Physics with e+e- linear colliders

The physics programme is summarized for future e(+)e(-) linear colliders. These machines will allow us to perform precision studies of the top quark and the electroweak gauge bosons in a complementary way to the proton collider LHC. The Higgs boson can be discovered at the LHC within the entire range of canonical mass values. Lepton colliders are ideal instruments to investigate the properties of the Higgs boson and to establish essential elements of the Higgs mechanism as the fundamental mechanism for breaking the electroweak symmetries. In the area beyond the Standard Model, new particles and their interactions can be discovered and explored comprehensively. Supersymmetric particles can be searched for at the LHC with masses up to 2-3 TeV. Their properties can be determined at lepton colliders with very high precision so that the mechanism of supersymmetry breaking can be investigated experimentally and the underlying unified theory can be reconstructed. Stable extrapolations are possible up to scales near the Planck mass. The structure of space and time can be studied if extra space dimensions are characterized by scales in the TeV-1 range.