T. C. W. Blanning – författare

Written by eleven contributors of international standing, this book offers a readable and authoritative account of Europe's turbulent history from the French Revolution in the late eighteenth century to the present day. Each chapter portrays both change and continuity, revolutions and stability, and covers the political, economic, social, cultural, and military life of Europe. This book provides a better understanding of modern Europe, how it came to be what it is, and where it may be going in the future.

Written by eleven contributors of international standing, this book covers Europe's turbulent history from the French Revolution in the late eighteenth century to the present day. Attractively illustrated with over 200 pictures in colour and black and white, it provides a better understanding of modern Europe, how it came to be what it is, and even where it may be going in the future.

The French Revolution in Germany Occupation and Resistance in the Rhineland 1792-1802

In this fascinating new account of Old Regime Europe, T.C.W. Blanning explores the cultural revolution which transformed eighteenth-century Europe. During this period the court culture exemplified by Louis XIV's Versailles was pushed from the centre to the margins by the emergence of a new kind of space - the public sphere. The author shows how many of the world's most important cultural institutions developed in this space: the periodical, the newspaper, the novel, the lending library, the coffee house, the voluntary association, the journalist, and the critic. It was here that public opinion staked its claim to be the ultimate arbiter of culture and politics. For the established order this new force was to prove both a challenge and an opportunity and the author's comparative study of power and culture shows how regimes sought to keep their balance as the ground moved beneath their feet. In the process he explains, among other things, why Britain won the 'Second Hundred Years War' against France, how Prussia rose to become the dominant power in German-speaking Europe, and why the French monarchy collapsed.

The complete Short Oxford History of Europe (series editor: Professor T.C.W. Blanning) will cover the history of Europe from Classical Greece to the present in eleven volumes. In each, experts write to their strengths tackling the key issues including society, economy, religion, politics, and culture head-on in chapters that will be at once wide-ranging surveys and searching analyses. Each book is specifically designed with the non-specialist reader in mind; but the authority of the contributors and the vigour of the interpretations will make them necessary and challenging reading for fellow academics across a range of disciplines. The word which best summarizes the wonderful variety of human experience in the eighteenth century is `expansion'. The size of armies, literacy rates, state intervention, the acreage of overseas empires, productivity or just the number of Europeans on the planet were all significantly higher in 1800 than in 1700. It is the century which forms 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. In this book, six experts analyse concisely and incisively the major developments in politics, society, the economy, religion and culture, warfare and international relations, and in Europe's relations with the world overseas.

The complete Short Oxford History of Europe (series editor, Professor TCW Blanning) will cover the history of Europe from Classical Greece to the present in eleven volumes. In each, experts write to their strengths tackling the key issues including society, economy, religion, politics, and culture head-on in chapters that will be at once wide-ranging surveys and searching analyses. Each book is specifically designed with the non-specialist reader in mind; but the authority of the contributors and the vigour of the interpretations will make them necessary and challenging reading for fellow academics across a range of disciplines. Europe changed more rapidly and more radically during the nineteenth century than during any prior period. A population explosion, a communications revolution, mass literacy, secularisation, urbanisation, Imperialism - these were just a few of the many ways in which the lives of Europeans of every class were dramatically changed. It was the century when most of the ideologies of the modern world - liberalism, conservatism, nationalism, socialism, and racism - came of age. Yet in some respects, especially international relations, there was a surprising degree of continuity and harmony. In six pithy chapters experts on the political, international, social, economic, cultural, and imperial history of the period address and answer the big questions of the period.

In this fascinating new account of Old Regime Europe, T. C. W. Blanning explores the cultural revolution which transformed eighteenth-century Europe. During this period the court culture exemplified by Louis XIV's Versailles was pushed from the centre to the margins by the emergence of a new kind of space - the public sphere. The author shows how many of the world's most important cultural institutions developed in this space: the periodical, the newspaper, the novel, the lending library, the coffee house, the voluntary association, the journalist, and the critic. It was here that public opinion staked its claim to be the ultimate arbiter of culture and politics. For the established order this new force was to prove both a challenge and an opportunity and the author's comparative study of power and culture shows how regimes sought to keep their balance as the ground moved beneath their feet. In the process he explains, among other things, why Britain won the 'Second Hundred Years War' against France, how Prussia rose to become the dominant power in German-speaking Europe, and why the French monarchy collapsed.

