In the first decade of the 20th century,

Imperial Germany ranked alongside the top nations of the world

in fields as diverse as science, art, education, and of course military power.

Pretty good for a country that was only 30 years old.

Two areas in which Germany was an acknowledged leader were

philosophy and music. The titan of German philosophy was Friedrich Nietzsche, who passed

away in 1900, but whose work was and is still carefully studied and debated. The big

name in music in Germany in 1900 was Richard Strauss.

In 1896, in a happy confluence, Richard Strauss composed a tone poem based on Nietzsche's

Alzo-Sprach-Saratustra. The opening bars of that work remain among the most recognizable music in the classical canon.

Welcome to Germany, a country on the move, and welcome to the history of the 20th century.

The 20th Century The

The Episode 2, A Place in the Sun.

Germany in 1901 was the greatest, most advanced country in the world as measured by any conceivable

metric.

Hey, you don't have to take my word for it.

Go ask any 1901 German.

A lot of Germans felt that way.

And while Germany may not have exactly been number one in

everything, it certainly was a country to be reckoned with in most areas. In 1901, Germany was highly

industrialized and its economy was growing faster than Britain's than the richest country in the

world. Germany had twice as many college graduates

...