Product Description

In 1648, Europe was essentially a medieval society. By 1815, it was the powerhouse of the modern world. In exuberant prose, Tim Blanning investigates “the very hinge of European history” (The New York Times) between the end of the Thirty Y ears’ War and the Battle of Waterloo that witnessed five of the modern world’s great revolutions: scientific, industrial, American, French, and romantic. Blanning renders this vast subject digestible and absorbing by making fresh connections between the most mundane details of life and the major cultural, political, and technological transformations that birthed the modern age.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26294 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 736 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. This new volume in the Penguin History of Europe series is a wonderful achievement, particularly so considering the mammoth amount of specialist material that required synthesizing into digestible portions for general consumption. Blanning, professor of modern history at the University of Cambridge, has performed the miracle of balancing and blending traditional political and diplomatic accounts with the newer fields of social, economic and intellectual history. A prime example of this is the author's treatment of the impact of the new "public sphere." As people discoursed through coffeehouses, Masonic organizations or periodicals, "a new source of authority emerged to challenge the opinion-makers of the old regime: public opinion." Countries where this public sphere was left free, as in Britain or the Dutch Republic, tended to be more politically stable than, say, France, where suppression ended in bloody revolution. Blanning narrates the story of Europe from the end of the Thirty Years' War to the end of the Napoleonic wars, when secularization and the primacy of state sovereignty were recognized as the key attributes of the coming era. What the Europeans would eventually get was the secular, martial religion of nationalism. But this is the subject for a subsequent volume—which will be hard-pressed to match this splendid one. (June 4)
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Review
“History writing at its glorious best.”
—The New York Times

“ Magnificent. Exhilarating. [Blanning has] the acuity of vision to focus on the particular without ever needing to sacrifice the broader perspective.”
—The Sunday Times (London)
“ A triumphant success. [Blanning] brings knowledge, experience, sound judgment, and a colorful narrative style.”
—The Economist

About the Author
Tim Blanning is professor of modern history at the University of Cambridge and the author and editor of numerous books on European history.

Customer Reviews

Extensive but Readable
An outstanding review of the period 1650 to 1815 in European history. Filled with many informative and interesting details. I have read a number of works on English, French or German history of this period, but
this work does a terrific job of tying them together -- cultural, social, political history of all the main players. Very readable and
thorough, with some interesting viewpoints expressed, which are thought provoking. Highly recommended. I will definitely look for more works by
Blanning.

Interesting ideas, but rambling and repetitive
I especially find the "rambling and repetitive" issues with this book ironic that here on the web, though not on the hardcopy pages of the book, an editor gets cobilling with the author.

Does this book need to be as long as the four volumes that the Durants used for this same period? No. In fact, this would have been a great read with 100 fewer pages and better organization.

Beyond that, the "five revolutions" of the subtitle get muddied and mushed together at times. Weaving them together would have been one thing, but muddling them together is another.

Finally, beyond the lack of footnotes noted by another reviewer, is the paucity of maps. Two maps on France, of its polity divisions under the Bourbons and of its departments-division by the Revolution, should be sine qua nons for a book like this. And, given where many of the wars were fought, one of the Lower Rhine/Low Countries should also have been in here.

As it was, I got some new empirical insights into the start of British growth and development, like the rise in toll roads, and generally better British organization.

This might be a borderline 3/4 star if I'm really generous, but it's ranked too highly by too many other people, so it gets a downward bump from me.

History at its best
The period discussed by this book starts in the reign of Louis the XIV King of France then the most powerful country in Europe. Louis was famous for saying that "he was the state" and that his aim was the pursuit of glory the title of the book. By the end of the period Kings no longer ruled alone and rather than the state being their own personal possession they were its servant.

Rather than being a straight narrative the book looks at a number of "revolutions" or changes which changed forever the European framework. In 1645 France was by far the strongest European power. Its main rival had previously been a dynastic amalgam called the Hapsburg Empire. What happened was a gradual shift to the North of Europe. Austria slowly evolved into a major power by the reconquest of Hungary and the Balkans. Prussia emerged as perhaps the first nation and Britain became an immensely rich commercial empire. In the East Muscovy expanded to become the Russian Empire.

There was no uniform reason for the changes that occurred. Certainly the agricultural revolution allowed states to become richer as greater agricultural surpluses were available to create larger towns and more complex economies. There was the development of a body of ideas which led to secularism but each state had its own path. Britain saw with its Glorious Revolution of 1688 the development of a government which shared authority between King and Parliament. It allowed for a more flexible approach to changing societal institutions and to creating a bigger tax base and a more efficient administration. However the changes in Prussia were due to the talents of two of its Kings, Frederick the Great and his father. They developed a militaristic culture which saw a partnership of the nobility and the monarchy ruling a secular and tolerant state. Russia was an absolute Monarchy but it faced two opponents who were both in a state of decay and faced overwhelming coalitions of enemies Poland and Turkey.

The book was it seems written as part of Penguins history series. Despite this the book was very well received getting rapturous reviews. One can see why on reading it. The writing is easy and it is as close to a page turner you get with historical works. The clarity of its observations is such that one feels a real insight into the complex changes both in the structure of life in Europe and the political and social map.