With the advent of the French Revolution, the particular kind of Anglophilia which had marked the age of Enlightenment in Germany faded away. While German knowledge about Britain increased, the shortcomings of its political, economic and social state were addressed more clearly than before. German interest in British affairs did not recover until the reign of Napoleon called for a role model different from the French one. At the same time, British interest in German philosophy, literature and music of the Romantic period first awoke and quickly gained momentum. The contributions to the present anthology highlight selected fields of Anglo-German as well as German-British cultural exchange from around 1770 to 1840, including a close look at the 'cultural brokers' involved on either side. In sum, cultural relations between Britain and Germany are shown to have evolved dynamically from one-sidedness to near reciprocity.

Dr. Horst Carl ist Professor für Neuere Geschichte und Geschichte der Frühen Neuzeit an der Justus-Liebig Universität Gießen. Uwe Ziegler ist Referent in der Geschäftsstelle des Wissenschaftsrates in Köln.