A DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022 'No one interested in the history of Europe can afford not to read this stupendous book' Simon Heffer, Daily Telegraph 'Endlessly fascinating ... History has returned to Europe, and Iron and Blood is an excellent place to start getting reacquainted with it' The Times Iron and Blood is a startlingly ambitious and absorbing book, encompassing five centuries of political, military, technological and economic change to tell the story of the German-speaking lands, from the Rhine to the Balkan frontier, from Switzerland to the North Sea. Wilson's narrative considers everything from weapons development to recruitment to battlefield strategy. Germans' military impact on the rest of Europe has been immense. If there is one constant it has been the sense of being beset by seemingly more powerful enemies - France or Russia or Turkey - and the need to strike a rapid knockout blow to ensure a favourable result. Almost inevitably, this has in practice meant protracted, relentless and often unwinnable wars, and - in 1939-1945 - moral catastrophe. The author of definitive books on the Holy Roman Empire and the Thirty Years War, Peter Wilson has with Iron and Blood written his masterpiece. 'Hugely impressive' Richard J. Evans, Times Literary Supplement

Originally published in 1989, the primary aim of this text was to provide a guide to the interview assessment of a wide range of common adult psychological problems. Emphasis is placed on the kinds of problems that were frequently encountered in outpatient centres at the time. The authors provide a general introduction to the nature and causes of each of the selected problems, with a focus on the kind of background knowledge that may be useful in the planning of initial interviews and the selection of appropriate interventions. Detailed examples are provided of the questions that may help elicit information on the history, severity, and causes of the problems for individual clients, and there is also a brief discussion of selected formal assessment instruments for each problem area. A major aim of the text is to teach basic principles of problem identification, behavioural analysis and a structured approach to assessment.

Originally published in 1989, the primary aim of this text was to provide a guide to the interview assessment of a wide range of common adult psychological problems. Emphasis is placed on the kinds of problems that were frequently encountered in outpatient centres at the time. The authors provide a general introduction to the nature and causes of each of the selected problems, with a focus on the kind of background knowledge that may be useful in the planning of initial interviews and the selection of appropriate interventions. Detailed examples are provided of the questions that may help elicit information on the history, severity, and causes of the problems for individual clients, and there is also a brief discussion of selected formal assessment instruments for each problem area. A major aim of the text is to teach basic principles of problem identification, behavioural analysis and a structured approach to assessment.

The history of nineteenth-century European warfare is framed by the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. The Crimean War and the struggles for Italian and German unification divide this century in two. In the first half, armies struggled to emerge from the shadow of Napoleon amidst an era of financial retrenchment, political unrest and accelerating technological change. The mid-century wars left an equally problematic legacy, including aspects that pointed towards 'total war'. The 26 essays in this volume examine these changes from a variety of innovative and fresh perspectives.

From the author of the acclaimed The Thirty Years War and Heart of Europe, a masterful, landmark reappraisal of German military history, and of the preconceptions about German militarism since before the rise of Prussia and the world wars. German military history is typically viewed as an inexorable march to the rise of Prussia and the two world wars, the road paved by militarism and the result a specifically German way of war. Peter Wilson challenges this narrative. Looking beyond Prussia to German-speaking Europe across the last five centuries, Wilson finds little unique or preordained in German militarism or warfighting. Iron and Blood takes as its starting point the consolidation of the Holy Roman Empire, which created new mechanisms for raising troops but also for resolving disputes diplomatically. Both the empire and the Swiss Confederation were largely defensive in orientation, while German participation in foreign wars was most often in partnership with allies. The primary aggressor in Central Europe was not Prussia but the Austrian Habsburg monarchy, yet Austria's strength owed much to its ability to secure allies. Prussia, meanwhile, invested in militarization but maintained a part-time army well into the nineteenth century. Alongside Switzerland, which relied on traditional militia, both states exemplify the longstanding civilian element within German military power. Only after Prussia's unexpected victory over France in 1871 did Germans and outsiders come to believe in a German gift for warfare-a special capacity for high-speed, high-intensity combat that could overcome numerical disadvantage. It took two world wars to expose the fallacy of German military genius. Yet even today, Wilson argues, Germany's strategic position is misunderstood. The country now seen as a bastion of peace spends heavily on defense in comparison to its peers and is deeply invested in less kinetic contemporary forms of coercive power.

