‘It is hard being Emperor under Bismarck’ quipped German Emperor William I once. Historians agreed and deemed him also an unwilling Imperial figurehead who preferred to remain King of Prussia. This study challenges this long-held assumption of William I’s presumed historical irrelevance. It argues that the first Hohenzollern Kaiser was in fact a conscious, astute and strong-willed political actor who drew on varying forms of representation of his persona and the new German polity to forge his Imperial role. By drawing on cultural approaches to political history, this study demonstrates how William forged his political agency. It transcends biographical and national confines, showing how William’s conduct was part of a broader European context and how William drew on the practices of political rule he perceived elsewhere and appropriated these for his own realm. It demonstrates that William’s belonging to a specific political generation of monarchs influenced the manner in which he crafted his role and related himself to German nationhood. By identifying the strategies of legitimization that William employed, this study uncovers how he addressed the fragmented German polity, projected himself as the prime political centre of gravity in the new German polity and head of the new monarchical nation. This study discusses William’s role in the political and military decision-making process, how William presented his role as a military monarch during the Franco-Prussian War, his politics of history, his conception of the German Empire and his monarchical representation in Berlin. This thesis demonstrates that William was no transitional figure, but in fact a key actor in adapting the Hohenzollern monarchy to its new Imperial role at a time when monarchical rule in Europe was fundamentally transformed.

This is a study of American attitudes towards Hungary during the First World War. The focus is on the American images of Hungary and of key Hungarian politicians, such as Tisza, Apponyi, Andrassy and Karolyi. The opinions of President Wilson are given special attention both before and during the war. Other prominent Americans discussed include Theodore Roosevelt, various members of Wilson's cabinet (Lansing, Baker, Daniels) as well as his private advisors (Colonel House, Creel, the Inquiry), his Ambassadors (Penfield, Gerard, Stovall) and American intelligence agents. A second set of opinions has been obtained from dismemberment propaganda in America and from the survey of various American daily and weekly newspapers and the Hungarian·American press. Another major theme is the re·evaluation of Wilson's Habsburg diplomacy, which was prompted by new developments in Wilson research on the one hand and by many observations during my studies on the other. It is argued that claims that lansing, dismemberment propaganda and separatist politicians from the Habsburg Monarchy decided Wilson's actions do not hold water: the President made his decisions alone in the Habsburg case in response. to a series of events between April and June 1918. It is also pointed out that despite the growing American involvement in the war the prewar lack of interest in· Hungary was maintained, although the romanticized concept based upon the Kossuth· myth was replaced by another extreme interpretation based upon dismemberment propaganda. The fact that no, American authority decided to obtain a genuine picture of early twentieth century Hungary meant that American policies were based upon cliches and misconceptions, which were also carried into the Peace Conference period. Another thing to remember is the fact that Hungary was part of the Austro·Hungarian Empire during the First World War, which ruled out a separate Hungarian policy on the part of the Wilson administration. To get around this awkward situation the focus of the thesis is constantly shifted between Hungary and the Monarchy, with concentrating on Hungary when and where possible.

This comparative thesis explores how museums and monuments in postwar east and west Germany commemorate the eastern territories that were lost after 1945. I focus on the concept of Heimat which spans aesthetics and politics, psychological and political identity and emerges from a condition of loss, thus it features highly in my attempt to understand the development and current state of memorialisation. The centrality of the notion of Heimat in expellee memorialisation is a field as yet little explored in research on the expulsions, particularly in east Germany. Following chapters on the historical context, Heimat, and cultural memory, Chapter Three discusses monuments erected between 1947 and 1989 by expellees who resettled in West Germany which are used to mourn, replace, reflect on and revere the old Heimat. I compare post-unification west and east German memorials, discussing key differences resulting from the former taboo on expellee commemoration in East Germany. I additionally examine changing sites of memory, memorials that illustrate a shifting integration process and investigate the use of symbolism. Chapter Four considers the interaction between eyewitnesses, historians and curators in the portrayal of history in museums and Heimatstuben at Görlitz, Greifswald, Lüneburg, Regensburg, Molfsee, Gehren, Rendsburg and Altenburg, in addition to the Altvaterturm in Thuringia. Chapter Five discusses the contentious Berlin Stiftung Flucht Vertreibung Versöhnung Centre, first mooted in 1999 by the Bund der Vertriebenen as a Centre against Expulsions. The tension between ‘German victims’ and ‘victims of the Germans’ is a recurring theme in this thesis. My conclusions highlight how memorialisation is framed clearly within the contemporary socio-political context, demonstrate the durability and flexibility of the term Heimat and illustrate the resilience of the regard for the lost territories, not only for expellees; the idea of the German East persists in German cultural memory.

