The unification of Germany, 1866-1871 -- The institutional structure of the empire -- The consolidation of the empire : politics and economics, 1871-1879 -- Ideology and interest : the limitations of diplomacy, 1871-1890 -- The campaign against social democracy and Bismarck's fall, 1879-1890 -- Religion, education, and the arts -- The new course and the deterioration of Germany's foreign position, 1890-1897 -- Political parties, interest groups, and the failure of the Reichstag, 1890-1914 -- Weltpolitik, navalism, and the coming of the war, 1897-1914 -- The Great War, 1914-1918 -- From Kiel to Kapp : the aborted revolution, 1918-1920 -- Reparations, inflation, and the crisis of 1923 -- Weimar culture -- Party politics and foreign policy, 1924-1930 -- The end of Weimar -- The Nazi dictatorship : the instruments of power -- The Nazi revolution : economic and social developments -- Cultural decline and political resistance -- Hitler and Europe : foreign policy, 1933-1939 -- Hitler's war, 1939-1945.