Uwe A. Oster. Der preuÖŸische Apoll: Prinz Louis Ferdinand von PreuÖŸen 1772-1806. Regensburg: Verlag Friedrich Pustet, 2003. 304 pp. EUR 24.90 (cloth), ISBN 978-3-7917-1828-6.
Reviewed by J. Trygve Has-Ellison (Department of Historical Studies, University of Texas at Dallas)
Published on H-German (January, 2006)
A God Without Wings
The study of the German nobility has recently regained the interest of historians, yet in spite of this renewed interest the field is still dominated by biographies of individual nobles written by non-academics. These popular histories, by their nature, are meant to appeal to a wide audience and be historically accurate. While enjoyable, these works often frustrate the academic historian. Such is the case with Uwe Oster's Der preußische Apoll. Oster is the chief editor of Damals, a German history magazine, and has also written a monograph on Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden, popularly known as Turkish Louis.
Oster's text is a teleological progression through the life of Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia (1772-1806). In a family full of colorful individuals, at least in the eighteenth century, Louis Ferdinand stood out as an unorthodox character. His early death, naturally, has only added to the legend of him as the "progressive prince," an image that Oster rightfully questions. The book is divided into six sections: Louis's childhood, his first taste of fame, banishment to the provinces (a rite of passage for Hohenzollern princes), difficulties with King Friedrich Wilhelm III, the philosophical and cultural interests of the prince, and Louis Ferdinand's espousal of the anti-Napoleonic cause. It culminates with his death at the battle of Saalfeld.
Oster begins with an interesting anecdote about the last emperor of Germany, Wilhelm II. When the emperor's son, crown prince Wilhelm, chose the name Louis Ferdinand for the baptism of his second child, Wilhelm II reluctantly agreed because it brought to mind the "black sheep" of the family (p. 7). Unfortunately, this anecdote, as well as the entire text, Is completely unsubstantiated by footnotes or other corroborating evidence. This is problematic because there is much of interest in this book--if Only it were properly documented. This could have been accomplished by adding a few additional pages to the text, not an unreasonable amount. This is the major flaw with Oster's book, and with others of its kind.
Nevertheless, Oster writes imaginatively about the family milieu and internal dynamic (dysfunction junction) between the Hohenzollern, particularly Prince Ferdinand and Prince Henry, Louis Ferdinand's father and uncle respectively, and the two youngest brothers of Frederick the Great. He questions Louis Ferdinand's reputation as a royal rebel and a champion of liberalism and democracy (p. 198). Louis Ferdinand's willingness to associate with commoners, and his obvious enjoyment of bourgeois mistresses (begetting two illegitimate children), did not make him a people's tribune. Oster also emphasized Louis Ferdinand's conviction that Napoleon was best opposed by a coalition of Austria/Prussia/Holy Roman Empire, which would exclude Great Britain and Russia, both of whose interests were toxic for the healthy development of the German states (p. 220). In other words, the cure of Great Britain and Russia was worse than the disease of Napoleon. This is a point worth pondering for its resonance among future political elites in central Europe.
Oster also treats the relationship of Prince Louis Ferdinand to the Rahel Varnhagen von Ense, nee Levin salon in an anecdotal way. The Varnhagen salon, and others like it, was a societal nexus that offered a space of informality between various orders, and therefore served as a medium of cross-cultural pollination between the nobility and educated middle class. Again, Oster makes an intriguing but unsubstantiated point about late Frederician Berlin: he claims that neither before nor after the era was it possible for members of different strata and religions to meet in convivial equality (p. 182). While possibly true, other historians contend that the hybrid culture of the salon continued throughout the nineteenth century, and did include converted and unconverted Jews such as Walter Rathenau.[1]
This is a decent example of popular history, but its principal value to The scholar is in the archival and primary sources that are listed in the bibliography. Unless one had an interest in the prince himself, or his participation in the salon of Rahel Varnhagen, it is an unessential read.
Note
[1]. Dolores Augustine, Patricians and Parvenus: Wealth and High Society in Wilhelmine Germany (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994), p. 204.
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Citation:
J. Trygve Has-Ellison. Review of Oster, Uwe A., Der preuÖŸische Apoll: Prinz Louis Ferdinand von PreuÖŸen 1772-1806.
H-German, H-Net Reviews.
January, 2006.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=11336
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