History
Ancient Germany
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.
Surveys of foreign relations include Paul M. Kennedy, The Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism, 1860–1914 (1980, reprinted 1987); and Fritz Fischer, Germany’s Aims in the First World War (1967, reissued 1977; originally published in German, 1961), a pioneering study of the culpability of German elites in the outbreak of World War I.
Economic developments of the period are surveyed in Fritz Stern, Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichröder, and the Building of the German Empire (1977, reissued 1987). Cultural and social issues are addressed in Fritz Stern, The Politics of Cultural Despair: A Study in the Rise of the Germanic Ideology (1961, reprinted 1974), a study of intellectuals’ disenchantment with modern industrial society and their hopes for a spiritual revolution. The history of German socialism is detailed in Gary P. Steenson, “Not One Man! Not One Penny!”: German Social Democracy, 1863–1914 (1981), a comprehensive treatment of the Social Democratic Party from its origins to the war; and in Jürgen Kocka, Facing Total War: German Society, 1914–1918 (1984; originally published in German, 1973), an examination of the effects of World War I on different social groups. Ute Frevert, Women in German History: From Bourgeois Emancipation to Sexual Liberation (1989, reissued 1993; originally published in German, 1986), is a fine survey of this important area of research. A good introduction to Germany at war is Roger Chickering, Imperial Germany and the Great War, 1914–1918 (1998).
Kenneth Barkin James J. Sheehan From 1918 to 1945
Dietrich Orlow, A History of Modern Germany: 1871 to Present, 4th ed. (1999), offers a good survey of Germany’s difficult 20th century. Hans Mommsen, The Rise and Fall of Weimar Democracy, trans. by Elborg Forster and Larry Eugene Jones (1996; originally published in German, 1989), is a fine synthesis of the republic’s tragic history. The definitive study of the hyperinflation in Germany following World War I is Gerald D. Feldman, The Great Disorder: Politics, Economics, and Society in the German Inflation, 1914–1924 (1993, reissued 1997). Peter Gay, Weimar Culture: The Outsider as Insider (1968, reprinted 1988), provides a stimulating introduction to the cultural and intellectual brilliance of Germany during the 1920s. An excellent guide to further reading on Weimar culture is Anton Kaes, Martin Jay, and Edward Dimendberg (eds.), The Weimar Republic Sourcebook (1994). Ian Kershaw, Hitler, 1889–1936: Hubris (1998, reissued 2000), and Hitler, 1936–45: Nemesis (2000), together constitute the definitive biography of the dictator. A comprehensive study of National Socialism emphasizing the totalitarian nature of the regime is available in Karl Dietrich Bracher, The German Dictatorship: The Origins, Structure, and Effects of National Socialism (1970, reissued 1980; originally published in German, 1969). The standard work on Nazi foreign policy is Gerhard L. Weinberg, The Foreign Policy of Hitler’s Germany: Diplomatic Revolution in Europe, 1933–36 (1970, reissued 1994), and The Foreign Policy of Hitler’s Germany: Starting World War II, 1937–1939 (1980, reissued 1994). One of the best single-volume treatments of World War II is Gerhard L.Weinberg, A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II (1994). Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the European Jews, rev. ed., 3 vol. (1985), remains the standard and most comprehensive study of the efforts by the Nazis to exterminate the Jewish people; Saul Friedländer, Nazi Germany and the Jews (1997– ), is an important newer study. Michael Berenbaum (ed.), Witness to the Holocaust (1997), contains 94 basic documents on 21 major themes, from the Nazi rise to power to the Nürnberg trials, including consideration of the non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, Hitler’s Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust (1996), is a controversial interpretation of culpability for the Holocaust.
Karl A. Schleunes James J. Sheehan After 1945
A survey of the history of both German states is V.R. Berghahn, Modern Germany: Society, Economy, and Politics in the Twentieth Century, 2nd ed. (1987, reissued 1993). A more detailed account of West Germany’s development is Dennis L. Bark and David R. Gress, A History of West Germany, 2nd ed., 2 vol. (1993). A good account of the Soviet role in East Germany is Norman M. Naimark, The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945–1949 (1995). Another analysis of East Germany is Mary Fulbrook, Anatomy of a Dictatorship: Inside the GDR, 1949–1989 (1995, reissued 1997). The Federal Republic’s eastern policy of the 1970s is analyzed in Timothy Garton Ash, In Europe’s Name: Germany and the Divided Continent (1993). An excellent treatment of the collapse of East Germany is Charles S. Maier, Dissolution: The Crisis of Communism and the End of East Germany (1997, reissued 1999). Also of value are Jarausch’s work on German reunification, cited above among other works on government; and Philip Zelikow and Condoleezza Rice, Germany Unified and Europe Transformed: A Study in Statecraft (1995, reissued 1997), which traces the diplomatic events leading to German reunification.
Henry Ashby Turner James J. Sheehan 
