Along with Britain, a new powerhouse emerged in Europe in the wake of the Battle of Waterloo (1815). The Napoleonic wars had succeeded in igniting a strong sense of German nationalism which would lead, under the political ruthlessness of Bismark and the military acumen of von Moltke, to the constitution of the second German Empire. The dream of a strong Germany, however, was markedly short-lived. Within less than fifty years, the emperor Wilhelm II had fled the country whilst a belittled and humiliated Germany was being held fully responsible for the outbreak of the Great War (1914-18). How could the most industrially advanced and militarily formidable country in continental Europe meet such an inglorious end? What flaws undermined the fragile international network of alliances known as the Bismarckian system? To what extent did the indefatigable French revanche play a role in the ultimate demise of Imperial Germany? This short class seeks to explore the rise and fall of Imperial Germany between 1871 and 1918. Lectures style followed by class discussion.