The end of eighteenth century is often regarded as the watershed between the feudal Europe of the Middle Ages and the modern Europe of the nineteenth century and beyond. The chronology covered in this title, first published in 1954, is vast, but covers an intellectually stimulating and exciting period of European history. The pinnacle of absolute monarchy is cemented in Louis XIV’s France, eventually giving way to reform and revolution; the Russian Empire becomes an important player on the Western stage under Peter I and Catherine the Great; America achieves independence; and, the ideas of the Enlightenment begin to change the intellectual and religious landscape. Max Beloff analyses the period in fascinating detail in a now reissued title that will be of particular interest to students of Early Modern History, Politics and European diplomacy.

Illustrated the impact of diverse movements and various individuals on European history and on development in the U.S., Asia, and elsewhere.

The reading public outside Sweden knows little of that country's history, beyond the era in the seventeenth century when Sweden under Gustavus Adolphus became a major European power by her intervention in the Thirty Years' War. In the last decades of the seventeenth century another Swedish king, Charles XI, launched a less dramatic but remarkable bid to stabilize and secure Sweden's position as a major power in northern Europe and as master of the Baltic Sea. This book gives an account of what was achieved under the absolutist direction of a distinctly unglamorous, but pious and conscientious ruler.

"Covers all major wars and conflicts in North America from the late-15th to mid-18th centuries, with discussions of key battles, diplomatic efforts, military technologies, and strategies and tactics ... [E]xplores the context for conflict, with essays on competing colonial powers, every major Native American tribe, all important political and military leaders, and a range of social and cultural issues."--Publisher's Web site.