Adopting a thematic approach to a period of great change and upheaval in Europe, these essays throw new light on developments in society, the economy, politics and culture, fixing them not only in the political framework of the time, but also in their social and cultural contexts.

Providing a series of lively essays which reflect the skills that historians have to master when challenged by problems of evidence, interpretation, and presentation, this important new text covers the topics of France, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Russia, as well as analyzing the themes of political thought, cultural trends, the economy and warfare, international relations and imperialism.

Six distinguished scholars, all of whom are regularly involved in student teaching, provide an authoritative student guide to the main contours of nineteenth-century European history when the...