GIESEBRECHT, WILHELM VON German historian, born in Berlin on March 5, 1814, studied under Leopold von Ranke, and his first important work, Geschichte Ottos II., was contributed to Ranke's Jahrbiicher des deutschen Reichs unter dem sachsischen Hause (183 7-40) . His Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit (6 vols. 1855-95), the work of a lifetime, was the first general history of the period (up to 119o) based on modern scientific methods. The last volume is by B. von Simson. Later German historians have severely criticized Giesebrecht's glorifica tion of the imperial era with its Italian entanglements, but his con temporaries, who saw the new German empire in the making, admired the book as much for its glorification of the German idea as for its intrinsic merits. In 1857 he went to Konigsberg as professor ordinarius, and in 1862 succeeded H. von Sybel as pro fessor of history at Munich. He died at Munich on Dec. 17, 1889. Giesebrecht was an active member of the group of scholars who took over the direction of the Monumenta Germaniae historiaa in His other works include Jahrbiicher des Klosters Altaich (1841) ; a translation of Gregory of Tours's Historia Francorum (1851) ; Deutsche Reden (Munich 1871) ; and Arnold von Brescia (1873) . See also Lord Acton in the English Historical Review vol. v. (189o).