Well, it’s been awhile. To say that 2024 was not good for reading is a large understatement. Which is why it’s a surprise that at the end of it, the thing that captured my attention was Peter H Wilson’s mammoth 700 page history of the Holy Roman Empire. I loved his book on the Thirty Years War and so at some point picked this up.

What a fantastic read, though perhaps not for the faint of heart. It’s such a wonderful deconstruction of all the critiques of the Holy Roman Empire, showing over and over again how it was still a dynamic institution right up to its dissolution in 1806 (spoiler, because of Napoleon). Critiques started early because it contrasted with the rise of nationalism and consolidation of nation states in the late nineteenth century. As a massive multilingual, multi-regional, hierarchical, corporatist society, it just didn’t fit the narrative of that time. What I also found interesting is that through understanding the empire, it undercuts lots of other national narratives, to the extent that I wondered how do they teach this in Czechia or Austria, given the dominance of the Hapsburgs in those areas for so long.

I also have a new favourite random historical oddity, and that is the King’s German Legion. Essentially, because the Kings of England were also the electors of Hanover, some of the soldiers and officers came to England after the occupation of that area by Napoleon. It is definitely on my inappropriate uses of a time machine to go see what the King’s German Legion looked like for it’s brief live in England. It is one of those historical oddities due to the different dynastic holdings that made up the Empire.

I’m now slightly obsessed with visiting Regensburg and various other places that I haven’t been in Germany (and elsewhere) that played host to various significant events. I’ve been to some others like Aachen (where Charlemagne was crowned, amongst others) but I want to go back and just look at it with new eyes. This summer I went to Prague and finally saw the defenestration window (if you know, you know). The best part of living in Europe is the opportunity to be an unrepentant history nerd and go touch all the old things.

Hopefully this is a good first step to more reading in 2025.