[1] After earning his Diplom there in 1967, Elsenhans moved to Paris where he was a member of the Cycle Supérieur d’Etudes Politiques, where the likes of Ralf Dahrendorf, Theodor Eschenburg, Alfred Grosser, Gerhard Lehmbruch and Gilbert Ziebura were among his teachers.
The title of his professoral thesis was "History and Economy of the European global conquest from the age of discovery to World War I" (original German "Geschichte und Ökonomie der Europäischen Welteroberung.
Vom Zeitalter der Entdeckungen bis zum Ersten Weltkrieg").
Throughout his career, he expanded his work on this topic, publishing a total of five volumes on the subject.
[1] After German reunification, Elsenhans took the opportunity to go to Leipzig, to help build up the department of International relations at the university there.