The German Empire was founded in triumph in 1871 and crashed in disaster at the end of the First World War. Imperial Germany focuses on the domestic political developments of the period, putting them into context through a balanced guide of economic and social background, culture and foreign policy. It explores the tension caused within an empire that was formed through war, against the prevailing liberal spirit of the age.

* Recent debates on the topic are made accessible to English-speaking readers, and the book summarizes the important controversies and competing interpretations of imperial German history. This important study poses many questions:

* Was the desire to unify Germany the cause of the aggressive foreign policy leading to the First World War?

* To what extent was Bismarck's Second Reich the forerunner of Hitler's Third?

* Did Bismark's authoritarian rule permanently hinder the political development of Germany?

Chronologically structured, Imperial Germany provides indispensable background reading on an important chapter in German history.