Modern-day Germany was at a turning point in the Napoleonic period, with the French Revolutionary Wars prompting an enormous shake-up in which its various small-scale secular and ecclesiastical entities were gobbled up by bigger states. The change marked something of a no-going-back point for the Austrian-led Holy Roman Empire, and its historical resonances continue to this day - as regular listener and contributor Hans-Karl Weiss describes in this episode. He got to put his points to our interviewee, Dr Michael Rowe of King's College London, who was able to explain why this period was so important.

This bonus episode will be followed by a segment in ep45 on the Reichsdeputationhauptschluss, the key moment when the negotiations about the redrawing of the political map east of the Rhine was determined.