Germany and the Holy Roman Empire: Volume II: The Peace of Westphalia to the Dissolution of the Reich, 1648-1806

by Joachim Whaley

Overview

Germany and the Holy Roman Empire offers a striking new interpretation of a crucial era in German and European history, from the great reforms of 1495-1500 to the dissolution of the Reich in 1806. Over two volumes, Joachim Whaley rejects the notion that this was a long period of decline, and shows instead how imperial institutions developed in response to the crises of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, notably the Reformation and Thirty Years War. The impact of international developments on the Reich is also examined.

Volume II begins with the Peace of Westphalia and concludes with the dissolution of the Reich. Whaley analyses the remarkable resurgence of the Reich after the Thirty Years War, which saw the Habsburg emperors achieve a new position of power and influence and which enabled the Reich to withstand the military threats posed by France and the Turks in the later seventeenth century. He gives a rich account of topics such as Pietism and baroque Catholicism, the German enlightenment, and the impact on the Empire and its territories of the French Revolution and Napolean. Whaley emphasizes the continuing viability of the Reich's institutions to the end, and the vitality of a political culture of freedom that has been routinely underestimated by historians of modern Germany.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199688838
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/01/2013
Series:	Oxford History of Early Modern Europe
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	784
Sales rank:	1,025,032
Product dimensions:	10.10(w) x 6.80(h) x 1.90(d)

About the Author

Joachim Whaley is Senior Lecturer in German, Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages, University of Cambridge. Whaley read History at Christ's College Cambridge. He held Fellowships in History at Christ's College and Robinson College before becoming a Lecturer in German in the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages at Cambridge, where he teaches German history, thought, and language. He is the author of Religious Toleration and Social Change in Hamburg 1529-1819 and of numerous articles on early modern and modern German history. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 1984.

Table of Contents

Preface to Volume III. Reconstruction and Resurgence 1648-1705: the Reich under Ferdinand III and Leopold I1. Historians and the Reich after the Thirty Years War2. The Last Years of Ferdinand III: Western Leagues and Northern Wars3. From Ferdinand III to Leopold I4. Leopold I and his Foreign Enemies5. A New Turkish Threat6. Renewed Conflict with France7. The Emperor, the Perpetual Reichstag, the Kreise, and Imperial Justice8. Imperial Networks: the Reichskirche and the Imperial Cities9. The Imperial Court at Vienna and Dynastic Elevations in the Reich10. The Nature of the Reich: Projects and Culture11. Interpretations of the Leopoldine ReicII. Consolidation and Crisis 1705-1740: the Reich under Joseph I and Charles VI12. Two Wars and Three Emperors13. Leopold I, Joseph I, and the War of Spanish Succession14. Joseph I and the Government of the Reich15. Charles VI: Fruition or Decline? 16. Conflicting Priorities: c.1714 - c.173017. Charles VI and the Government of the Reich18. The Return of Confessional Politics? 19. The Problem of the Austrian Succession20. The Ebb of Imperial Power 1733-1740? 21. The Reich in PrintIII. The German Territories, c. 1648-c.174022. An Age of Absolutism? 23. Contemporary Perceptions: From Reconstruction to Early Enlightenment24. The Smaller Territories25. Austria and Brandenburg-Prussia26. The Revival of the Court and the Development of Territorial Government27. The Court: its Culture, its Functions, and its Critics28. The Development of Military Power29. Princes and Estates30. An Oppressed Peasantry? 31. Government and Society32. Government and Economic Development33. Public and Private Enterprise34. Christian Polities: Baroque Catholicism35. Christian Polities: the Territories of the Reichskirche36. Christian Polities: Protestant Orthodoxy and Renewal37. From Coexistence to Toleration? 38. Enlightenment and PatriotismIV. Decline or Maturity? The Reich from Charles VII to Leopold II, c. 1740-179239. Three Emperors and a King40. Silesian Wars, 1740-176341. Managing the Reich without the Habsburgs: Charles VII (1742-45)42. The Return of the Habsburgs: Francis I (1745-1765)43. The Reich without Enemies? Germany and Europe 1763-179244. Renewal: Joseph II 1765-c.177645. The Great Reform Debate: Joseph II c. 1778-179046. Restoration: Leopold II 1790-9247. Central and Intermediate Institutions of the Reich48. The Reich, the Public Sphere, and the NationV. The German Territories after c. 176049. Enlightenment and the Problem of Reform50. Crisis and Opportunity51. The Challenge of the Enlightenment and the Public Sphere52. Protestant, Catholic and Jewish Aufklarung53. Aufklarung and Government54. Cameralism, Physiocracy, and the Provisioning of Society55. Economic Policy: Manufactures, Guilds, Welfare, and Taxation56. Administration, Law, and Justice57. Education and Toleration58. Courts and Culture59. The Impact of Reform: Immunity against Revolution? VI. War and Dissolution: the Reich 1792-180660. Ruptures and Continuities61. The Reich in the Revolutionary Wars62. Reverberations of the French Revolution: Unrest and Uprisings63. Reverberations of the French Revolution: Intellectuals64. Schemes for the Reform of the Reich in the 1790s65. The Peace of Luneville (1801) and the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss (1803)66. The Transformation of the Reich 1803-0567. Final Attempts at Reform and the Dissolution of the Reich 1806ConclusionGlossaryBibliographyIndex

Editorial Reviews

"Joachim Whaley crowns a long generation's work of demystifying the empire's history with these two large, learned, and impressive volumes...[A] magnificent achievement."—Journal of Modern History

"Whaley's account is one of the best works on early modern German history. From the first page to the last, it shows how German history can be presented as both a history of Emperor and Empire, and a history of common culture. It will immediately establish itself as a standard guide to its subject."—Georg Schmidt, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena

"These two volumes offer an historical survey of roughly three centuries such as I have never before encountered. Joachim Whaley has produced a masterpiece. He has not overlooked anything at all. The two volumes are perfectly researched and the price of 130€ is more than reasonable. Anyone interested in modern history and in particular the history of Germany must read this work."—Fachbuch Kritik (review of the German edition)

"[A] pleasure to read...Whaley shows how the efforts to create an intellectual and political framework in the pre-constitutional era had lasting effects to the present."—Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (review of the German edition)

"[A] great achievement that he has introduced the English-speaking public to German history before the twentieth century in such a comprehensive manner and that he shows so decisively how the old national narrative has been revised. The sheer volume of the material that he employs also commands respect."—Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (review of the German edition)

"The new standard work on the period in which people still spoke of 'German liberties.'"—Die Zeit (review of the German edition)

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