On one level a history of the Electorate of Mainz in the eighteenth century, this book also seeks to illuminate a much wider area. In particular it is intended to be a contribution to the debate on the 'German Problem' - the growing cultural and political divergence between Germany and Western Europe in the modern period. Many historians have identified the crucial phase of this development in the nineteenth century; Dr Blanning argues that the eighteenth century was of equal if not greater importance.

This is the first book to place Russia's 'long' eighteenth century squarely in its European context. The conceptual framework is set out in an opening critique of modernisation which, while rejecting its linear implications, maintains its focus on the relationship between government, economy and society. Following a chronological introduction, a series of thematic chapters (covering topics such as finance and taxation, society, government and politics, culture, ideology, and economy) emphasise the ways in which Russia's international ambitions as an emerging great power provoked administrative and fiscal reforms with wide-ranging (and often unanticipated) social consequences. This thematic analysis allows Simon Dixon to demonstrate that the more the tsars tried to modernise their state, the more backward their empire became. A chronology and critical bibliography are also provided to allow students to discover more about this colourful period of Russian history.

This book is the first comprehensive history of the European nobility between the Renaissance and the French Revolution. Designed to introduce students and non-specialists to the subject, it explains all the principal themes and problems in an authoritative and accessible manner. Professor Dewald surveys the changing numbers, self-perceptions, wealth, and political power of the European nobles, and explores their changing modes of life. Arguing against the conventional point of view, he maintains that the nobles of Europe adapted effectively to the profound changes that marked society and culture at this time. He also argues for the importance of Europe-wide patterns in the evolution of this dominant group; although different countries had different numbers of nobles and accorded them varying privileges, nobles everywhere faced essentially similar problems and responded to them in essentially similar ways.

This study provides an accessible and authoritative account of poverty and deviance during the early modern period, informed by those perspectives on the role of the poor themselves in the provision of welfare services characteristic of much recent social history. Robert Jütte shows how the notions of poverty and social deviance that preoccupied much contemporary thought saw their ultimate fruition in the systematic programmes for social welfare that emerged during the nineteenth century. Contrary to the once-traditional historical emphasis on the ameliorative role of individual reformers, Professor Jütte's account looks much more closely at the poor themselves, and the complex network of social and communal relationships they inhabited. He examines the lives not only of poor relief recipients but of the vast number of destitute individuals who had to find other means to stay alive, and how these people shaped their own patterns of survival within given communities.

This book is the first comprehensive history of the European nobility between the Renaissance and the French Revolution. Designed to introduce students and non-specialists to the subject, it explains all the principal themes and problems in an authoritative and accessible manner. Professor Dewald surveys the changing numbers, self-perceptions, wealth, and political power of the European nobles, and explores their changing modes of life. Arguing against the conventional point of view, he maintains that the nobles of Europe adapted effectively to the profound changes that marked society and culture at this time. He also argues for the importance of Europe-wide patterns in the evolution of this dominant group; although different countries had different numbers of nobles and accorded them varying privileges, nobles everywhere faced essentially similar problems and responded to them in essentially similar ways.

This book is a survey of the history of work in general and of European urban artisans in particular, from the late middle ages to the era of industrialization. Unlike traditional histories of work and craftsmen, this book offers a multi-faceted understanding of artisan experience situated in the artisans' culture. It treats economic and institutional topics, but also devotes considerable attention to the changing ideologies of work, the role of government regulation in the world of work, the social history of craftspeople, the artisan in rebellion against the various authorities in his world, and the ceremonial and leisure life of artisans. Women, masters, journeymen, apprentices, and non-guild workers all receive substantial treatment. The book concludes with a chapter on the nineteenth century, examining the transformation of artisan culture, exploring how and why the early modern craftsman became the industrial wage-worker, mechanic or shopkeeper of the modern age.

