NAPOLEON UND DIE DEUTSCHEN shows that it was, of all people, a foreign emperor—the French ruler who dominated the continent for a century—who catapulted the Germans into their national era through conquest and reform. Bonaparte, in collaboration with the German princes, put an end to the Old Empire and its territorial fragmentation. Fundamental changes take place—both with and against Napoleon. In the end, larger German states emerge from the territorial fragmentation. As a reformer, Napoleon sows the desire for freedom; as a tyrant, he awakens German national sentiment. Hardly any emperor before him has ever contributed so much to bringing the Germans closer together. Against his will, he becomes the awakener of the “nation.”
