This volume compares British and German historiography from the Enlightenment to the middle of the twentieth century. It examines the scope and impact of transfers, the potential of mutual perceptions, and the power and influence of national traditions. The book documents the intense competition between the British and the German scholarly communities, and also shows how, while it was not always easy to build bridges, they also profited from each other's work.
Historians such as Ferguson, Gibbon, Niebuhr, Macaulay, Ranke, Stubbs, and Acton play a central role, as do philosophical concepts such as historicism, positivism, and evolutionism. The comparison between the two historiographical cultures, and the investigation into the success or failure of transfers,
especially in the age of imperialism and during the First World War, open up new perspectives both for an assessment of the intellectual relationship between the two countries and for an evaluation of the achievements of each historical tradition.