German History

German history is a story of shifting centres: emperors and princes, cities and courts, later a modern state that moves fast and hits hard. This collection is in chronological order, so you can follow how older imperial structures give way to modern nationhood and then to the pressures of industrial war.

It begins in the medieval world, where legitimacy is built through titles, alliances, law, and faith, and where “Germany” is a set of power networks more than a single country. From there, it moves into the nineteenth century, where unification becomes a political project with real borders, real institutions, and real rivals.

The collection then shifts into the era of empire and breakdown, and into the early twentieth century, when modern science and modern state power become inseparable. These episodes sit with the uncomfortable fact that technical brilliance can serve both nourishment and destruction, and that ideas can travel even when people are forced to flee.

It closes in the Second World War and its aftermath, when Germany’s choices reshape Europe and the wider world, and when the postwar scramble pulls people, knowledge, and institutions into new alignments. Start anywhere in the show. Choose a person who interests you and press play.