This course surveys the history and complexity of the German territories before 1871, noting the close relationship between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Catholic Church and the profound and dividing impact of the Protestant Reformation. Other topics of importance are the revolution of 1848, Bismarck’s unification, German imperialist expansion, the German role in World War I, Weimar culture, the effect of the Great Depression, the rise of National Socialism, World War II, the Holocaust, postwar recovery, separate East and West German development and the positive and negative ramifications of German reunification.