Early Modern Germany, 1477-1806Attempts to present a coherent account of early modern German history are often hampered by the German equivalent of the Whig theory of history, by which all useful roads lead up to the creation of the nineteenth century power state (Machstaat) or institutional state (Anstalstaat). In this kind of historiography, there are large blank areas between the important events like the Reformation, the Thiry Years War, the Seven Years War, and the French