Historical evaluations are expected to mark a starting point and, at the end, produce a result, which then shows a “development” from the starting point. This development need not be in a straight line. It may have made detours and suffered set-backs. Altogether, however, it connects beginning and end like a red thread; it is possible to see from this the task of the historian, picking up this thread like a careful housewife, undoing knots and loops, winding up assiduously and finally presenting a tidy ball of work.