Christianity and Revolutionary Europe, 1750-1830, first published in 2003, provides a comprehensive and accessible summary of the role of the churches during this turbulent period in European history. How did the churches survive the political and intellectual challenges posed by the French Revolution, despite institutional upheaval and the widespread questioning of dogma and tradition? Nigel Aston answers this question by drawing on three decades of research, and argues that pre-Revolutionary Christianity had a vitality and resilience that should not be underestimated. Aston takes the story forward to 1830, dealing with both the immediate aftermath of the Revolution and its longer-term impact and offering comprehensive guidance to the complicated strands of change and continuity. The text is supported by illuminating illustrations, and a glossary of unfamiliar terms gives further help to the student reader. It will be of key interest to all those following courses on religious history and the French Revolution.

James Melton's lucid and accessible 2001 study examines the rise of 'the public' in eighteenth-century Europe. A work of comparative synthesis focusing on England, France and the German-speaking territories, this was the first book-length, critical reassessment of what Habermas termed the 'bourgeois public sphere'. During the Enlightenment the Public assumed a new significance as governments came to recognise the power of public opinion in political life; the expansion of print culture created new reading publics and transformed how and what people read; authors and authorship acquired new status, while the growth of commercialized theatres transferred monopoly over the stage from the court to the audience; salons, coffeehouses, taverns and Masonic lodges fostered new practices of sociability. Spanning a variety of disciplines, this important addition to the New Approaches in European History series will be of great interest to students of social and political history, literary studies, political theory, and the history of women.

James Melton's lucid and accessible 2001 study examines the rise of 'the public' in eighteenth-century Europe. A work of comparative synthesis focusing on England, France and the German-speaking territories, this was the first book-length, critical reassessment of what Habermas termed the 'bourgeois public sphere'. During the Enlightenment the Public assumed a new significance as governments came to recognise the power of public opinion in political life; the expansion of print culture created new reading publics and transformed how and what people read; authors and authorship acquired new status, while the growth of commercialized theatres transferred monopoly over the stage from the court to the audience; salons, coffeehouses, taverns and Masonic lodges fostered new practices of sociability. Spanning a variety of disciplines, this important addition to the New Approaches in European History series will be of great interest to students of social and political history, literary studies, political theory, and the history of women.

For too long, too many historians have been too much concerned with impersonal forces, underlying structures and long-term developments. Now, 'people' are back. In a post-modern age it is easier to appreciate the decisive role played by individuals, as they ride their luck and seize their opportunity to bend the world to their will. As these essays by twelve eminent historians demonstrate, biography is too important to be left to the amateurs. Among the rich variety of strong characters analysed here are an Austrian emperor, a German kaiser, a Victorian prime minister, an Italian dictator, and an American president. Dedicated to a master-biographer, Derek Beales, the range and quality of this collection will stimulate, inform and entertain everyone interested in the history of the modern world.

This book is a 2005 edition of Mack P. Holt's classic study of the French religious wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Drawing on the scholarship of social and cultural historians of the Reformation, it shows how religion infused both politics and the socio-economic tensions of the period to produce a long extended civil war. Professor Holt integrates court politics and the political theory of the elites with the religious experiences of the popular classes, offering a fresh perspective on the wars and on why the French were willing to kill their neighbors in the name of religion. The book has been created specifically for undergraduates and general readers with no background knowledge of either French history or the Reformation. This edition updates the text in the light of new work published in the decade prior to publication and the 'Suggestions for further reading' has been completely re-written.

Focusing on policy, rather than religious institutions, Professor Ward offers a brief, but comprehensive, account of religious belief and practice of all kinds in Europe between the Westphalia settlements in 1648 and the French Revolution. The book is organised around large regions, for instance, Central and Northwestern Europe (including Britain), Southern Europe and North and Eastern Europe. Professor Ward discusses the political, social and intellectual forces at play in each of these regions in order to allow the reader to understand changes in policy in their proper context. In addition, popular belief, which churches of all denominations regarded as suspicious, is presented in its context of traditional practice, and an attempt is made to assess the successes and failures of European domestic missions during this period. With its maps, glossary and guide to further reading, this will be a major aid to students of Christianity under the Ancien Régime.

