The impact of Napoleon
Subtitle: Prussian high politics, foreign policy and the crisis of the executive, 1797-1806
By: Brendan Simms.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Cambridge [England]; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 390
Subjects: Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821 -- Relations with Germans.; Prussia (Germany) -- History -- Frederick William III, 1797-1840.; Prussia (Germany) -- Foreign relations -- 1786-1806.
Description: This book examines Prussia's response to Napoleon and Napoleonic expansionism in the years before the crushing defeats of Auerstadt and Jena, a period of German history as untypical as it was dramatic.

Between the years 1797 and 1806 Prussia shocked Europe not by her assertiveness but by her acquiescence, not by her contempt for international norms but by trust in such norms long after they had been abandoned by her neighbours. Throughout this period the main fear of Prussian statesmen was French power, rather than revolution from below.

This threat spawned a foreign-policy debate characterised by geopolitical thinking: the belief that Prussian policy was conditioned by her unique geographic situation at the heart of Europe. Similar thinking underlay a parallel debate on the organisation of the executive: Prussian politicians felt that a swifter and more balanced process of decision-making was needed.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 344-382) and index.