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. Through the publication of a four-volume extract from his "Allgemeine Geschichte", Rotteck made its contents accessible to the widest possible audience.