R. S. Alexander is a Professor in the Department of History at the University of Victoria, Canada. His books include Napoleon (2001) and Re-Writing the French Revolutionary Tradition (2003).

“Still, this efficient and useful survey reminds scholars that we should indeed continue to re-evaluate how we tell the story of the modern European world and its making.”  (European History Quarterly, 1 April 2015)"His book offers a good introductory survey for first-year undergraduates, with a clear, relatively comprehensive, political narrative. This will provide students with a platform for more advanced studies and/or reading.”  (Journal of European Studies, 14 November 2012)

• List of Maps ixList of Figures xPreface xiiAcknowledgements xix1 A World Half Restored: The Vienna Settlement and the Restoration Regimes 1The Nature of the Restored Regimes 7Constitutional Monarchies 8Despotism in Italy and Spain 12The Eastern Autocracies 14The Ottoman Empire 182 Political Contestation from the Vienna Settlement to the 1830 Revolutions, 1814–1832 21Failed Revolutions 25Conservative Consolidation 34Erosion of the Conservative Order on the European Periphery 35Reform and Revolution in the West 38Resistance to Change in South, Central, and East Europe 443 Stability, Stasis or Decay?: Europe from 1830 to 1848 50Structural Sources of Stability in Inter-State Relations 50The Thin Veneer of Ideology 52Utopian Socialism 56Consolidation and the Constitutional Monarchies: Britain and France in the 1830s 57Liberal Advance and Political Instability: Spain in the 1830s 63The Volatile Complexity of Emergent Nationalism and Liberalism in Italy, Germany, and the Austrian Empire, 1830–1848 65Toward Crisis? The Constitutional Monarchies in the 1840s 704 The Underpinnings of Politics: Economic, Social, and Cultural Developments up to Mid-Century 76Population Growth and Agricultural Production 77Rural Society: Peasants, Nobles, and Notables 79Commerce, Industry, and the Emergent Urban Economy 82Urban Society 88State Formation and Social Control 94Cultural Trends: Religious Revival and Romantic Revolt 985 Europe in Transition: The 1848 Revolutions and the Crimean War 104Origins 105The Initial Wave 105The Springtime of the Peoples 108The Crucible: Politics up to the June Days 110Incomplete Conservative Recovery, July–December 1848 115In the Balance: A Second Revolutionary Wave and Conservative Response, January–October 1849 118Conservative Consolidation and the Spanish Exception 120New Departures on the Left: Scientific Socialism and Anarchism 123The Return of Great Power Rivalry 125Taking Stock 1286 Wars of National Unification and Revolution in the European States System, 1850s–1871 129Domestic Politics in the 1850s: Liberalism in the West 130Autocratic Politics in the 1850s 134The Quixotic Foreign Policy of Louis-Napoleon: Italian Unification 136Partial Unification of Germany 139The Early Stages of the Women’s Movement 144Domestic Politics in the 1860s: Reform in the Autocracies 146Domestic Politics in the 1860s: Reform in Britain and France 150Domestic Politics in the 1860s: Instability in Italy and Spain 153Birth and Death: The Franco-Prussian War and Paris Commune 1567 Europe from the Paris Commune to the Fall of Bismarck, 1871–1892 162Arms, Alliances, and Inter-State Relations in the 1870s 162The Coming of Male Democracy 165Domestic Politics in the 1870s: Britain and France 167Domestic Politics in the 1870s: Spain and Italy 170Domestic Politics in the Eastern Autocracies in the 1870s 173Inter-State Relations in the 1880s: The “New Imperialism” and the Demise of the Bismarckian Alliance System 179West European Domestic Politics in the 1880s: Britain and France 184Spain and Italy in the 1880s 188The Eastern Empires during the 1880s 1918 The Underpinnings of Politics: Economic, Social, and Cultural Developments from Mid-Century to 1914 199Rising Population 200Economic Expansion 202Mid-Century Prosperity 203Economic Slowdown 204The Return of Rapid Growth 206Social Change: Urbanization 208Rural Society 209Urban Society 212State Response to Economic and Social Change: Increasing Intervention 216Association “Mania” 220Cultural Trends: Positivism and the Cult of Scientific Progress 223Religious Response 226Growing Doubt 228Mass Culture 2319 Toward Destruction?: From the 1890s to the mid-1900s 237Inter-State Relations, 1890–1900: Shifting Alliances 238Inter-State Relations, 1900–1905: Partial Clarification and Continued Flexibility 241Democracy, Mass Politics, and the Women’s Movement 243Adaptation to Mass Politics in Britain and France 244Mixed Signs in Spain and Italy 250Uncertainty in the Autocracies: Germany and Austria-Hungary 255Revolution in Russia 26110 Transition Re-routed: From the Mid-1900s to the Great War 267Domestic Politics: The End or Beginning of an Era? 267Evolution in Britain and Stalemate in France, 1906–14 271Failure in Spain and Italy 276Parliamentary Conflict and the Limits to Opposition in Germany 280Nationalist Divisions in the Dual Monarchy 283Imperial Russia: One Step Back from the Brink of Revolution? 286Toward the Abyss: Inter-State Relations, 1905–14 290From the First Moroccan Crisis to the Annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1904–9 290Temporary Stabilization and the Return of Crisis, 1909–12 293The Final Destruction of the European States System, 1911–14 294The Causes of World War One 302Culmination? 305Conclusion 309Notes 317Bibliography 324Index 338