Book contents
- Invisible Fatherland
- Invisible Fatherland
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue
- Introduction
- 1 From Kaiserreich to Reich
- 2 “Onwards over Graves”
- 3 Symbolics of Shared Hegemony
- 4 Anchoring the Nation in the Democratic Form
- 5 Political Violence and the Inversion of Gewalt
- 6 In Memoriam of Walther Rathenau
- 7 Constitutional Patriotism Avant la Lettre
- 8 Memory from Fragments
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
1 - From Kaiserreich to Reich
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2025
Book contents
- Invisible Fatherland
- Invisible Fatherland
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue
- Introduction
- 1 From Kaiserreich to Reich
- 2 “Onwards over Graves”
- 3 Symbolics of Shared Hegemony
- 4 Anchoring the Nation in the Democratic Form
- 5 Political Violence and the Inversion of Gewalt
- 6 In Memoriam of Walther Rathenau
- 7 Constitutional Patriotism Avant la Lettre
- 8 Memory from Fragments
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Preparing the ground for a broadly contextualize study of Weimar constitutional patriotism, the first chapter of Invisible Fatherland examines the symbolic forms and practices of the German Kaiserreich from its foundation in 1871 through World War I to the November Revolution of 1918. The analysis highlights the progressive nationalization of imperial symbols and their ability to resonate beyond social, political, and regional divides. The chapter concludes with a detailed examination of the return of German troops to Berlin at the end of the war. The official welcome parades in the German capital, marked by symbolic openness and ambiguity, reveal the tension between imperial continuity and revolutionary transformation. By focusing on the emerging republic’s shifting symbolic order during this liminal moment between war and peace, the chapter illuminates the persistence of imperial legacies alongside the possibilities for new, democratic forms of political belonging.
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- Invisible FatherlandConstitutional Patriotism in Weimar Germany, pp. 37 - 60Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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