Paths to a new Europe. From premodern to postmodern times

Abstract:

This work explores the development of Europe from its very beginnings through premodern to postmodern times.

The book is organised over fifteen chapters dealing with particular periods in chronological order. The first looks at the period around 1648, dealing with the turbulence of the Thirty Years War and its aftermath. Chapter two centres upon the latter part of the seventeenth century to the opening of the eighteenth century and the spectre of French expansionism. Chapter three covers the struggle for empire in the forty years or so leading up to the Treaty of Paris of 1763, then chapter four examines the following 25 year period and the arrival of enlightened governments. Chapter five addresses the period leading up to the French Revolution and the elements at work in French life that gave rise to that Revolution. The sixth chapter goes on to cover the French Revolution and Napoleon and the widespread impact felt across Europe. Chapter seven deals with the period 1815-1848 and the continuing legacy of the French Revolution - the emerging ideology of liberalism and the assertion of the rights of the individual, largely those of the upper middle class. The impact of increasing industrialisation and the re-emergence of nationalism along with socialism and imperialism during the period 1848-1878 are considered in chapter eight.

The closing years of the nineteenth century through to the First World War in 1914 are discussed in chapter nine, dealing with the growth and clash of empires and the classes forming within the new industrialised Europe. Chapter ten explores the origins of the First World War and Europe before 1914, then chapter eleven goes on to discuss that war and the Russian Revolution. Chapter twelve deals with the period 1921 to 1939 covering the years of depression, isolation and the march towards another world war. The period of that war and consequent division of Europe is the focus of chapter thirteen. The drain on the economies of Europe left two dominant world powers - determined by the wealth of the USA and the width of the USSR - confronting each other in a Cold War. This and the piecemeal decolonisation of the former empires are covered in chapter fourteen. The final chapter of the book addresses the collapse of communism and the contingent readjustment in the West together with the emergence of globalisation as it covers the period 1968 to 1991.

The work will interest scholars and students with an interest in Europe and the roads that led to the present Europe.