This article provides the first overview in English of how German has been taught and learned in Europe up to about 1800: who were the learners of German, where in Europe was German learnt, for what purposes was it learnt, and what do we know about how it was learnt? It also gives a brief overview of the current state of research, and gives three case studies of the history of German as a Foreign Language (GFL) in three different language areas: Italy, Bohemia, and Russia.