The Eighteenth Century Europe 1688-1815

The eighteenth century was a time of expansion, forming the hinge between the old world and the new for, by its end, change was not only detectable, it was also seen to be irreversible. These specially commissioned chapters, written by experts in the field, address all the major issues in Europe's political, economic, religious, cultural, and international history.

T.C.W. Blanning is Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge.

List of contributors

xi

Introduction: the beneficiaries and casualties of expansion

1

(10)

T. C. W. Blanning

Politics and the state in eighteenth-century Europe

11

(41)

Julian Swann

European states: Monarchies, republics, and depotisms

12

(5)

High politics

17

(6)

Enlightened absolutism

23

(8)

Corporate politics

31

(4)

Representative politics

35

(6)

Politics and the people

41

(5)

Radicals and republicans

46

(5)

Conclusion

51

(1)

Orders and classes: eighteenth-century society under pressure

52

(39)

Christof Dipper

The stages of demographic expansion

52

(3)

The dissolution of the society of orders

55

(23)

estate-owners

58

(2)

tenants

60

(1)

peasants

61

(2)

rural labours

63

(4)

industrial workers

67

(5)

high finance

72

(3)

jews

75

(3)

Poverty and poor relief

78

(1)

Social forces making for continuity

79

(9)

the nobility

80

(5)

townspeople

85

(3)

The image of society

88

(3)

The European economy in the eighteenth century

91

(40)

Sheilagh Ogilvie

Agriculture

94

(15)

Industry

109

(13)

Trade

122

(9)

Religion and culture

131

(47)

Derek Beales

Religion, to mid-century

133

(7)

Culture before the middle of the century

140

(10)

Religion, enlightenment, and culture from mid-century to 1789

150

(20)

Epilogue: the French Revolution

170

(8)

International rivalry and warfare

178

(40)

John A. Lynn

The old regime, 1700-1789

179

(24)

the international system

179

(8)

the military system

187

(3)

the practice of war

190

(2)

the war of the Spanish Succession

192

(4)

the war of the Austrian Succession

196

(3)

the Seven Years War

199

(4)

Revolution and Empire, 1789-1815

203

(15)

revolutionary change and international continuity, 1789-1802

203

(2)

war and partition, 1792-1795

205

(3)

Napoleon's military revolution, 1802-1812

208

(3)

the apogee of Napoleon, 1805-1807

211

(3)

the formation of the Concert of Europe

214

(4)

Europe and the rest of the world

218

(29)

P.J. Marshall

Europeans outside Europe

219

(17)

empires in the Americas

219

(6)

the crisis of the American empires

225

(4)

Asian trade

229

(4)

new empires in Asia

233

(3)

European perspectives

236

(11)

the benefits of expansion

236

(5)

envisaging new worlds

241

(6)

Conclusion: the French Revolution and beyond

247

(40)

T. C. W. Blanning

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The Eighteenth Century Europe 1688-1815

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials