The origins of an illusion: British policy and opinion, and the development of Prussian liberalism, 1848-1871
Journal: cIRcle (University of British Columbia)
Year: 2010

The massive historiography dealing with the problem of Germany's development in the first half of twentieth century has been strongly influenced by the notion that certain peculiar national characteristics led Germany down a Sonderweq, or "special path," which diverged from that of other Western European nations. However, by helping to focus scholarly attention on various political, social and intellectual developments which took place in Germany in the nineteenth century, the Sonderweq thesis h