A Short History of Germany, Vol. 1 (Classic Reprint) - Tapa blanda

Excerpt from A Short History of Germany, Vol. 1

If we look for striking personalities and events, the reigns of Frederick the Great and Of William I. Were Of supreme importance to Europe, and, as was not the case with Louis XIV. And Napoleon, their acquisitions were of a permanent character. All in all, it has seemed to me that I could engage in no more thankful occupation than in writing the history of Germany the more so as German treatments of the subject presuppose more knowledge than is usually to be found in the American reader, and as no other American writer has ever attempted the task. The work of Lewis, founded on an antiquated German text-book, does not fulfil the most modest demands.

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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from A Short History of Germany, Vol. 1

Germany stands in the centre of Europe, and on her soil all the great international struggles have been fought, - the Thirty Years' War, the early campaigns of the Spanish Succession War, the Seven Years' War, the gigantic wars against Napoleon. It is the custom for modern educators to recommend the study of the history of France as a guiding thread through the intricacies of general European history; but is this choice justifiable? The two great, omnipresent factors of the whole mediæval period are the Papacy and the Empire; the Empire was German from the ninth to the nineteenth century, - from the days of Charlemagne until the days of Francis II., - and the Empire interfered in the affairs of the Papacy and of Italy far more than did France. When we come to the period of the Reformation, surely Luther and his kind were more prominent than the French reformers, and the Emperor Charles V. had more to do with the affairs of Europe than any of the French kings. In the Thirty Years' War, larger interests were at stake than in the Huguenot struggles, and the German Peace of Westphalia necessitated a recasting of the whole map of Europe. Louis XIV., it is true, gave the tone to the high society of his age, and French was almost universally spoken and written at the German courts; but this influence was neither very deep nor very beneficial.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.