Herbert Schutz, The Prehistory of Germanic Europe (1983), offers a good, well-illustrated general account of the early period. Tim Cornell and John Matthews, Atlas of the Roman World (1982, reissued 1987), clarifies with maps and illustrations the social and economic background of Roman-German interaction. Peter John Heather Merovingians and Carolingians
Patrick J. Geary, Before France and Germany: The Creation and Transformation of the Merovingian World (1988), examines the period from the perspective of the unity of late antiquity. Rosamond McKitterick, The Frankish Kingdoms Under the Carolingians, 751–987 (1983), presents a general survey of Carolingian Europe, with an emphasis on cultural history. Patrick J. Geary Medieval Germany to 1250
G. Barraclough, The Origins of Modern Germany, 3rd ed. (1988), is a good analysis of medieval German history. General surveys include Alfred Haverkamp, Medieval Germany, 1056–1273, 2nd ed. (1992; originally published in German, 1984); and Timothy Reuter, Germany in the Early Middle Ages, c. 800–1056 (1991). K.J. Leyser, Rule and Conflict in an Early Medieval Society: Ottonian Saxony (1979, reissued 1989), explores the main forces of development of the Saxon empire and its society from 900 to 1024, and Leyser’s Medieval Germany and Its Neighbours, 900–1250 (1982) studies warfare, the nobility, and German-Byzantine and German-English relations. A comprehensive German-language survey covering the Middle Ages is Friedrich Prinz, Grundlagen und Anfänge: Deutschland bis 1056, 2nd ed., rev. (1993). K.J. Leyser From 1250 to 1493
Joachim Leuschner, Germany in the Late Middle Ages (1980; originally published in German, 1975), provides a basic introduction to political history. Studies of regional and local developments include Philippe Dollinger, The German Hansa, trans. and ed. by D.S. Ault and H. Steinberg (1970, reissued 1999; originally published in French, 1964); and Otto Brunner, Land and Lordship: Structures of Governance in Medieval Austria, trans. by Howard Kaminsky and James Van Horn Melton (1992; trans. from the German 4th, rev. ed., 1959). A valuable supplement is the more complex F.R.H. Du Boulay, Germany in the Later Middle Ages (1983). Gerhart Hoffmeister (ed.), The Renaissance and Reformation in Germany: An Introduction (1977), offers a fine overview of intellectual life; and Michael Baxandall, South German Sculpture, 1480–1530 (1974), is a masterly work on the extraordinary flowering of German sculpture. Lawrence G. Duggan From 1493 to c. 1760
An excellent guide to this period is Thomas A. Brady, Jr., Heiko A. Oberman, and James D. Tracy (eds.), Handbook of European History, 1400–1600: Late Middle Ages, Renaissance, and Reformation, 2 vol. (1994–95). Bob Scribner and Sheilagh Ogilvie (eds.), Germany: A New Social and Economic History, 2 vol. (1996), is a good collection on the society and economy of the Renaissance and Reformation. Heiko A. Oberman, Luther: Man Between God and the Devil (1989, reissued 1992; originally published in German, 1982), is a psychologically compelling biography of the Reformer. Peter Blickle, The Revolution of 1525: The German Peasants’ War from a New Perspective (1981, reissued 1985; originally published in German, 1975), stresses the common grievances that brought peasants and the urban poor together in what the author calls “the revolution of the common man.” Thomas A. Brady, Jr., The Politics of the Reformation in Germany: Jacob Sturm (1489–1553) of Strasbourg (1997), tells the story of Reformation politics from the perspective of an important Protestant statesman. Merry E. Wiesner, Working Women in Renaissance Germany (1986), offers a pioneering examination of the changing situation of women engaged in trades and professions between 1500 and 1600. Geoffrey Parker (ed.), The Thirty Years’ War, 2nd rev. ed. (1997), surveys the military, political, social, and cultural aspects of the war. R.J.W. Evans, The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1550–1700: An Interpretation (1979, reprinted 1991), analyzes the events leading to the construction of the Austrian empire in central and eastern Europe. Gerald Strauss James J. Sheehan From c. 1760 to 1871
A good survey of the period is James J. Sheehan, German History, 1770–1866 (1989, reissued 1993). David Blackbourn, The Long Nineteenth Century: A History of Germany, 1780–1918 (also published as Fontana History of Germany, 1780–1918: The Long Nineteenth Century, 1997), covers Germany’s emergence as a nation-state. The best account of Germany’s place in the international system is Paul W. Schroeder, The Transformation of European Politics, 1763–1848 (1994, reissued 1996).
A good account of central Europe during the Enlightenment is C.B.A. Behrens, Society, Government, and the Enlightenment: The Experiences of Eighteenth-Century France and Prussia (1985), which presents a comparative history of the events and developments that led to revolution in France and stabilization in Germany. Enno Kraehe, Metternich’s German Policy, 2 vol. (1963–83), describes the Wars of Liberation; while Harold Nicolson, The Congress of Vienna: A Study in Allied Unity, 1812–1822 (1946, reissued 2000), deals with the reconstruction of Europe.
For the period of the German Confederation, the classic Heinrich von Treitschke, Treitschke’s History of Germany in the Nineteenth Century, trans. by Eden Paul and Cedar Paul, 7 vol. (1915–19; also published as History of Germany in the Nineteenth Century, 1915–19, reissued 1968; originally published in German, 5 vol., 1879–89), is a vigorous but opinionated account. A more balanced and up-to-date overview of this period is Thomas Nipperdey, Germany from Napoleon to Bismarck, 1800–1866 (1996; originally published in German, 1983). Jonathan Sperber, Rhineland Radicals: The Democratic Movement and the Revolution of 1848–1849 (1991, reprinted 1993), provides a good analysis of the revolution’s social origins and political meaning in western Germany.
Otto Pflanze, Bismarck and the Development of Germany, 2nd ed., 3 vol. (1990), portrays the architect of the new Germany and his impact on the European balance of power. An excellent work on the Franco-Prussian war is Michael Howard, The Franco-Prussian War: The German Invasion of France, 1870–71, 2nd ed. (2001). Theodore S. Hamerow James J. Sheehan From 1871 to 1918
A general historical survey of the period is Hans-Ulrich Wehler, The German Empire, 1871–1918 (1985, reissued 1997; originally published in German, 1973), which stresses the continuity between the empire and the Nazi era. David Blackbourn and Geoff Eley, The Peculiarities of German History: Bourgeois Society and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Germany (1984), explores the connection between economics and politics in the German Empire. James J. Sheehan, German Liberalism in the Nineteenth Century (1978, reissued 1995), analyzes the activities of the two liberal parties on the local and national levels and describes their growing acceptance of the empire. Margaret Lavinia Anderson, Practicing Democracy: Elections and Political Culture in Imperial Germany (2000), examines the relationship between political participation and authority from 1867 to 1914. Roger Chickering (ed.), Imperial Germany: A Historiographical Companion (1996), is a useful guide to further reading.