Fighting for the soul of Germany : the Catholic struggle for inclusion after unification / Rebecca Ayako Bennette.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bennette, Rebecca Ayako, 1973-

Series:

Harvard historical studies ; 178.

Harvard historical studies ; 178

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Catholic Church--Germany--History--19th century.

Catholic Church.

Kulturkampf.

Catholics--Germany--History--19th century.

Catholics.

Nationalism--Religious aspects--Catholic Church--History--20th century.

Nationalism.

Nationalism--Germany--History--19th century.

Christianity and politics--Germany--History--19th century.

Christianity and politics.

Germany--History--William I, 1871-1888.

Germany.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 368 pages) : map

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, c2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Historians have long believed that Catholics were late and ambivalent supporters of the German nation. Rebecca Ayako Bennette's bold new interpretation demonstrates definitively that from the beginning in 1871, when Wilhelm I was proclaimed Kaiser of a unified Germany, Catholics were actively promoting a German national identity for the new Reich. In the years following unification, Germany was embroiled in a struggle to define the new nation. Otto von Bismarck and his allies looked to establish Germany as a modern nation through emphasis on Protestantism and military prowess. Many Catholics feared for their future when he launched the Kulturkampf, a program to break the political and social power of German Catholicism. But these anti-Catholic policies did not destroy Catholic hopes for the new Germany. Rather, they encouraged Catholics to develop an alternative to the Protestant and liberal visions that dominated the political culture. Bennette's reconstruction of Catholic thought and politics sheds light on several aspects of German life. From her discovery of Catholics who favored a more "feminine" alternative to Bismarckian militarism to her claim that anti-socialism, not anti-Semitism, energized Catholic politics, Bennette's work forces us to rethink much of what we know about religion and national identity in late nineteenth-century Germany.

Contents:

The German question and religion

The beginning of the German epoch

The limits of loyalty tested

The real threat emerges

The search for continued relevance

Mapping Germany from the borders to Berlin

Femininity and the debate over the guiding principle of the nation

The battle over schools and scholarship

The moral geography of Europe and beyond.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 313-349) and index.

ISBN:

9780674070080

0674070089

9780674064805

0674064801

OCLC:

804897700