Time and Power：Visions of History in German Politics, from the Thirty Years' War to the Third Reich

Thisgroundbreakingbookpresentsnewperspectivesonhowtheexerciseofpowerisshapedbydifferentnotionsoftime.AcclaimedhistorianChristopherClarkdrawsonfourkeyfiguresfromGermanhistory―FriedrichWilhelmofBrandenburg-Prussia,FredericktheGreat,OttovonBismarck,andAdolfHitler―tolookathistorythroughatemporallensandaskhowhistoricalactorsandtheirregimesembodyuniqueconceptionsoftime.InspiredbytheinsightsofReinhartKoselleckandFrançoisHartog,twopioneersofthe“temporalturn”inhistoriography,ClarkshowshowFriedrichWilhelmrejectedthenotionofcontinuitywiththepast,believinginsteadthatasovereignmustliberatethestatefromtheentanglementsoftraditiontochoosefreelyamongdifferentpossiblefutures.HedemonstrateshowFredericktheGreatabandonedthisparadigmforaneoclassicalvisionofhistoryinwhichsovereignandstatetranscendtimealtogether,andhowBismarckbelievedthatthestatesman’sdutywastopreservethetimelesspermanenceofthestateamidthetorrentofhistoricalchange.ClarkdescribeshowHitlerdidnotseektorevolutionizehistorylikeStalinandMussolini,butinsteadsoughttoevadehistoryaltogether,emphasizingtimelessracialarchetypesandapropheticallyforetoldfuture.Elegantlywrittenandboldlyinnovative,TimeandPowertakesreadersfromtheThirtyYears’WartothefalloftheThirdReich,revealingtheconnectionbetweenpoliticalpowerandthedistincttemporalitiesoftheleaderswhowieldit.