After this brief summary of the main patterns of German history, we may turn to the wider questions of overall interpretations of the ‘peculiarities’ of German history.

The problems of German history have frequently been held to lie at least partially in its ‘geopolitical location’: its position in central Europe, without natural boundaries defining its frontiers, in contrast to the island kingdom of England/Britain. Thus in Germany there was perpetual warfare, and a concomitant militarisation, in contrast to the trading nation of England which substituted a navy and control of the seas for a standing army. But this view is grossly oversimplifying in its lack of consideration of detailed differences in political, economic and social structures (even leaving aside the view of English history it presupposes). The central European location of the German lands is not in itself a particularly illuminating factor in seeking to explain the peculiar paths of German history. The recently popular appeals to Germany's mid-European situation represent merely a superficially meaningful substitute for explanation: they do not in fact take serious exploration of the range of diverse historical factors involved at any time very far. On the other hand, it is also clear that it is an international system with which we have to deal, and that interactions among the different elements jostling for space, position, power and status in central Europe must be taken fully into account in addition to internal factors in any particular region or territory.