CIMA Revision Cards Fundamentals of Ethics, Corporate Governance and Business Law Book

Pulled out this title after reading a survey of Polish history by Zamoyski and desirous for more history of central Europe. Koch delivers a sweeping history of white-washed acts of Prussian nobility and not much else. It begins with the establishment of the Teutonic Order and ends roughly with the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. He dwells awhile on Frederick the Great and his sire, spending a lot of print on the magnificence of the Prussian military organization and its exploits, especially when fighting Napoleon's war machine. Koch gives short shrift to the Baltic crusades and the initial division of Poland, so a context with its neighbors other than adversarial is hugely lacking. Koch ignores all aspects of trade and economics except in the vaguest of references, and no mention of culture and arts but for military architecture. Religion gets a fair share of references though. I found the book lacking clarification of many huge, momentous blocks of historical periods (medieval, baroque, classical, modern), and of Prussia's contributions to each. I was left with more questions than nuanced answers provided. Unification of German princedoms/kingdoms into a single country was brief and glossy, presumably the reader comes to the book with all this knowledge beforehand. The modern period gets the least coverage, and nothing about the Soviet overrunning of stubborn Prussian defences or the fate of Konigsberg, now Kaliningrad. This book, like all similar history surveys, sorely lacks lots of 3-color maps and detailed timelines with comparisons of neighbors. The only mention of Prussia's WWII contribution is the apology that many of the conspirators to the assassination of Hitler was orchestrated and carried out by Prussian officers. Yay...??

I'm giving away this title and searching for a more balanced and rounded history of this important player in European history.