Twice in this century, Germany initiated wars of unimagined terror and destruction. In both cases, defense of the Prussian” realm, the German homeland, was the perceived and vilified perpetrator. Few today understand with any precision what Prussia” means, either geographically or nationalistically, but neither would they deny the psychic resonance of the single word. To most, it means unbridled aggression, the image of the goose-stepping Junker.But what was once Prussia is now a significant portion of Eastern Europe, a contested homeland first won by Christian knights of the Teutonic Order. For centuries thereafter its terrain has been crisscrossed by war and partitioned by barbed wire. In its final catastrophe of 1945, nearly two million German refugees fled the region as Russian armies broke the eastern front, perhaps the greatest dislocation of a civilian population at any time during World War II. With the Berlin Wall now a memory and the Soviet Union in a state of collapse, this remains a geography in shambles. Modern travelers can now, for the first time in decades, see and ponder for themselves what Prussia really was and now is.James Charles Roy and Amos Elon, two writers noted for their inquisitive natures, have gone to search through the rubble themselves. They intermingle present-day observations with moving vignettes from the German and Prussian past, sketching a portrait of the Europe we know today. The story is spiced with interviews and reminiscences, unforgettable in their sadness, of people looking back at a life now gone, a life full of turmoil and heartache, memories both fond and tragic. The final result: a far deeper understanding of the tattered lands of today's Eastern Europe.
Most people accurately associate Prussia with duty, discipline, and fervent militarism. They may be hard-pressed, however, to define it geographically or summarize its rise and fall. With
The Vanished Kingdom: Travels Through the History of Prussia, James Charles Roy attempts to fill in the gaps of our knowledge about the former German state, from its 12th-century origins to 1945. Founded by Christian knights of the Teutonic Order, Prussia and its hereditary rulers, the Hohenzollerns, reached their political zenith in 1871, when they effectively ruled the Second German Empire. After World War I and the abdication of Wilhelm II (the last ruling Hohenzollern), Prussia ceased to exist as a political entity and its territory was incorporated into a greater Germany.
Combining historical documentation with travel narrative and personal interview, Roy's prose is frequently heavy on narration and light on history. The Vanished Kingdom succeeds, however, in succinctly chronicling significant events in Prussian history, such as Bismarck's rise to power and Germany's World War I victory at Tannenberg. Maps, historical and contemporary photographs, and an extensive bibliography supplement Roy's study. An introduction by Amos Elon brings the history of Prussia up to the present day with its examination of East Prussia's former capital, Königsberg, which was incorporated into Russian territory in 1945. The fate of the city, today physically and economically devastated, remains precarious; will it return to Germany or remain a Russian territory? Together, Roy and Elon provide a comprehensive overview of Prussia's past, present, and future. --Bertina Loeffler Sedlack
