The Impact of Napoleon: Prussian High Politics, Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Executive, 1797-1806
Year: 1998
Type: article
Abstract: This book examines Prussia's response to Napoleon and Napoleonic expansionism in the years before the crushing defeats of Auerstadt and Jena, a period of German history as untypical as it was dramatic. Between the years 1797 and 1806 Prussia shocked Europe not by her assertiveness but by her acquiescence, not by her contempt for international norms but by trust in such norms long after they had been abandoned by her neighbours. Throughout this period the main fear of Prussian statesmen was French power, rather than revolution from below. This threat spawned a foreign-policy debate characterised by geopolitical thinking: the belief that Prussian policy was conditioned by her unique geographic situation at the heart of Europe. Similar thinking underlay a parallel debate on the organisation of the executive: Prussian politicians felt that a swifter and more balanced process of decision-making was needed.
Source: The American Historical Review
DOI: 10.2307/2651266
Authors: Marion W. Gray, Brendan Simms
Institution: University of Cambridge
Language: English
Subfield: History
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2032689986