Overview
Shortlisted for the Waterloo Centre for German Studies 2019 Book Prize
Takes a comparative approach to five significant German states to examine how national and territorial identities were constructed
Argues that these political states are defined by the practices of the people, rather than intentional state- or nation-building ideologies
Explores the impact of rising literacy, the development of new communication and transportation technologies, and the growing success of commercial cartography on people’s spatial and territorial perceptions
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Table of contents (11 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Infrastructural Layout and State Construction
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Front Matter
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Cartographic Representations of State Space
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Front Matter
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National, Transnational and International Communication and Movement
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book analyses the development of German territorial states in the nineteenth century through the prism of five Mittelstaaten: Bavaria, Saxony, Hanover, Württemberg, and Baden. It asks how a state becomes a place, and argues that it involves a contested and multi-faceted process, one of slow and uneven progress. The study approaches this question from a new and crucial angle, that of spatiality and public mobility. The issues covered range from the geography of state apparatus, the aesthetics of German cartography and the trajectories of public movement. Challenging the belief that territorial delimitation is primarily a matter of policy and diplomacy, this book reveals that political territories are constructed through daily practices and imagination.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Zef M. Segal is a Lecturer of History, Mathematics and Digital Humanities at the Open University of Israel and Tel-Aviv Jaffa College, Israel.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Political Fragmentation of Germany
Book Subtitle: Formation of German states by Infrastructures, Maps, and Movement, 1815–1866
Authors: Zef M. Segal
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19827-5
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-19826-8Published: 18 June 2019
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-19829-9Published: 14 August 2020
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-19827-5Published: 27 May 2019
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVIII, 278
Number of Illustrations: 14 b/w illustrations, 10 illustrations in colour
Topics: History of Germany and Central Europe, Political History, Cultural History, Migration