This monumental work recasts five centuries of German history by exploring how Germans have both shaped and been shaped by the wider world. Blackbourn demonstrates that a distinctly German presence existed internationally long before national unification, as merchants, soldiers, and intellectuals ventured abroad, often blending into the empires of others rather than building their own. The book transforms familiar events—the Reformation, the 1848 Revolution, the rise and fall of the Nazi regime—by situating them within broader global currents, and uncovers less-known episodes, such as Germany’s leading role in the creation of modern universities and its involvement in the slave trade.

Blackbourn’s narrative highlights Germany’s “soft power,” from cultural and scientific achievements to the spread of educational models like the kindergarten and the university, as well as its darker legacies of colonial violence and complicity in global exploitation. He also explores how Germany was shaped by global influences, including waves of migration and the absorption of foreign ideas, especially in the postwar era. The final chapters address Germany’s transformation after 1949, its reconciliation with liberal democracy, and the ongoing questions about identity and diversity in a globalized world.