Germany

Here we find by far the greatest flood of literature; but the political conditions in Germany during that period rendered possible only investigations for particular areas so that many of the volumes are far too special to find a place here. There is no comprehensive survey of the economic history of Germany as a whole in modern times. Curiously enough, Prussia seems to be the important territory in Germany whose position with regard to the Continental System has been least fully treated.

A sort of substitute for a comprehensive survey is offered by the work which has been frequently cited in the preceding pages, namely, König's Die sächsische Baumwollenindustrie am Ende des vorigen Jahrhunderts und während der Kontinentalsperre (published in Leipziger Studien aus dem Gebiet der Geschichte, vol. v: 3, Leipzig, 1899). This has developed into a very detailed and useful study of the history of the Leipzig Fair during this period, based on excellent archive materials; and owing to the importance of the Leipzig Fairs in the economic life of Germany, it contributes greatly to our knowledge of the position of the whole of Central Europe during the self-blockade. According to an announcement published in German periodicals, the Saxon Royal Commission for History at the end of 1915 awarded a certain sum to Dr. König for a work which he submitted on the influence of the Continental System on the industry of Saxony; but of the fate of this work I have been unable to obtain information. With the work of König we may connect an article by Tarle, Deutsch-französische Wirtschaftsbeziehungen zur napoleonischen Zeit in Schmoller's Jahrbuch für Gesetzgebung, &c., vol. XXXVIII (Leipzig, 1914), which is also based on valuable archive material, with sections on Hamburg, the Grand-Duchy of Berg, and the rest of Germany.

For the Hanse Towns, which are the most important in this connexion, there is a particularly copious literature, of which we may mention: Servières, L'Allemagne française sous Napoléon Ier (Paris, 1904), a work which, despite its comprehensive title, deals only with the Hanse Towns, but which, though written by an historical dilettante, is valuable owing to its employment of much French archive material; Wohlwill, Neuere Geschichte der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg, insbesondere von 1789 bis 1815 (Allgemeine Staatengeschichte. Dritte Abt., Deutsche Landèsgeschichten, 10. Werk, Gotha, 1914), a comprehensive account by the leading authority on the modern history of the Hanse Towns, and especially Hamburg, but meagre in the sphere of economics; Vogel, Die Hansestädte und die Kontinentalsperre in Pfingstblätter des Hansischen Geschichtsvereins (vol. IX, 1913), an unusually good little survey which suffers only from its popular form and its scanty references; Max Schäfer, Bremen und die Kontinentalsperre, in Hansische Geschichtsblätter, vol. XX, 1914, the chief value of which consists in the statistical materials included. Of contemporary accounts, Rist's Lebenserinnerungen, vol. II (Poel ed., Gotha, 1880), and Bourrienne's Mémoires sur Napoléon, le Directoire, le Consulat, l'Empire et la Restauration, chiefly vol. VII (Paris, 1829), are the most important; but the former is in all respects the most useful and reliable.

For the states of the Confederation of the Rhine, König's work has already been mentioned. But by far the principal work, as an historical account, is Schmidt's Le Grand-Duché de Berg, 1806-1813 (Paris, 1905), which casts more light on the Continental System as a whole than most works; the parts which are mainly concerned with the matter are chapters x and XI. Darmstädter's Das Grossherzogtum Frankfurt (Frankfurt-am-Main, 1901) has also an account of the Continental System in the small district covered by the book, which is excellent but much shorter and more anecdotal than Schmidt's.

There are three books dealing with the more important German territories that were incorporated in the French Empire: Zeyss, Die Entstehung der Handelskammern und die Industrie am Niederrhein während der französischen Herrschaft (Leipzig, 1907), is an impartial and helpful account of the Roer department on the left bank of the Rhine; Herkner, Die oberelsässische Baumwollindustrie und ihre Arbeiter (Abhandlungen aus dem staatswissenschaftlichen Seminar zu Strassburg i.e., vol. IV, Strassburg, 1887), gives a somewhat meagre account of the extremely important Mülhausen district during this period, by way of an introduction to a social-political study of the present day. Darmstädter, Die Verwaltung des Unter-Elsass (Bas-Rhin) unter Napoleon I., 1799-1814, in Zeitschrift für die Geschichte des Oberrheins, N.F., vol. XIX (Heidelberg, 1904), treats, in its last sections, the economy of the Strassburg district under the Continental System.