Winner of the Society for Military History Distinguished Book Award 2011 The horrific series of conflicts known as the Thirty Years War (1618-48) tore the heart out of Europe, killing perhaps a quarter of all Germans and laying waste to whole areas of Central Europe to such a degree that many towns and regions never recovered. All the major European powers apart from Russia were heavily involved and, while each country started out with rational war aims, the fighting rapidly spiralled out of control, with great battles giving way to marauding bands of starving soldiers spreading plague and murder. The war was both a religious and a political one and it was this tangle of motives that made it impossible to stop. Whether motivated by idealism or cynicism, everyone drawn into the conflict was destroyed by it. At its end a recognizably modern Europe had been created but at a terrible price. Peter Wilson's book is a major work, the first new history of the war in a generation, and a fascinating, brilliantly written attempt to explain a compelling series of events. Wilson's great strength is in allowing the reader to understand the tragedy of mixed motives that allowed rulers to gamble their countries' future with such horrifying results. The principal actors in the drama (Wallenstein, Ferdinand II, Gustavus Adolphus, Richelieu) are all here, but so is the experience of the ordinary soldiers and civilians, desperately trying to stay alive under impossible circumstances.

This volume's juxtaposition of the empires of Germany and France in 1806, at the dissolution of The Holy Roman Empire, allows a comparison of their transition towards modernity, explored through the themes of Empire, monarchy, political cultures, feudalism, war and military institutions, nationalism and identity, and everyday experience.

"The Bee and the Eagle" brings together a team of international specialists to present original findings on six key themes of Empire: political cultures, war and military institutions, monarchy, nationalism and identity, and everyday experience. With a comparative approach, it begins in 1806 at the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, and its replacement by a French-sponsored new political order.

This is the first extensive analysis of large-scale violence and the methods of its restraint in the early modern world. Using examples from Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe, it questions the established narrative that violence was only curbed through the rise of western-style nation states and civil societies. Global history allows us to reframe and challenge traditional models for the history of violence and to rethink categories and units of analysis through comparisons. By decentring Europe and exploring alternative patterns of violence, the contributors to this volume articulate the significance of violence in narratives of state- and empire-building, as well as in their failure and decline, while also providing new means of tracing the transition from the early modern to modernity. -- .

An Economist and Sunday Times Best Book of the Year "Deserves to be hailed as a magnum opus." -Tom Holland, The Telegraph "Ambitious...seeks to rehabilitate the Holy Roman Empire's reputation by re-examining its place within the larger sweep of European history...Succeeds splendidly in rescuing the empire from its critics." -Wall Street Journal Massive, ancient, and powerful, the Holy Roman Empire formed the heart of Europe from its founding by Charlemagne to its destruction by Napoleon a millennium later. An engine for inventions and ideas, with no fixed capital and no common language or culture, it derived its legitimacy from the ideal of a unified Christian civilization-though this did not prevent emperors from clashing with the pope for supremacy. In this strikingly ambitious book, Peter H. Wilson explains how the Holy Roman Empire worked, why it was so important, and how it changed over the course of its existence. The result is a tour de force that raises countless questions about the nature of political and military power and the legacy of its offspring, from Nazi Germany to the European Union. "Engrossing...Wilson is to be congratulated on writing the only English-language work that deals with the empire from start to finish...A book that is relevant to our own times." -Brendan Simms, The Times "The culmination of a lifetime of research and thought...an astonishing scholarly achievement." -The Spectator "Remarkable...Wilson has set himself a staggering task, but it is one at which he succeeds heroically." -Times Literary Supplement

