Chapter I: Preface

When I assented to the request of the publishers that I would edit a new edition of the History of Germany, and write an additional chapter finishing the work down to the present date, I was fully aware of both my own shortcomings and the difficulty of the task. That I undertook it, nevertheless, is because I was strongly tempted to perform what I considered, in my case, an act of piety. Being naturally familiar with the aim and style of this book, I have tried to compile a new chapter in the simple narrative fashion by which the History has commended itself to its readers.

In his "Introductory Words" to the original edition the author says: "The History of Germany is not the history of a nation, but of a race. It has little unity, therefore it is complicated, broken, and attached on all sides to the histories of other countries. In its earlier periods it covers the greater part of Europe, and does not return exclusively to Germany until after France, Spain, England and the Italian States have been founded. Thus, even before the fall of the Roman Empire, it becomes the main trunk out of which branch the histories of nearly all European nations, and must of necessity be studied as the connecting link between ancient and modern history. The records of no other race throw so much light upon the development of all civilized lands during a period of fifteen hundred years.

"My aim has been to present a clear, continuous narrative, omitting no episode of importance, yet preserving a distinct line of connection from century to century. Besides referring to all the best authorities, I have based my labors mainly upon three recent German works--that of Dittmar, as the fullest; of Von Rochau, as the most impartial; and of Dr. David Mueller, as the most readable. By constructing an entirely new narrative from these, compressing the material into less than half the space which each occupies, and avoiding the interruptions and changes by which all are characterized, I hope to have made this History convenient and acceptable to our schools."

The book is, indeed, eminently fitted for use in the higher grades of schools. But the scope, comprehensiveness, and style of the work make it in no less a degree inviting and attractive to the general reader.

The material for the preparation of the additional chapter was difficult of access, since the history of the last twenty years is on record chiefly in monographs and in the public press. The best guide I have found is the "Politische Geschichte der Gegenwart," by Prof. Wilhelm Mueller. The author of the present book was fortunate in being able to close it with the glorious events of the years 1870 to 1871, and the birth of the new Empire. The additional chapter has no such ending. It deals with the beginning of a new era, and has to state facts, with an eye to their results in the future.

MARIE HANSEN-TAYLOR.

NEW YORK, _1893_.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

I.--THE ANCIENT GERMANS AND THEIR COUNTRY.
(330 B. C.--70 B. C.) 1

II.--THE WARS OF ROME WITH THE GERMANS.
(70 B. C.--9 A. D.) 10

III.--HERMANN, THE FIRST GERMAN LEADER. (9--21 A. D.) 19

IV.--GERMANY DURING THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES OF OUR
ERA. (21--300 A. D.) 28

V.--THE RISE AND MIGRATIONS OF THE GOTHS. (300--412.) 37

VI.--THE INVASION OF THE HUNS, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES.
(412--472.) 47

VII.--THE RISE AND FALL OF THE OSTROGOTHS. (472--570.) 55

VIII.--EUROPE, AT THE END OF THE MIGRATION OF THE RACES. (570.) 63

IX.--THE KINGDOM OF THE FRANKS. (486--638.) 71

X.--THE DYNASTY OF THE ROYAL STEWARDS. (638--768.) 80

XI.--THE REIGN OF CHARLEMAGNE. (768--814.) 92

XII.--THE EMPERORS OF THE CAROLINGIAN LINE. (814--911.) 103

XIII.--KING KONRAD, AND THE SAXON RULERS, HENRY I. AND
OTTO THE GREAT. (912--973.) 116

XIV.--THE DECLINE OF THE SAXON DYNASTY. (973--1024.) 130

XV.--THE FRANK EMPERORS, TO THE DEATH OF HENRY IV.
(1024--1106.) 138

XVI.--END OF THE FRANK DYNASTY, AND RISE OF THE HOHENSTAUFENS.
(1106--1152.) 155

XVII.--THE REIGN OF FREDERICK I., BARBAROSSA. (1152--1197.) 164

XVIII.--THE REIGN OF FREDERICK II. AND END OF THE HOHENSTAUFEN
LINE. (1215--1268.) 175

XIX.--GERMANY AT THE TIME OF THE INTERREGNUM. (1256--1273.) 189

XX.--FROM RUDOLF OF HAPSBURG TO LUDWIG THE BAVARIAN.
(1273--1347.) 198

XXI.--THE LUXEMBURG EMPERORS, KARL IV. AND WENZEL.
(1347--1410.) 212

XXII.--THE REIGN OF SIGISMUND AND THE HUSSITE WAR.
(1410--1437.) 222

XXIII.--THE FOUNDATION OF THE HAPSBURG DYNASTY.
(1438--1493.) 235

XXIV.--GERMANY, DURING THE REIGN OF MAXIMILIAN I.
(1493--1519.) 246

XXV.--THE REFORMATION. (1517--1546.) 255

XXVI.--FROM LUTHER'S DEATH TO THE END OF THE 16TH
CENTURY. (1546--1600.) 273

XXVII.--BEGINNING OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. (1600--1625.) 284

XXVIII.--TILLY, WALLENSTEIN AND GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. (1625--1634.) 295

XXIX.--END OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. (1634--1648.) 309

XXX.--GERMANY, TO THE PEACE OF RYSWICK. (1648--1697.) 320

XXXI.--The war of the Spanish succession. (1697--1714.) 331

XXXII.--THE RISE OF PRUSSIA. (1714--1740.) 338

XXXIII.--THE REIGN OF FREDERICK THE GREAT. (1740--1786.) 347

XXXIV.--GERMANY UNDER MARIA THERESA AND JOSEPH II. (1740--1790.) 369

XXXV.--FROM THE DEATH OF JOSEPH II. TO THE END OF
THE GERMAN EMPIRE. (1790--1806.) 377

XXXVI.--GERMANY UNDER NAPOLEON. (1806--1814.) 392

XXXVII.--FROM THE LIBERATION OF GERMANY TO THE YEAR
1848. (1814--1848.) 409

XXXVIII.--THE REVOLUTION OF 1848 AND ITS RESULTS. (1848--1861.) 420

XXXIX.--THE STRUGGLE WITH AUSTRIA; THE NORTH-GERMAN UNION.
(1861--1870.) 429

XL.--THE WAR WITH FRANCE, AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE
GERMAN EMPIRE. (1870--1871.) 437

XLI.--THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE. (1871--1893.) 449

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF GERMAN HISTORY. 462

LIST OF MAPS.

PAGE

Germany under the Caesars 11

The Migrations of the Races, A. D. 500 64

Empire of Charlemagne, with the Partition of the Treaty of Verdun,
A. D. 843 107

Germany under the Saxons and Frank Emperors, Twelfth Century 139

Germany under Napoleon, 1812 401

Metz and Vicinity 441

The German Empire, 1871 446

A HISTORY OF GERMANY.