He published several works on Austria-Hungary, which had a complex mix of ethnic groups and languages in the period before World War I (1914–18).
[3] He was taught by Paul Vidal de La Blache (1845–1918) who prepared the 3rd year students for their agrégation in history and geography.
In 1883 he was appointed lecturer in Ancient History at Caen, and in 1885 was funded to travel in Germany, where he studied the archives of Dresden.
[3] In his 1887 thesis, La diplomatie française et la Cour de Saxe, 1648-1680, Auerbach described the conflicts between Prince Johann Georg's position as a key support of the "true religion" (Lutheranism) and his employment of Italians and Frenchmen, and construction of a theater and a "miniature Sistine chapel.
He concluded that conventional definitions of race and nationality were imprecise, did not help disentangle the complex identities in the region, and were not useful in confirming the political claims of groups of nationalists.
[9] In the fall of 1910 Auerbachs's carefully prepared instructions to France's envoys to the imperial German diet at Ratisbon were the subject of heated discussions.