The series premiered and stopped in 1865.

The title characters are two naughty - and rather sadistic - boys, whose dastardly and careless deeds towards their unsuspecting villagers are described in 7 long verses. In the last one the boys die from being grounded to bits in a mill and eaten by geese.
The series was later used as the overall concept for The Katzenjammer Kids and The Captain and the Kids.

The full title of the series is Max und Moritz - eine Bubengeschichte in sieben Streichen (in English: Max and Moritz - A Boys' Tale of Seven Pranks).