The aim of this thesis is to contribute to a differentiated reassessment of the cultural history of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), which has hitherto been hampered by critical approaches which have the objective of denouncing rather than understanding East German culture and society. Approaches such as these rely on schematic black-and-white oppositions, e.g. the dichotomy of conformity and dissidence, and present the East German cultural public spheres in a top-down way as a closed space in which a supposedly monolithic and deceitful Party ideology dictates what can be said or written. In order to reconceptualise these oversimplifying models, this thesis analyses public discourses from below, focusing on case studies of three public intellectuals with very distinct profiles: Wieland Herzfelde (1896-1988), Erich Loest (1926-2013), and Peter Hacks (1928-2003). Based on published as well as archival sources, this thesis examines their contributions to the plurality of public discourses in East Germany, concentrating on the 1950s as the most heavily contested decade of German division and the Cold War, both of which put great pressure on intellectuals. Whereas research has traditionally regarded these three intellectuals as having either a dissident or a conformist profile, this thesis argues that their attitudes were too ambiguous and the dilemmas they faced too complex to be reduced to such a clear-cut, schematic template.

This thesis examines the variety of representations and rhetorical deployments of the theme of British Imperialism within books published in the “Third Reich”. The thesis considers these books not only as vehicles for particular ideas and arguments but also as consumer objects and therefore as the product of a series of compromises between the needs of a host of actors, both official and commercial. It further traces the origins of the component parts of these texts via the history of reuse of images and extracts and by identifying earlier examples of particular tropes of “Englishness” and the British Empire. British imperial history was a rich source of material for National Socialist writers and educators to draw on and lent itself to a wide variety of arguments. Britain could be, in turns, a symbol of “Nordic” strength, a civilisation in decline, a natural ally and protector of Germany, or a weak, corrupt, outdated entity, controlled by Germany’s supposed enemies. Drawing on a long tradition of comparing European colonial records, the British Empire was also used as a benchmark for Germany’s former imperial achievements, particularly in moral arguments regarding the treatment of indigenous populations. Through its focus on books, which were less ephemeral than media such as newspaper and magazine articles, radio broadcasts or newsreels, the thesis demonstrates how newer writings sought to recontextualise older material in the light of changing circumstances. Through managing the context in which earlier British and Anglophile material was read, doubt could be cast on the integrity of such views and on the trustworthiness of what was styled as the “English national character”. This demonisation of Britain through her imperial record became a key focus of Anglophobic books published in Germany during the Second World War.

Albert Speer, Hitler’s armaments minister, claimed before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg and in correspondence with his daughter Hilde, that whilst he was Hitler’s only friend: (a) he was apolitical, (b) had known nothing about the genocide of the Jews and Nazi atrocities, (c) in the final months of the war had risked telling Hitler that the war was lost, (d) sought to thwart Hitler’s Scorched Earth program, and, (e) planned to assassinate Hitler. In answer to Hilde’s question about his involvement with the Nazis – “How can an intelligent person have any part in something like this?” Speer’s reply provided the framework for this thesis, and for the research process using the techniques of the Historical Method to examine and analyse primary documentary sources. The conclusions reached from this research are that: (a) Speer supported the politics and ideology of the Nazis, and (b) colluded in the genocide of the Jews and the perpetration of Nazi atrocities. As a part of his ‘exit’ strategy from the Nazi debacle, Speer: (c) exhorted Hitler to ‘fight on’, (d) used his attempt to thwart Hitler’s Scorched Earth programme to his own advantage, using it in his trial defence, and (e) used the assassination plot in his trial defence.

This thesis is about the spa town of Bad Ems in West Germany - its social and economic development. It analyses the town's rise to fame as a fashionable centre for relaxation and recuperation and the emergence of a 'spa culture' in the nineteenth century. It also studies the impact of the gradual 'democratisation' of cures i.e. how spa towns like Bad Ems changed in this century with the increase in the number of cure-guests funded by the statutory insurance bodies. This inevitably involves an examination of the system of national health provision from the late 19th century and the incorporation of spa treatment into benefit schemes. The subsequent analysis of medical knowledge and opinion, with particular reference to spa remedies and treatment considers both medical practitioners in Bad Ems and the development of the science of balneology over the past one hundred and fifty years. This analysis includes the debates and arguments about the modern cure and the growing concern since the Second World War with the efficiency and effectiveness of social insurance cures. Finally, this study looks at the cure-takers themselves, both in their relationship with the medical profession and their experience of spa life. Because no comprehensive study of Germany's spas has been attempted, this thesis aims to bring together different perspectives adopted by various disciplines. However, given the present state of research, it seemed that the only viable approach would be through a case study which analyses the town of Bad Ems at a grass-root level, though without ignoring the impact of national events and policies in Germany on cure-taking and spa culture. The findings of the research indicate that the introduction of cures as a benefit of national welfare policies ensured the survival of spas as health centres. No less importantly, today a cure is no longer the preserve of a wealthy elite as in the 19th century but available to all Germans. The success of cures in Germany today would also seem to reflect a culturally specific attitude to health and illness which stands in marked contrast to that in this country where spas have declined and where there is little interest in the forms of treatment offered by mineral springs and thermal waters.

