To provide you with an overview of political, social, and cultural developments in Germany from the period immediately preceding the French Revolution of 1789, via the Napoleonic wars, the French occupation, the restoration of Germany after 1815, to the rise of socialism in the period leading up to the failed German revolution of March 1848; to locate within this historical framework key movements and currents in the history of ideas in Germany; to study in detail a selection of key literary texts from the German national cultural tradition as mediators of the central ideas and debates of the period; to further skills in literary critical analysis learned in the first year of your course.