German history between 1870 and 1945 has often been imagined as dominated by ‘great men’, significant individuals who single-handedly shaped the course of events. This module will examine the ways in which some of these individuals have been represented in biographical writing, examining the potential and problems of this historical mode. It will focus on the political career of Bismarck, the ‘Iron Chancellor’ often credited with forging German unity in 1871, and on the life and career of Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda Minister, described on the front cover of a recent German magazine as ‘the man who made Hitler’. The module will be framed by contextual sessions devoted to the development of biography, and will also present a series of case studies in differing biographical modes, two devoted to collective studies of early Nazi supporters (one primarily psychoanalytic in methodology, one sociological), and two looking at the biographical representation of great German composers between 1870 and 1945. The course is underpinned by the study of a wide range of primary sources and an analysis of the problems associated with them.

Display a detailed knowledge of the life and career of Otto von Bismarck, and of the role he played in C19th German history.

Display a detailed knowledge of the life and career of Joseph Goebbels, and of the role he played in the National Socialist movement.

Compare, contrast, and evaluate salient trends in the historiography of Germany between 1870 and 1945.

Demonstrate a critical awareness of different ways in which Bismarck and Goebbels have been represented by historians, and of how this compares with other biographical investigations of the same period.

Demonstrate a critical ability to use and contextualise a range of primary sources relevant to Bismarck and Goebbels, and to biographical representation during this period.

Knowledge and Understanding:

Demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the roles played by Otto von Bismarck and Joseph Goebbels in German history.

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of how biography has evolved as a specific form of historical writing, and apply this to the historiography of Germany between 1870 and 1945.

Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of central historiographical approaches to the study of Germany between 1870 and 1945.

Devise and sustain arguments about the role of salient individuals and groups in the history of Germany between 1870 and 1945.

Intellectual Skills:

Identify problems, assess evidence, and reach independent conclusions on the development of Germany between 1870 and 1945.

Present, accurately, succinctly, and lucidly, in written or oral form, their arguments in accordance with appropriate scholarly conventions.

Devise and sustain arguments about individuals and groups in a specific historical context using ideas or techniques including concepts of structure, agency, gender, power, and cultural construction.

Identify the nature and scope of the issues raised by the use of the biographical form in a specific historical context.

Identify the nature and scope of the issues raised by a consideration of the role of a salient individual in a broader social and political movement.

Discipline Specific (including practical) Skills:

Display an understanding and a critical application of key historical categories like structure, agency, gender, and power.

Analyse and place in context a wide range of published and unpublished primary sources.

Interpret and place in context other historical texts such as monuments, photographs (still and moving), posters, paintings, and sound recordings.

Discuss in a critical and informed manner the role and importance of Bismarck and Goebbels in the history of Germany between 1870 and 1945.

Identify strengths, weaknesses, problems, and/or peculiarities of alternative historical/ historiographical interpretations of Germany between 1870 and 1945.

Transferable Skills:

Upon the completion of the option, the student should be able to:

Communicate ideas and arguments effectively, whether in speech or in writing in an accurate, succinct and lucid manner.

Formulate and justify their own arguments and conclusions about a range of issues.

Demonstrate an ability to modify as well as to defend the positions they take on historical issues.

Use a range of information technology resources to assist with information retrieval.

Organise their study methods and workload.

Work as part of a team in seminar or tutorial discussions.

Organise their study methods and workload independently

The module will be taught in two-hour sessions through a mixture of lectures, seminars, and document sessions. Emphasis will be placed on the use of secondary biographical works of different kinds, and on the comparative analysis of relevant primary sources.

Intellectual Skills:

Identify problems, assess evidence, and reach independent conclusions on the development of Germany between 1870 and 1945.

Present, accurately, succinctly, and lucidly, in written or oral form, their arguments in accordance with appropriate scholarly conventions.

Devise and sustain arguments about individuals and groups in a specific historical context using ideas or techniques including concepts of structure, agency, gender, power, and cultural construction.

