 This little affected the relationship of the author to his closest contemporaries, but for hundreds of thousands into whose hands the book came, those who smarted under the yoke of Napoleon, it was taken as a balm in times of suffering, a call to persevere, a promise of better times.The later volumes in the series, published after Napoleon's defeat, found a different situation in the world.In contrast to the oppressive attitude of the German governments which so sorely disappointed the fighters in the war of liberation, the pathos of Rotteck's presentation of history, its exaltation of the free development of the spirit of the people, the fight for justice and self-determination over willfulness and tyranny, found a genuinely thankful and enthusiastic public.