It is not as easy to estimate the influence of German literature on English as it is French, because it didn’t begin to have any measureable impact until quite recent times. That is, not much before the Romantic Movement.

It was perhaps the “storm and stress” movement of the late 18th century that had the first and most widespread effect on the rest of Europe, and chief among those who were affiliated with this movement was Goethe.

Goethe was a polymath, a man whose interests ranged acro~s the whole spectrum of human knowledge. As well as writing enduring plays and fiction, he was involved in politics, and made important contributions to scientific thought.

 It was the epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther that had the greatest impact, which, despite upsetting many people, was the first German novel to gain recognition throughout Europe and was translated into many languages.

In the late 18’h century, groups of skilled workers began to control the hiring of apprentices, and bargained with employers for better working conditions, but, as the movement grew, these trade unions tried to find ways of creating an alliance among themselves.

The first meeting of the TI·ades Union Congress took place in Manchester, at which thirty-four delegates represented well over a hundred thousand trade union members.

Trade unions were legalized in an Act of 1871, and by the end of the century more than one and a half million workers were members. Conditions for workers slowly improved over the years, but it wasn’t until 1974 that legislation covering the health and safety of all employees was introduced.

Until the 19th 11 century, , workers were given little or no protection. Child labor was common, as were long hours worked in unsafe conditions for  minimal pay.

Now, Polybius, if we forget Aristotle for the moment, was to become the main authority on the three types of constitution and the cycles through which they pass, becoming more corrupt as they do so: kingship turns into tyranny, aristocracy to oligarchy, and democracy into mob rule.

The constitution was then at its healthiest, while that of the Carthaginians was already in decline because, in Polybius’ opinion it was becoming more democratic.

Polybius believed that this progression could be halted at least temporarily by keeping the three elements held in some kind of balance, and the Romans achieved this not by abstract reasoning but by trial and error.

The Roman state was tested almost to destruction by the defeat at Cannae by the Carthaginians led by Hannibal – and according to the historian Polybius it was only what he called the “peculiar virtues” of the Roman constitution that allowed it to survive this crisis.