Product Description

The story of Central Europe is anything but simple. As the region located between East and West, it has always been endowed with a rich variety of migrants, and has repeatedly been the scene of nomadic invasions, mixed settlements and military conquests. It has witnessed a profusion of languages, religions, nationalities and cultural transformations. The most important waves of modern settlement have been Germanic and Slavic, but Central Europe also became a great haven for Europe's Jews. In recent history, it was subjected to both Fascism and Communism in succession. The ordeal lasted for fifty years, and the damage to life and liberty was incalculable. In order to present a portrait of Central Europe, Norman Davies and Roger Moorhouse have made a case study of one of its most colourful cities, the former German Breslau, which became the Polish Wrocllaw after the Second World War. The traditional capital of the province of Silesia rose to prominence a thousand years ago as a trading centre and bishopric in Piast Poland. In due course it became the second city of the kingdom of Bohemia, a major municipality of the Habsburg lands, and then a Residenzstadt of the kingdom of Prussia. The third largest city of nineteenth-century Germany, its population reached one million before the bitter siege by the Soviet Army in 1945 wrought almost total destruction. Since then Wrocllaw has risen from the ruins of war and is once again a thriving regional centre. The history of Silesia's main city is more than a fascinating tale in its own right. It embodies all the experiences which have made Central Europe what it is - a rich mixture of nationalities and cultures; the scene of German settlement and of the reflux of the Slavs; a Jewish presence of exceptional distinction; a turbulent succession of imperial rulers; and the shattering exposure to both Nazis and Stalinists. In short, it is a Central European microcosm.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66890 in Books
• Published on: 2003-02-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 608 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Before the popular success of his two general histories, Europe: A History, and The Isles, Norman Davies was best known as a specialist on the history of Poland. His 1981 two-volume God's Playground remains the best and most searching study in English of the fluctuating fortunes of that country. Microcosm, written in collaboration with his researcher Roger Moorhouse, is an in-depth account of a city now in Poland and presently called Wroclaw. The city has only been Polish since the Second World War. Before that it was the very German city of Breslau. And before that it was, at various times, part of the kingdom of Bohemia, the Hapsburg Empire and the Prussia of Frederick the Great. In different centuries it has been known as Wrotizla, as Wretslaw, as Presslaw and as Bresslau. Its Polish, German and Jewish communities intermingled to produce both a unique city and one that reflected and embodied all the different currents that have flowed together over a millennium to create the story of Central Europe.

Davies and Moorhouse intend their account of what is today Wroclaw to illustrate the history of one particular city but also to illuminate the general history of Central Europe through this one microcosm. They don't always succeed in their aim. At times the task of yoking together the minutiae of the city's life with its place in a broader history seems an impossible one. It is likely that the general reader will not be as interested in, say, lists of great alumni of Breslau's 19th-century university, as he or she will be in the narrative of Breslau in World War II. The book works best for the general reader when it most justifies its title; it works much less well when it seems most like some kind of official city history.--Nick Rennison

About the Author
Norman Davies C.M.G., F.B.A. is a Professor Emeritus of the University of London, a Supernumerary Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, and the author of several books on Polish and European history, including God's Playground, Europe and The Isles. Roger Moorhouse, who is a Germanist and historian, was chief researcher on Davies's previous books.