Identify the nature and scope of the issues raised by the use of the biographical form in a specific historical context.

Identify the nature and scope of the issues raised by a consideration of the role of a salient individual in a broader social and political movement.

Discipline Specific (including practical) Skills:

Display an understanding and a critical application of key historical categories like structure, agency, gender, and power.

Analyse and place in context a wide range of published and unpublished primary sources.

Interpret and place in context other historical texts such as monuments, photographs (still and moving), posters, paintings, and sound recordings.

Discuss in a critical and informed manner the role and importance of Bismarck and Goebbels in the history of Germany between 1870 and 1945.

Identify strengths, weaknesses, problems, and/or peculiarities of alternative historical/ historiographical interpretations of Germany between 1870 and 1945.

Transferable Skills:

Upon the completion of the option, the student should be able to:

Communicate ideas and arguments effectively, whether in speech or in writing in an accurate, succinct and lucid manner.

Formulate and justify their own arguments and conclusions about a range of issues.

Demonstrate an ability to modify as well as to defend the positions they take on historical issues.

Use a range of information technology resources to assist with information retrieval.

Organise their study methods and workload.

Work as part of a team in seminar or tutorial discussions.

Organise their study methods and workload independently.

Students will be assessed by means of a combination of one essay relating to primary sources [20%], an assessed essay [30%] and an examination paper [50%].

Course assignments:

1. The essay relating to primary sources will contribute 20% of the final mark for the module and must be no longer than 1,000 words.
2. The Assessed Essay will contribute 30% of the final mark for the module. It is designed to give students the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to review evidence, draw appropriate conclusions from it and employ the formal conventions of scholarly presentation. It must be no longer than 2,000 words.
3. The Examination will take place during the second assessment period [May/June] and will consist of an unseen two hour paper that will contribute the remaining 50% of the final mark for this module. Students must write 2 answers in total.  

• The emergence of biography as a historical mode; the idea of the ‘great man’ in the nineteenth century,and its development by Burckhardt in the 1870s.

• The idea of Germany in the nineteenth century; ‘imagined communites’, the Kulturnation, and the rivalry between Prussia and Austria

• Bismarck: life and times 1815–1862; interpretations and sources

• The corpus of biographical writing on Bismarck: late C19th hagiography; appropriations by the right after 1918; reappraisals after 1945; structuralism in the 1970s; and recent examinations of ‘the Bismarck myth’.

• Bismarckand the unification of Germany 1870–71; his emergence as a ‘great man’

• Bismarckas ‘Iron Chancellor’, 1871–1890; and his legacy

• Monuments and mythology in Germany, 1870–1914

• German history 1914–1923: from Empire to Republic

• The desire for a Führer in the 1920s; ‘Caesarism’ and the representation of ‘great men’, particularly Bismarck

• The corpus of biographical writing on Goebbels, with reference to specific works by Bade (1933), Riess (1948), Schaumburg-Lippe (1963), Reimann (1971), Reuth (1991), and Thacker (2009).

• Sources for the study of Goebbels’ early life (1897–1923); poetry, fiction, and diaries as forms of ‘life writing’; Erikson’s theory of the ‘second birth’

• Comparative biographies (1): Theweleit’s psychoanalytic study of Freikorps men (1987)

• Goebbels’ first engagement with Hitler and National Socialism; his manipulation of the historical record, and the persistence of these misrepresentations in later biographies.

• Comparative biographies (2): Abel’s sociological study of Nazi supporters (1938)

• Goebbels and the Nazi rise to power, 1924–1933: sources and representations

• Goebbels as Propaganda Minister: was he ‘the man who made Hitler’?

• Uses and abuses of biography: representations of Beethoven and Bach, 1870–1945

• Overview and evaluation of recent trends in biographical writing on German history 1870–1945; Tooze and ‘the restoration of agency’.

Please see Background Reading List for an indicative list.