This course will explore Germany's history beginning with its unification and trace the events that led to the First World War and the end of the Imperial era. We will examine the Imperial period through various different focal points including unification and the legacy of Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm II, the Sonderweg debate, gender, nationalism, German Jews and the birth of modern antisemitism, German's brief colonial era, the path to war and the revolution of 1918. By reading historical texts, articles, and novels, and by addressing numerous historiographical debates, we will attempt to understand Germany's foundational period in the context of this country's troubled history.