Over Her Dead Body

The concept of the “Great German World” became a guiding star for many generations of Germans. It inspired brilliant poets and composers and served as building material to exalt thousands of politicians—from Bismarck’s pan-Germanists to Hitler’s fascists. But what price did this exact from ordinary Germans? The author briefly and engagingly tells the story of Germany and, using examples, shows how the leaders of one of the world’s most successful and developed countries led it to collapse. They acted from the best and most rational motives and wanted the well-being and prosperity of the German people. It seemed they had uncovered the most powerful source of progress energy—the national idea, free of the original sins of globalism and internationalism, that is, of capitalist greed and communist fantasies. In the end: two world wars, tens of millions of people killed and tortured, and the complete destruction of the concept of a Great Germany. The book, in many ways, answers the questions anew: • What were the causes of the First and Second World Wars? • What did the growth of nationalism in Europe in the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th lead to? • Where is the thin line between nationalism and Nazism?