Using the interpretative framework of the English School of international relations, the thesis explores the extent to which the inter-Allied treatment of the German Question during the 1943-8 period influenced the making of the post-war international order. Linking international relations theory with historical research, the thesis reinstates the importance of the resolution of the German Question as the most influential issue in the development of the post-war international order. The thesis explores the institutionalisation of international relations and the dynamic interaction of the legal, consensual and conflictual elements involved in the treatment of the German Question, portraying them as the main informative aspects of the origins of the Cold War international order. Employing the 'trilateral approach' espoused by Martin Wight, the thesis tackles the Realist aspects of the treatment of the German Question by analysing superpower interaction in relation to the enforcement of their structural interests and the socialisation of conflict at occupation and diplomatic level. The thesis evaluates the transformation which occurred in Germany and the post-war international order due to the inter-Allied work on denazification. The thesis also analyses the Rationalist aspects of superpower interaction, with particular emphasis on the legal and diplomatic framework which sustained not only the treatment of the German Question but also the general context of inter-Allied relations. The main conclusion of the thesis is that by restricting superpower intervention to specific spheres of influence, the treatment of the German Question contributed to the creation of a `pluralist plus' international order which inhibited a systemic disruption of the bipolar settlement imposed by the main Allies.

The thesis develops a discourse-theoretical framework for foreign policy analysis and utilises it to account for Germany’s policies in the Iraq crisis of 2002/2003. Germany’s response was deeply contradictory, as it included rhetorical opposition to the war and diplomatic activities aiming at blocking it, but also tacit and indirect cooperation with the United States that made the war possible. Intriguingly, such policies were pursued against the background of an existential and emotional discourse, which portrayed Germany’s very identities as at stake. This intersection of affectivity and contradictoriness presents the research problem of the thesis. To address it, the dissertation revisits the concepts of discourse, subjectivity and foreign policy. Building on poststructuralist and psychoanalytical impulses, it argues that the focus on discursivity should be complemented with a deeper analysis of affect. The subject is reconceptualised as incomplete and split; not only between her different identities, but also between her discursive and affective sides. Foreign policy is then understood as an articulatory practice through which subjects attempt to recapture their identity, a process that is strongly affective and ultimately futile. These arguments are operationalised with the help of three sets of logics: social logics, which capture sedimented aspects of social reality; political logics, which focus on contestation of orders and symbolic reconstruction of political spaces; and the logic of fantasy, which accounts for the subjects’ attachment to sociopolitical orders. After discussing methodological problems, the dissertation turns to the empirical study of Germany’s policies in the Iraq crises, which is structured around the three types of logics. The key conclusion is that Germany’s policymakers operated in a discursively and affectively disordered terrain, in which their own subjectivities were split between different identities, principles and expectations. They were unable to resolve these dilemmas, because, at the same time, multiple of the contradictory identities and policy options were underpinned by strong affective investment, which made it virtually impossible to choose an unequivocal course of action. This inability also functioned as a reminder of the failure to secure a stable and complete identity, further fueling the desire for it that was manifested in the perpetuation of the existential and emotional discourse.

After achieving political power in January 1933, the Nazis began to plan and implement racial policies that would redefine the lives of ordinary men and women. Persistently promoted as health measures, many of the racial policies enacted would go on to have considerable and, in many cases, devastating consequences for the family sphere. This thesis examines one aspect of Nazi policy, the practice of genealogy. Re-envisioned and turned into a civic duty of the ‘responsible citizen,’ this one-time hobby forced Germans to reassess friendships, marriages and courtships. But why did genealogy gain such prestige under National Socialism? What objectives did the Nazis hope to achieve by weaving the practice into the fabric of central legislative measures? How did society react to obligatory family research? These questions are central to understanding how the Nazis were able to establish and maintain a system of inclusion and exclusion in the Volksgemeinschaft, or People’s Community. Dealing with these issues also offers the opportunity to define the all-consuming nature of Hitler’s regime more clearly. The requirement to perform genealogical research was the mechanism used by the regime to challenge the people’s sense of belonging to community in the family home. The gradual definition of work and social spaces along racial lines merely complemented pressures to achieve Aryan status more quickly. Many were forced to dedicate leisure time to writing to family members asking for genealogical information of relatives. Some also attended genealogical exhibitions and read books for family researchers to move their research forward. The growing importance and promotion of genealogy is equally important in understanding how the Nazis were able create a climate of fear for the Jews. For example, simple family research guides appeared in national newspapers and town halls and schools were frequently used to stage genealogical exhibitions. At the same time, the press documented the existence and progress of government institutions whose main remit was to collect and catalogue genealogical information of every inhabitant of Germany. It would have been difficult to leave the home and perform everyday tasks without being reminded of the growing radicalism in society. The highly publicised effort to accumulate and centralise genealogical information – as part of a programme to identify and control the nation’s Jewish population – was intended to dampen Jewish morale and feelings of security. Thus, exploring how genealogy was utilised and promoted in society, and also how ordinary men and women viewed and engaged with it, also allows this study to document anti-Semitic policies, as they evolved from limiting freedoms in social and economic spheres to state-sponsored murder.