Excerpted from Microcosm: A Portrait of a Central European City by Norman Davies, Roger Moorhouse. Copyright © 2003. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The City was the offspring of the River and the Plain. It was conceived at a point where people moving up and down the River met others who were following trails across the plain. Historians do not usually recognise events for which there is no definitive evidence, but it is reasonable to deduce that some time long before recorded history a small settlement came into being at the river crossing. In fact, there are many circumstantial indications to suggest that the site was repeatedly, if not permanently, occupied from very remote times. There is also good reason to assume that the first settlers were not connected in any way with the Slavonic and Germanic peoples who would later dominate. The earliest trace of Stone Age habitation, about half an hour's stroll from the left bank of the river, has been dated to more than 300,000 years ago. The first substantial prehistoric settlement, which has been identified on the right bank of the river, dates from the eighth century bc. Two rich prehistoric hoards have played an important role in scholarly ruminations. One of them, from the first century bc, discovered about five kilometres to the south-west, contained no less than 2.75 tonnes of Baltic amber. The other, discovered about three kilometres to the north-east, came from a princely gravesite of the fourth century ad .It containe dan extraordinary collection of utensils and jewellery fashioned in gold, silver, bronze and fine glass.
Archaeologists have drawn very conflicting conclusions from the fragmentary information that is available. Yet most would agree that a marked decline in human activity occurred around the middle of the first millennium of our era. In the region as a whole, the population fell to perhaps one-quarter of the preceding level. According to a recent opinion, life on the middle reaches of the River 'virtually stopped'. If this is correct, one must accept that the new wave of settlers who began to make their presence felt in the sixth to seventh centuries ad had little in common with their many predecessors. Equally, the urban community, which henceforth was to enjoy an unbroken history, could not be seen as a simple continuation of earlier settlements on the same site. It would not be out of place to talk of a new beginning.
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Historical geography underlines two crucial factors in the early stages of development. The first relates to the intersection of the two ancient trade routes - one on the east-west axis of the Plain linking Western Europe with the Black Sea, the other following the north-south alignment of the River from the watershed of the Danube Basin to the Baltic. The second factor relates to a much more specific and local feature. Immediately upstream of a long, marshy and impassable stretch of the River, a cluster of perhaps a dozen riverine islands provided a natural crossing point and refuge for the graziers and fishermen who frequented the riverbanks. Of course, it is impossible to say whether the crossing point was manned by an unbroken series of ferrymen from the days of the amber hoard to those of the earliest medieval dwellings. But it is not inconceivable. What is certain is that the riverine islands would have proved more attractive than other locations in the vicinity. It is!
the islands that lent this place its most outstanding characteristic. (The siting of Paris on the islands of the Seine is but one of many parallels to prove the point.)
The presence of the nearby mountains exercised a powerful influence. Subalpine in character, the highest ridge in the 'Giant Mountains' rises to a height of 1,602 metres at the peak of 'Snowy Head', some 100 kilometres to the south-west. Icebound for half the year, it forms a formidable barrier that can only be crossed with ease through one or two passes. At the same time, it encourages life-giving falls of rain and snow on the Plain below. Importantly, too, the rocks of the mountains contain an unusual variety of valuable minerals. Deposits of iron, which first attracted the Celts, are matched by a rich coal basin, and by numerous mines yielding lead, tin, copper, gold and silver. In addition, there are several famous mineral springs, whose waters have brought in a continuous stream of visitors, from nature worshippers in prehistoric times to modern health tourists. All these attractions are situated within eighty kilometres, or two to three days' walk, of the City, which naturally became the focus for related trade and transport. At a similar distance to the north lies a lower range of limestone heights, the 'Cats Hills', which became an important source of high-quality stone in the age of permanent building. Most interesting of all is a curiously isolated peak, which rises magnificently from the surrounding plain less than forty kilometres from the City, and which lent its name to the province. A holy mountain and a cult centre from the earliest times, it added a sense of the sacred to the district over which it presides.
The Great Northern Plain, Europe's largest geographical feature, stretches from the oceanic seaboard to the heart of Eurasia, a distance of many thousands of kilometres, broken only by rolling hills and broad rivers. One of those rivers, the Odra (or Oder), rises in the mountains of Central Europe at a height of 640 metres, initially flowing north-east through the Moravian Gate, before turning north-west and forming the main artery of the province of Silesia. On approaching the Baltic Sea, it adopts a northerly course, crossing the lowest and flattest expanse of the Plain and finally reaching the coast through the arms and lagoons of its delta.

