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Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichröder and the Establishment of the German Empire (utopia Translation Series 23·new Edition)

(us) Fritz Stern

652K0

Bismarck's speech to the Prussian Parliament in 1862 earned him the title of "Iron Chancellor", but the establishment of the German Empire relied more on money, coal and iron, rather than iron and blood. Fritz Stern uses the relationship between Bismarck and the Prussian Jewish banker Bleichröder as the main line to depict the inextricable relationship between the German political and financial circles and the collision between the new capitalist world and the ancient feudal system. The conflicts of interest brought about by Jewish success and social mobility not only revealed the fragility of the new German Empire and its ruling class, but also demonstrated the duality of wealth-it both threatened tradition and provided hope for social mobility.