Writing the History of Revolutions in Modern Germany. Professor Andrew Bonnell (UQ)

Andrew Bonnell reflects on approaching the task of writing a history of revolutions in modern Germany, from the German response to the French Revolution of 1789 to the peaceful revolution in the German Democratic in 1989. Other topics covered include the revolutions of 1848/49; the industrial revolution; the revolution of 1918/19 that ended the German Empire; the question of whether the Nazi regime was revolutionary, and the founding of the German Democratic Republic. The analysis is structured around the balance of forces that allowed for revolutions’ success or failure; the concept of a shifting “horizon of expectations”, and transnational influences