Why the downvotes? He is right. The reason Germany, England, and France (Spain didn't catch up because they had no reason to as a negative consequence of their

Why the downvotes? He is right. The reason Germany, England, and France (Spain didn't catch up because they had no reason to as a negative consequence of their enormous wealth at the time) excelled to such extent that this particular period appears like a very special and wonderful intellectual age, is that the rest of the world was for the most part severely under-developed. Germany didn't become less "wise". Today the contrast is much smaller, but Germany continues to be a scientific powerhouse even if it isn't as evident.