Wilhelminism
and Its Legacies
German Modernities,
Imperialism, and
the Meanings of Reform, 1890-1930
Geoff Eley and
James Retallack, editors
Opinion
However well intended and affectionately meant, a Festschrift can be a rather dodgy
undertaking; the end result may not really come together as a satisfying whole
but rather remain a fragmented record of excellent work. This is emphatically
and delightfully not the case with Wilhelminism
and Its Legacies, published in honor of long-time
The
collection ends with an essay by James Retallack, who elegantly, but
stubbornly, refuses to sum up what has gone before. Instead, he notes the
elements of stasis (the federal system and the dominance of Prussia) and modes
of continuity (political alignments and style), while also suggesting that we
need to consider that stasis and continuity must have suited many, including those
conventionally assumed to have been reformers
What
makes this collection so useful is not so much that these essays tackle their
subjects in startlingly new ways, but rather their refusal, both individually
and collectively, to give in to the temptation to fall back on the old
dichotomies. Instead, each essay makes the Wilhelmine era messier and yet more
resonant. Retallack concludes this book with the hope that we will begin
listening for the resounding measures of Wilhelmine history with the political
silences that also existed (249). The new harmonics he alludes to should remind
us that not all final chords are consonant; there is great worth in dissonance
as well.
in The Germanic
Review 81, no. 2 (Spring 2006): 182-6.
This
book offers a thought-provoking exploration of the major characteristics of the
Wilhelmine era. The chapters explore diverse, and often uncharted territories
This volume breaks new ground in forcing us to reconsider the relationship
between modernity and conservatism in Wilhelmine Germany. This point is
addressed most perceptively in the editors’ own contributions to the volume
This volume challenges through its individual contributions and its overall
themes Wilhelminism emerges here as a productive forum for debate on the
relationship between stasis and reform in diverse cultural, social and
political contexts. In producing such a fine, coherent and impressively-argued
book, the authors and editors have done justice to a scholar [Hartmut Pogge von
Strandmann] whose research and teaching has had an inestimable impact.
in the English
Historical Review 120, no. 486 (2005): 545-6.
Some Festschriften are collections of widely
disparate papers, on an almost random range of topics. In the case of this
volume, in a gratifying contrast to such publications, the editors can be
congratulated on achieving their goal of producing a coherent and cohesive
volume of essays. One of the editors, James Retallack, adds a chapter on stasis
and blockages in Wilhelmine Germany, which provides some needed counterbalance
to the emphasis of other chapters on the successful and modern aspects of the Kaiserreich. There is, however, a wealth
of new research in this volume, which should be of value to anyone interested
in Imperial Germany.
in the Australian Journal of Politics & History
50, no. 3 (2005): 454-5.
This book begins with a caveat: it is not a
traditional Festschrift with the typical hodgepodge of essays by friends
of the honouree, but a collection organized around a
common theme and all written by students who passed through his hands. Pogge’s
products turn out to be an impressive bunch, and the editors introduce the
collection as an opportunity to reflect anew on the modernness of the
Wilhelmine state and the implications for the history of
In
his concluding essay, Retallack strikes a provocative note by resuscitating
1871 and 1918 as more significant historical markers and admitting abundant
evidence of stasis between these years. He points out that many actions, such
as gaining a university education or deciding to marry, took longer than before,
that mainstream artistic tastes continued to be conservative, and that
social-moral milieus remained largely intact over the course of the imperial
era. Retallack then charms himself back into the collective of contributors by
arguing that the very stability of the Wilhelmine state drove some citizens to
demand change, albeit moderate in scope. As he puts it in a refreshing note of
caution: the quest for emancipation often falls short of the act of rebellion,
and . . . bodies gradually become less vital with the passage of time (236).
The contributors are to be
congratulated on a volume that challenges historians to re-evaluate their
criteria for change and continuity, to rethink the value of modernity as a
measure of German historical development and to allow for apparent
inconsistencies in the historical actors whom they study.
in European History Quarterly 36, no. 4
(Oct. 2006): 614-6.
This important collection of essays seeks to offer new
ways of understanding the social and political dynamics of early
twentieth-century
James
Retallack offers some thoughtful reflections on the persistence of political
structures over the course of the imperial period and the hesitancy of
reformers to embrace fundamental change. The reformist impulse revealed in the
efforts of liberals, and Walther Rathenau in particular, according to
Retallack, amounted to a reluctant response to stasis, which was no longer
capable of accommodating social and political change after 1900, rather than a
ringing endorsement of change (237).
The
authors have pushed the debates over imperial German political culture in
fascinating new directions and historians must surely grapple with their
compelling arguments and conclusions.
Dennis Sweeney, Social History 30, no. 4 (2005): 518-20.
Pogge’s former students explore Wilhelminism along an
appropriately diverse array of themes, promising to provide firmer conceptual
form to a Wilhelmine era hitherto conventionally but diffusely characterized by
the Imperial states structural backwardness, Weltpolitik and social
imperialism, and popular political mobilization leading to a politics in a new
key between 1890-1914. …
Eley
and Retallack expand upon these themes in a pair of thoughtful essays that
serve as bookends to the collection. These essays effectively conceptualize and
articulate the macro-level issues at hand. …
Eley
depicts German nation-building as a process of constant motion – the only
constancy in the new societal circumstances of Wilhelmine
As
a Festschrift for a beloved leading scholar of the field, the text triumphs in
showcasing the fruits of Hartmut Pogge’s mentorship, as his students develop
innovative and insightful approaches to the problems posed by modern German
historiography in general and Wilhelmine scholarship in particular.
Reconsidering definitions of the political and modernity, uncoupling the
notions of modernity and progressive politics, and becoming mindful of the
cultural processes of mediation and negotiation that shape the construction of national
identity and perspective represents a real advance in how historians can
comprehend the intertwining of continuity and change, stasis and reform. The
publication of a paperback edition in fall 2004 testifies to the broad,
long-term impact this book will have in shaping the contours of Kaiserreich studies.
Raymond C. Sun,
in H-German, H-Net Reviews (July 2005)
This information is
provided by the Department of
History at the
All contents © 2021
James Retallack. All rights reserved.
Last Updated: 29 Sept.
2021.