Mid-18th century Europe contains a fascinating mix of medieval and modern features: absolute monarchs, powerful nobilities and semi-free serfs on the one hand, and scientific advances, dynamic commercial classes and the ...

Since 1789 Europe has experienced more than a quarter of a century of near-constant warfare. No country has been left untouched. The Revolutionary Wars The outbreak of the French Revolution swiftly led to anarchy in ...

The Congress of Vienna, which brought an end to a generation of warfare, attempted to put the clock back to the time before the French Revolution: it re-established the pre-1789 borders, with a few major exceptions, and ...

The 1830s and 1840s saw the forces of nationalism and democracy gaining ground in the face of Austrian and Russian opposition. In 1848, a wave of revolutions swept through Europe. Reforms in Britain In Britain, the ...

Austria and Russia held the line in 1848-9 against revolution, though only just, and the momentum for change had hardly been dented. In 1849 the Kingdom of Sardinia tried to seize Lombardy (a region of northern Italy) ...

Germany became more economically unified after the foundation and expansion of the Zollverein. Politically, however, it remained as divided in 1861 as it was in 1815. Nevertheless, the success of the Italian unification ...

The sudden appearance of a major new state in Europe  - the German Empire— has destabilized the international system on the continent. A powerful new nation Germany is the largest and, with 41 million, the most populous ...