In this book Goethe gives a detailed description of the campaign of allied armies (Prussia, Royalists and Austrians) led by the Duke of Brunswick against the French Revolutionaries in 1792. The campaign culminated in the Battle of Valmy where the Allied army was defeated by the French led by Dumouriez and Kellermann. Also in this book, Goethe describes the Siege of Mainz in 1793. Goethe does not focus in military tactics or strategies, but in day to day life of the campaigns and its effects in towns affected. Goethe exposes several of his studies and thoughts like the color theory, theater, etc. This edition is based in 1849 edition of Chapman and Halls translated from the German by Robert Farie. It is illustrated with pictures of the main characters and antique city maps of the theater of operations.

An authoritative English translation of Goethe’s classic autobiographical account of war and conquest in the age of revolution In August 1792, Goethe accompanied Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, during the Prusso-Austrian invasion of revolutionary France to restore Louis XVI as king. After the Cannonade of Valmy that September, the German armies were forced to retreat, never again to threaten the heart of France until the end of the Napoleonic era. The French subsequently invaded the Rhineland and captured the city of Mainz, claiming it for the French Republic. When German armies besieged Mainz, Goethe witnessed the capture of the city at the close of 1793. Goethe’s narrative of these events has become a classic text for the history of Franco-German relations during the revolutionary period. A product of recollection, historical hindsight, and considerable study of other published sources, it is a fascinating document of the military catastrophe exposing the decline of Prussian power since the death of Frederick II, which eventually culminated in Napoleon’s devastating 1806 victory at Jena and Auerstedt.

Part of an exhaustive series which provides English translations of a representative proportion of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's vast body of work, this volume contains such essays as "On Gothic Architecture", "On the Laocoon" and "Shakespeare: a Tribute."

Goethe was a master of the short prose form. His two narrative cycles, Conversations of German Refugees and Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years, both written during a high point of his career, address various social issues and reveal his experimentation with narrative and perspective. A traditional cycle of novellas, Conversations of German Refugees deals with the impact and significance of the French Revolution and suggests Goethe's ideas on the social function of his art. Goethe's last novel, Wilhelm Meister's Journeyman Years, is a sequel to Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship and to Conversations of German Refugees and is considered to be his most remarkable novel in form.

First published by Wordsworth Editions 1999 and 2007. First published by Princeton University Press in 2016.