Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire, 1871-1918 by Katja Hoyer -- BOOK BEGINNINGS

 BOOK BEGINNINGS ON FRIDAYS

Greeting from Omaha! My sis and I are in Omaha, Nebraska this week, our hometown. So I am doing my Book Beginnings post from the road. It seems appropriate to feature a book about German history because some of my favorite childhood memories are of the German American Society in Omaha, where we took German language lessons on Saturday mornings.

Please join me to share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week. Or you can share the first line of a book you want to highlight. 

MY BOOK BEGINNING

From Blood and Iron:

"To My People" was the title of the dramatic and passionate plea of the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm III in 1813 to all his subjects to help liberate the German lands from French occupation.

-- from chapter I, "Rise 1815 - 71" in Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire, 1871-1918 by Katja Hoyer, new from Pegasus Books. 

Prior to 1871, Germany was not a unified nation but 39 separate states, including Prussia, Bavaria, and the Rhineland. In her new book, Blood and Iron, German-British historian Katja Hoyer tells the story of how a German Empire, united under Otto von Bismarck, rose to power only to face crippling defeat in the First World War. 

YOUR BOOK BEGINNINGS

Please leave the link to your Book Beginnings post in the Linky box below. Use the hashtag #bookbeginnings if you share on social media.

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THE FRIDAY 56

Freda at Freda's Voice hosts another teaser event on Fridays. Participants share a two-sentence teaser from page 56 of the book they are reading -- or from 56% of the way through the audiobook or ebook. Please visit Freda's Voice for details and to leave a link to your post.

MY FRIDAY 56

From Blood and Iron:

After Sedan* and successive military victories from September 1870, an intoxicating wave of nationalist sentiment swept through the German lands. Bismarck used this temporary goodwill to bring the leaders of the states together for negotiations about a federal German nation state.

* The Battle of Sedan was a decisive battle during the Franco-Prussian War.