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Undergraduate students of all relevant subjects with a strong interest in the course topic
Set in the shadow of the reconstructed Prussian City Palace, this course will give an overview of the history, the legacy, and the memory of the “Iron Kingdom”. It will embed Prussia into the history of both Germany and Europe more broadly – explaining the continuous rise of this entity by looking at its geopolitics as well as its geography, economy, military, religion, science, and culture.
We will follow the development of Prussia from a small duchy beyond the Eastern periphery of the Holy Roman Empire to one of the most powerful kingdoms at the centre of Europe. Much of European history since the Thirty Years’ War can indeed be understood as a function of this “Prussian Expansion”, a fateful development that upended the traditional balance of power and ultimately led to the creation of a monster at the heart of Europe: Imperial Germany, hell-bent on acquiring the great power status it thought it deserved. But there is another, less tragic story that can also be told about Prussia: one of enlightened culture, of world-renowned education and universities, of state modernisation and democratic rights, which continues to this day. Between Königsberg, Potsdam, and Berlin, a particular worldview took shape that was both distinctly Prussian and German as well as cosmopolitan.
Humboldt University was the centre of this “Berlin Classicism”, but we will look for this legacy (and how it is remembered) in other parts of the Prussian capitals as well.