Outside Germany, little is known about this. Inside Germany, it is part of almost every family's history.

All in all, by 1950, between twelve and fourteen million Germans had either fled or been forced from their homes in Central and Eastern Europe. Most had nowhere to go. Outside Germany, little is known about this. Inside Germany, it is part of almost every family's history.

N. MacGregor, Germany: memories of a nation (2014), 477 

So the whole of Bismarck's career absolutely rested on the longevity of the old man

Bismarck was able to achieve all this not just because he was a shrewd politician, but because Kaiser Wilhelm lived for ninety-one years, as Jonathan Steinberg explains:

'Wilhelm I was born in 1797. Had he lived his biblical three score and ten, he would have died in 1867, before the unification of Germany. Friedrich III would have come to the throne as a youngish man and he would have fired Bismarck. He in fact did not come to the throne in 1867, nor in 1877, nor in 1887, because the old man would not die, and as long as Wilhelm I was there - he died in March 1888 at the age of ninety-one - Bismarck had a job. So the whole of Bismarck's career absolutely rested on the longevity of the old man.' 

N. MacGregor, Germany: memories of a nation (2014), 394

For they are cities free. Where Bismarck has no right to be

As late as the 1880s, even though the Hansa was long gone, it is said that children would chant: 'Hamburg, Lubeck and Bremen. No one can shame 'em. For they are cities free. Where Bismarck has no right to be.'

N. MacGregor, Germany: memories of a nation (2014), 244

It is hard to domesticate an emu, and no-one ever rode a kangaroo into battle

The zoological lottery that Jared Diamond describes - the pure chance of whether your local animals can be domesticated - enormously favoured Europe and Asia. Australia, by contrast drew a very short straw. It is hard to domesticate an emu, and no-one ever rode a kangaroo into battle. The Americas were almost as badly off, but they did have the llama. Llamas cannot compete with horses for speed, or donkeys for pack power; they also have an infuriating habit, when tired, of just stopping and refusing to move. But they are extraordinarily well adapted to high altitude; they cope well with the cold and can forage for their own food; they cab provide wool, meat and manure; and, although they cannot carry people, a healthy llama can comfortably transport about 30 kilograms of goods.

N. MacGregor, A history of the world in 100 objects (2010), 403
[73: Inca gold llama]

If you take a historical view, it is bureaucracy that sees you through the rocky patches

Modern politicians proudly announce their desire to sweep away bureaucracy. The contemporary prejudice is that it slows you down, clogs things up; but if you take a historical view, it is bureaucracy that sees you through the rocky patches and enables the state to survive. Bureaucracy is not evidence of inertia ... it can be life-saving continuity - and nowhere is that clearer than China. China is the longest surviving state in the world and it is no coincidence that it has the longest tradition of bureaucracy

N. MacGregor, A history of the world in 100 objects (2010), 395
[71: Tughra of Suleiman the Magnificent]

We've been foodies as long as we've been farmers

Constant harvesting of the grain encouraged the plants to grow larger and more abundantly, so maize quickly became plentiful - farmers generally got a healthy return on their invested labour. Crucially, maize is a rich carbohydrate that gives you a rapid energy hit. Unfortunately, it is also pretty stodgy, and so from very early on farmers cultivated an ingenious accompaniment - the indigenous chilli. It has limited nutritional value, but it is uniquely able to liven up dull carbohydrates - and its development and widespread use across Central America is a resounding demonstration that we've been foodies as long as we've been farmers.

N. MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 objects (2010), 47 [9: Maya maize god statue]