Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims to develop a particular way of approaching the German past between Bismarck and Hitler, which is at some variance with how German history has mainly been written since the Second World War. It discusses a continuing effort to assimilate the lessons of theoretical debates and by an intensive examination of one historical experience to concretize their value. The book focuses on social imperialism, which was conceived immediately after, already reflects a stronger theoretical engagement and anticipates in a practical form many of the arguments made more confidently later in the 1970s. It highlights the legitimacy of Marxist analysis in the plural discourse of German historians. The book identifies some strategic influences and patterns of interpretation in the post-Fischer revisionist writing. It explores the interpretive figures more concretely by looking at various aspects of the Second Empire’s social and political system.