This course places Germany's long national history in a transnational and global context, exploring its place among the global empires of Britain, Russia, France and the United States from the mid-seventeenth century to the present. Events of the German nation-state's political, social and cultural developments are analyzed through a framework focused on both military expansion and the development of the world economy after 1700. Particular attention is paid to the interplay between strategies for a global expansion and transformations in national culture, looking at Germany in the world and the world in Germany.