Before 1871, Germany was not a nation but an idea. It’s founder, Otto von Bismarck, had a formidable task at hand. How would he bring 39 individual states under the yoke of a single Kaiser? Could the young European nation build enough power to rival the empires of Britain and France? In a unique study of five decades that changed the course of modern history, leading historian Katja Hoyer tells the enthralling story of the German Empire from its violent rise to its spectacular fall at the end of the First World War. It’s a tale of self-discovery, social upheaval and realpolitik that ended, as it started, in blood and iron. 

One of the most acclaimed history books published this Spring, described by Michael Portillo as ‘lively and accessible’ and by Andrew Roberts as ‘the best biography of the Second Reich in years…’ she joins the History Festival to bring to life the dramatic and extraordinary story of the German Empire.

This is a pre-recorded event