”
Though it would take longer than he had predicted, Germany would eventually be united and he would be the person responsible for accomplishing it. Bismarck would go on to accomplish his goal and strengthen Germany into a modern political state by embracing specific political principles, despite their lack of popularity. Bismarck biographer Jonathan Steinberg refers to these principles as the “Prussian legacy”, including “the army inherited from the ‘genius King’ Frederick the Great; the fusion of the Junker class with the army and the bureaucracy, the pervasive idea of ‘Deinst’ or service; the rigid distinction between the nobility and the bourgeoisie; [and] a military conception of honor.”
As “the most interesting character of the 19th century”, Bismarck would spend his life in service of the Hohenzollern Kings, elevating William I from a Prussian King near abdication King to the first German emperor. He would alienate many along the way, but under William, he would retain what he wanted most: the power to shape Germany's future.
Otto von Bismarck: The Life and Legacy of the German Empire’s First Chancellor looks at the life and work of Germany’s most famous politician. You will learn about Otto von Bismarck like never before.
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John and John Quincy Adams: rogue intellectuals, unsparing truth-tellers, too uncensored for their own political good. They held that political participation demanded moral courage. They did not seek popularity (it showed). They lamented the fact that hero worship in America substituted idolatry for results; and they made it clear that they were talking about Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Andrew Jackson. When John Adams succeeded George Washington as President, his son had already followed him into public service and was stationed in Europe as a diplomat.
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Very insightful and rewarding adding understanding
- By William on 05-12-19
By: Nancy Isenberg, and others
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On Grand Strategy
- By: John Lewis Gaddis
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
For over 20 years, a select group of Yale undergraduates has been admitted into the year-long "Grand Strategy" seminar team-taught by John Lewis Gaddis and Paul Kennedy. Its purpose: to provide a grounding in strategic decision-making in the face of crisis to prepare future American leaders for important work. Now, John Lewis Gaddis has transposed the experience of that course into a wonderfully succinct, lucid and inspirational book, a view from the commanding heights of statesmanship across the landscape of world history from the ancient Greeks to Lincoln, and beyond.
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Interesting, but fails to offer real lessons.
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The Innocence of Kaiser Wilhelm II
- And the First World War
- By: Christina Croft
- Narrated by: Jack Wynters
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Almost a century after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Kaiser Wilhelm II is still viewed as either a warmonger or a madman, as the hundred-year-old propaganda posters remain fixed in the general consciousness. Was he, though, truly responsible for the catastrophe of the First World War, or was he in fact a convenient scapegoat, blamed for a conflict which he desperately tried to avoid?
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Really make you re-think what your were told
- By Andrew Marsh on 11-09-18
By: Christina Croft
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Winston Churchill
- A Captivating Guide to the Life of Winston Churchill
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Sean Daily
- Length: 1 hr and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Any general biography of Winston S. Churchill will provide an overview of his greatest achievements, but Churchill had other goals and desires that are often ignored and forgotten. What were they? Churchill had a family - a childhood and children of his own - and a political career that began at a young age. He spoke with and entertained some of the biggest names in the world, within both the political and social realms. How did he interact with Franklin D. Roosevelt?
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Had A Great Time With It
- By Mark on 09-23-17
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Napoleon
- Soldier of Destiny
- By: Michael Broers
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 20 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Written with great energy and authority - and using the newly available personal archives of Napoleon himself - the first volume of a majestic two-part biography of the great French emperor and conqueror.
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Clarity
- By Tad Davis on 03-25-19
By: Michael Broers
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Washington's Farewell
- The Founding Father's Warning to Future Generations
- By: John Avlon
- Narrated by: John Avlon
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
George Washington's Farewell Address was a prophetic letter from a "parting friend" to his fellow citizens about the forces he feared could destroy our democracy: hyper-partisanship, excessive debt, and foreign wars. Once celebrated as civic scripture, more widely reprinted than the Declaration of Independence, the Farewell Address is now almost forgotten. Its message remains starkly relevant. In Washington's Farewell, John Avlon offers a stunning portrait of our first president and his battle to save America from self-destruction.
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Very well written and performed
- By Michael Reading on 03-02-17
By: John Avlon
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Washington and Hamilton
- The Alliance That Forged America
- By: Stephen F. Knott, Tony Williams
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In the wake of the American Revolution, the Founding Fathers faced a daunting task: overcome their competing visions to build a new nation, the likes of which the world had never seen. Washington and Hamilton chronicles the unlikely collaboration between two conflicting characters working together to protect their hard-won freedoms. Yet while Washington and Hamilton's different personalities often led to fruitful collaboration, their conflicting ideals also tested the boundaries of their relationship - and threatened the future of the new republic.
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Biography
- By Emily on 06-14-18
By: Stephen F. Knott, and others
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Our First Revolution
- The Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America's Founding Fathers (Unabr.)
- By: Michael Barone
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The ideals of freedom and individual rights that inspired America's Founding Fathers did not spring from a vacuum. Along with many other defining principles of our national character, they can be traced directly back to one of the most pivotal events in British history: the late-17th-century uprising known as the Glorious Revolution.
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Excellent Recap of a Forgotten Event
- By rollcall40 on 01-02-08
By: Michael Barone
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Our Oriental Heritage
- The Story of Civilization, Volume 1
- By: Will Durant
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 50 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The first volume of Will Durant's Pulitzer Prize-winning series, Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization, Volume I chronicles the early history of Egypt, the Middle East, and Asia.
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Wonderful
- By Michael on 11-30-13
By: Will Durant
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The Three Lives of James Madison
- Genius, Partisan, President
- By: Noah Feldman
- Narrated by: John H. Mayer
- Length: 34 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Over the course of his life, James Madison changed the United States three times: First, he designed the Constitution, led the struggle for its adoption and ratification, then drafted the Bill of Rights. As an older, cannier politician, he cofounded the original Republican party, setting the course of American political partisanship. Finally, having pioneered a foreign policy based on economic sanctions, he took the United States into a high-risk conflict, becoming the first wartime president and, despite the odds, winning.
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Cogently organized, meticulously balanced
- By Diana Black Kennedy on 06-15-18
By: Noah Feldman
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