Originally published in 1930. This book is not intended to be a discussion on German history, but to talk about its epochs, a period in which some fresh beginning is made, some fresh determining element enters, some event occurs to give a new direction to the course of history. The book is concerned with the critical moments of German history, the turning points in its course. Those are what we want to consider, wnd also to select as points of vantage from which we may survey the development of the German nation, viewing the panorama section by section.