A broad-ranging survey of violence in western Europe from the Reformation to the French Revolution. Julius Ruff summarises a huge body of research and provides readers with a clear, accessible, and engaging introduction to the topic of violence in early modern Europe. His book, enriched with fascinating illustrations, underlines the fact that modern preoccupations with the problem of violence are not unique, and that late medieval and early modern European societies produced levels of violence that may have exceeded those in the most violent modern inner-city neighbourhoods. Julius Ruff examines the role of the emerging state in controlling violence; the roots and forms of the period's widespread interpersonal violence; violence and its impact on women; infanticide; and rioting. This book, in the successful textbook series New Approaches to European History, will be of great value to students of European history, criminal justice sciences, and anthropology.

A broad-ranging survey of violence in western Europe from the Reformation to the French Revolution. Julius Ruff summarises a huge body of research and provides readers with a clear, accessible, and engaging introduction to the topic of violence in early modern Europe. His book, enriched with fascinating illustrations, underlines the fact that modern preoccupations with the problem of violence are not unique, and that late medieval and early modern European societies produced levels of violence that may have exceeded those in the most violent modern inner-city neighbourhoods. Julius Ruff examines the role of the emerging state in controlling violence; the roots and forms of the period's widespread interpersonal violence; violence and its impact on women; infanticide; and rioting. This book, in the successful textbook series New Approaches to European History, will be of great value to students of European history, criminal justice sciences, and anthropology.

This book is a 2005 edition of Mack P. Holt's classic study of the French religious wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Drawing on the scholarship of social and cultural historians of the Reformation, it shows how religion infused both politics and the socio-economic tensions of the period to produce a long extended civil war. Professor Holt integrates court politics and the political theory of the elites with the religious experiences of the popular classes, offering a fresh perspective on the wars and on why the French were willing to kill their neighbors in the name of religion. The book has been created specifically for undergraduates and general readers with no background knowledge of either French history or the Reformation. This edition updates the text in the light of new work published in the decade prior to publication and the 'Suggestions for further reading' has been completely re-written.

The second edition of The World of Catholic Renewal offers an updated synthesis of the vast scholarship on the history of Catholicism from the Council of Trent in the middle of the sixteenth century to the suppression of the Society of Jesus in the eighteenth century. Professor Hsia discusses the doctrinal and ecclesiastical renewal after Trent and the progress of Catholic reconquest in various lands. He analyses the social composition of the Tridentine clergy and the papal curia and studies the making of early modern sainthood and the enclosure of religious women. Encompassing art and architecture, Ronnie Hsia attempts to understand Catholic renewal as a vast historical development that shaped European civilization and also explores its expansion and encounter with non-Christian cultures in America, Africa, and Asia. The new edition of this acclaimed textbook offers an additional chapter on The Catholic Book as well as an updated bibliography.

For too long, too many historians have been too much concerned with impersonal forces, underlying structures and long-term developments. Now, 'people' are back. In a post-modern age it is easier to appreciate the decisive role played by individuals, as they ride their luck and seize their opportunity to bend the world to their will. As these essays by twelve eminent historians demonstrate, biography is too important to be left to the amateurs. Among the rich variety of strong characters analysed here are an Austrian emperor, a German kaiser, a Victorian prime minister, an Italian dictator, and an American president. Dedicated to a master-biographer, Derek Beales, the range and quality of this collection will stimulate, inform and entertain everyone interested in the history of the modern world.

Joseph II (1741--90) -- son and eventual successor of Maria Theresa -- has conventionally been seen in the context of the "Enlightened Despot'' reformers. Today's turmoil in his former territories invites a rather different perspective, however, as Joseph grapples with the familiar and intractable problems of creating a viable unitary state out of his multi-national empire in Central Europe. Professor Blanning's brilliant short study, based on extensive archival research, offers a history of the Habsburg monarchy in the eighteenth century, as well as a revaluation of the emperor's complex personality and his ill-fated reform programme.