Recht

The First World War centenary has offered, with the exception of Christopher Clark’s The Sleepwalkers, few surprises. Pretty much everything has been said and there is clearly agreement on many subjects. Last year, however, the question of German war crimes during the march into Belgium and France in the summer of 1914 re-emerged – albeit well after its hundredth anniversary, although with much greater intensity than many of the other debates.

Hamburg and Algiers are in some ways two rather atypical models of success of the Early Modern Era. Until the late 18th century, both were constantly threatened by powerful neighbors (the former by the kingdom of Denmark, the latter by the kingdom of Spain) and yet they managed to retain their independence due to impressive fortifications around the respective cities and a skillful use of diplomatic contacts with other powers, especially the Netherlands, Great Britain and France.