Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights:#1 The year that Napoleon was finally defeated was also the year that Otto von Bismarck was born: 1815. His childhood was heavily influenced by the stories of the struggle against the French. When Napoleon’s army inflicted a humiliating defeat on Prussia in the twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt in 1806, it subjugated all Prussians to French overlordship.#2 The Battle of Leipzig in October 1813 was the climax of the German people’s fight against Napoleon’s troops. It was a milestone on the path to nationhood, and the German people were said to have risen against their French oppressors.#3 The Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815, which was the end of Napoleon’s rule in Europe, did not have the same impact on German national psyche as it did on British or French collective memory. The German tricolour was born in the Battle of the Nations, in the heart of German lands.#4 The Congress of Vienna, which took place in Austria in 1814–15, was where the Prussian block of territory along the Rhine River was allocated to them. Prussian influence now stretched across the entire northern half of Germany.