THE SUNDAY TIMES AND ECONOMIST BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2016 'A definitive study of the amorphous state that lasted a thousand years ... The Holy Roman Empire deserves to be hailed as a magnum opus' Tom Holland, Daily Telegraph 'Engrossing ... staggering ... a book that is relevant to our own times' The Times 'Masterly ... If, like most people, you know little more about the Holy Roman Empire other than Voltaire's bon mot - "neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire" - then this is the book for you' Daniel Johnson, Sunday Times 'A history that helps us understand Europe's problems today ... interesting and provocative, makes the complex understandable' Christopher Kissane, Guardian A great, sprawling, ancient and unique entity, the Holy Roman Empire, from its founding by Charlemagne to its destruction by Napoleon a millennium later, formed the heart of Europe. It was a great engine for inventions and ideas, it was the origin of many modern European states, from Germany to the Czech Republic, its relations with Italy, France and Poland dictated the course of countless wars - indeed European history as a whole makes no sense without it. In this strikingly ambitious book, Peter H. Wilson explains how the Empire worked. It is not a chronological history, but an attempt to convey to readers why it was so important and how it changed over its existence. The result is a tour de force - a book that raises countless questions about the nature of political and military power, about diplomacy and the nature of European civilization and about the legacy of the Empire, which has continued to haunt its offspring, from Imperial and Nazi Germany to the European Union.

Circa il 15% della popolazione mondiale riferisce di avvertire quasi costantemente una sensazione rumorosa nell'orecchio o nella testa. Sono gli acufeni, un fenomeno ben noto sin dall'antichita e spesso molto fastidioso, che tuttavia e considerato un problema serio e cronico solo per una piccola percentuale di soggetti.

Pur non esistendo a tutt'oggi una cura definitiva e risolutiva di questo disturbo - spesso i medici stessi concludono le visite confermando ai pazienti che bisogna imparare a conviverci -, gli acufeni possono essere comunque ridotti a un fastidio ben sopportabile. Per ottenere un buon risultato e necessario curare lo stato di salute generale e lo stile di vita di chi ne e affetto, e il ruolo del paziente stesso e fondamentale.

Il volume vuole essere un "manuale di sopravvivenza" per insegnare come convivere con gli acufeni e come gestire questo disturbo in modo semplice, efficace ed economico.

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The Thirty Years' War (1618-48) was Europe's most destructive conflict prior to the two world wars. Two of European history's greatest generals faced each other at Lutzen in November 1632, mid-way through this terrible war. Neither achieved his objective. Albrecht von Wallenstein withdrew his battered imperial army at nightfall, unaware that his opponent, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, had died a few hours earlier. The indecisive military outcome found an immediate echo in image and print, and became the object of political and historical disputes. Swedish propaganda swiftly fostered the lasting image of the king's sacrifice for the Protestant cause against the spectre of Catholic Habsburg 'universal monarchy'. The standard assumption that the king had 'met his death in the hour of victory' became integral to how Gustavus Adolphus's contribution to modern warfare has been remembered, even celebrated, while the study of Lutzen's wider legacy shows how such events are constantly rewritten as elements of propaganda, religious and national identity, and professional military culture. The battle's religious and political associations also led to its adoption as a symbol by those advocating German unification under Prussian leadership. The battlefield remains a place of pilgrimage to this day and a site for the celebration of Protestant German and Nordic culture. This book is the first to combine analysis of the battle itself with an assessment of its cultural, political and military legacy, and the first to incorporate recent archaeological research within a reappraisal of the events and their significance. It challenges the accepted view that Lutzen is a milestone in military development, arguing instead that its impact was more significant on the cultural and political level.

This book examines the role of war and the development of the smaller German territories in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries through the example of the duchy of WÜrttemberg. It reappraises traditional interpretations of German history that emphasize the role of Prussia and play down the significance of the smaller states. This is also the first comprehensive investigation of the relationship between developments within such territories and the structure of the Holy Roman Empire of which they formed a part. It reveals the Empire as a flawed but functioning political system and sheds new light on the reasons for its collapse in 1806.

Europe was swept by a wave of revolution in 1848 that had repercussions stretching well beyond the continent. Governments fell in quick succession or conceded significant reforms, before being rolled back by conservative reaction. Though widely perceived as a failure, the revolution ended the vestiges of feudalism, broadened civil society and strengthened the state prior to the rapid industrialisation and urbanisation of the latter part of the nineteenth century. This volume brings together essays from leading specialists on the international dimension, national experiences, political mobilisation, and reaction and legacy.