Customer Reviews

Wroclaw - a haunting and haunted city
Reviewers should declare their interests first. Mine is my predilection for this wonderful and haunting city, Wroclaw, in which I lived, worked and explored for four years. Its fascination for me lies in the myriad layers of its rich historical past reflected in its architectural monuments and, less visibly, the numerous bookshops where with luck and patience you can buy ancient maps of the city, obscure 19th century German monographs, pre-first world war railway timetables and other products of Habsburg and Prussian origin. The great merit of Davies' and Moorhouse's history of Wroclaw, "Microcosm", is that it clearly delineates the "archaeology" of the city, those layers of dynastic occupation which over a thousand years have left their trace on the modern face of this now thoroughly polonised city. Other reviewers of this book have complained about the overload of detail which the authors have provided about the city, its residents and institutions but such reviewers of course do not know Wroclaw. For those who have succumbed to its fascination, no detail is without interest and this reader, at least, was left asking for more. For instance, one of the constant themes of discussion with some of my Polish colleagues was the mysterious nature of the catacombs which are said to lie under central Wroclaw and which were used extensively during World War 2 by both Nazi and Soviet authorities for nefarious purposes. Fact or fiction? This book has no opinion.
Davies tells us that he was asked to undertake this history by the current mayor because he, Davies, was neither a "Pole nor a German", thus implying a more balanced perspective. In comparison with other histories of Wroclaw, I think he has succeeded. Teresa Kulak's beautifully illustrated "Wroclaw" (1998) in the splendid series "A to Polska wlasnie" (and incidentally not mentioned by the authors) is told very much from a Polish point of view. There is also some intemperate writing in chapter 8 which perhaps indicates Davies' sympathy for Polish feelings towards their mighty eastern neighbour but there is also a generous assessment of the German contribution to Breslau's cultural life. I thoroughly approve of their practice of quoting literary extracts both in German and Polish. However, the lack of a proper bibliography is a drawback.
The city is full of magical corners. My favourite is the turning at the top of Szewska towards the university. Behind you is the Ossolineum, (previously the monastery of the Knights of the Red Star), to your right the Church of Jesus (1700), to your left Dom Steffensa (early 18th century) and ahead of you the university building (1740). The sight is a pure vision of the city's past uncluttered by any modern accretions. It is the image I shall always carry around with me. "Microcosm" should win new friends for Wroclaw but such friends need patience; Wroclaw is a place which grows on you - slowly.

At last the story of Breslau/Wroclaw in English!
I am the son of a refugee/expellee from Breslau, Silesia. There must be several tens of thousands of us living now in England who are the issue of British serviceman in post-war occupied Germany returning home with German brides, uprooted from their homes and family in the lost eastern provinces and looking to start a new life. For people like us, this book is a MUST, as it unravels much of the mystery and trauma surrounding our origins. Hitherto, I have had to master German and make extensive use of Amazon.de to obtain any kind of illuminating information. The appearance of this book a few years earlier could have saved me a lot of this effort! The premise of the title that a very significant part of European history in the last 1000 years has taken place in and around Breslau seems entirely justified to me. The story demands to be read! I'm sure the Polish version of this book will be very popular in Wroclaw as the people there must be equally keen to clear up some of the mystery surrounding the former German city of Breslau in which they now live.
Occasionally there are logical lapses in the book, such as when the description of a siege of Breslau during Fredericks Silesion campaign apparently culminates in the relief of Schweidnitz! I also wish there had been a detailed map of Silesia provided to accompany the text.
Overall, I think this book fills a huge gap in European history. I find it has helped me to understand the work of Gunter Grass and his Danzig experience better. I hope it leads to an increased interest in things Silesian. Perhaps, then, English translations of Horst Bienek's Gleiwitz Tetralogy, concerning life in Upper Silesia 1939 - 1945 may yet appear!.

Captures the atmosphere and turmoil
Marginally overlong at 500 pages, this book captures the atmosphere and turmoil of this Central European city, in an area that is still largely unknown to most Westerners. This is useful and interesting reading, particularly relevant as the borders of "united" Europe are now moving eastwards.