With exceptions, Mommsen in his Römische Geschichte (1854–1856) narrates a straight chronology of historic events and circumstances. Often strongly worded, he carefully describes the political acts taken by the protagonists, demonstrates the immediate results, draws implications for the future, while shedding light on the evolving society that surround them. The chronology of the contents of his five 'books' (in his first three volumes) are in brief:
Book I, Roman origins and the Monarchy;
Book II, the Republic until the Union of Italy;
Book III, the Punic Wars and the East;
Book IV, the Gracchi, Marius, Drusus, and Sulla;
Book V, the Civil Wars and Julius Caesar.