The heyday of the European states system was in the century before the First World War. How the system of five great powers in conscious equilibrium came into being is the central theme of this book.

The heyday of the European states system was in the century before the First World War. How the system of five great powers in conscious equilibrium came into being is the central theme of this book.

This is a detailed study of British foreign policy before and during the war which led to the loss of the American colonies. The period from 1756 to 1783 was one in which Britain's position in Europe was transformed. H.M.Scott examines the nature and role of British diplomacy in the age of the American Revolution, and explores the reasons why Britain fought that war without a major continental ally, in contrast to her other 18th-century conflicts. Using a wide range of sources, Dr Scott focuses on the problems faced by Britain after the Seven Years War and the way in which they were exacerbated during the mid-1760s by her own statesmen. He goes on to chart the limited recovery begun later in the decade, and the renewed setbacks following the American revolt in 1775 and the subsequent intervention of France and Spain. Two themes receive particular attention. Britain's continuing rivalry with the Bourbons, exemplified by the great crisis over the Falkland Islands in 1770-1, and the unsuccessful efforts to strengthen Britain diplomatically by concluding alliances with major Continental powers. The resulting isolation is shown to have derived less from the failures of Britain's own pol

Throughout the nineteenth century, international relations in Europe were dominated by five great powers - Britain, France, Russia, Austria and Prussia. The creation of this system has been located traditionally in the long struggle with revolutionary and Napoleonic France. By contrast, this study demonstrates that its origins lie half a century earlier. During the third quarter of the eighteenth century, the European states-system was transformed by the military rise of Russia and Prussia in the Seven Years War of 1756-63. Eastern Europe became pre-eminent, and during the 1770s Poland was partitioned for the first time, while Russia and Austria also seized territory from the Ottoman empire. Europe's centre of gravity moved sharply eastwards, and by the later 1770s Russia was emerging as the leading continental power. This study, based upon manuscript and printed sources from six countries, provides a comprehensive analysis of these crucial events.

This substantial collection of specially commissioned chapters addresses the theme of sovereignty and the sources and variety of political power in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe, from Russia to Spain and from the Italian peninsula to the Dutch Republic. A unifying theme, taken up in a substantial editorial introduction, is the determination to move away from cliches such as 'the rise of the modern state'. Instead, emphasis is placed upon the composite nature of early modern political structures and upon the significant number of bodies and individuals who were recognised as possessing, or who exercised, sovereignty. One particularly notable and novel feature is the attention paid to the potential of visual material for this subject: many of the chapters are accompanied by striking and often little-known illustrations. Topics are as diverse as international relations and the control of foreign policy, the cultural policies and political ambitions of representational monarchy, urban developments, and the personalities of those who exercised authority. These diverse themes were all illuminated by the writings of Professor Ragnhild Hatton (1913-95), to whose memory this collection is dedicated.

During the third quarter of the eighteenth century, the European states-system was transformed by the military rise of Prussia and Russia. Eastern Europe became pre-eminent and during the 1770s, Poland was partitioned for the first time by its three neighbors, and two--Russia and Austria--also seized territory from the Ottoman empire. Europe's political center of gravity moved sharply eastwards, and by the later 1770s Russia was emerging as the leading continental state. Based on sources in six countries, this study provides the first survey of these crucial events.

Each book in this series is designed to make available to students important new work on key historical problems and periods that they encounter. Each volume, devoted to a central topic or theme, contains specially comisssioned essays from scholars in the relevant field. These provide an assessment of a particular aspect, pointing out areas of development and controversy and indicating where conclusions can be drawn or where further work is necessary, while an editorial introduction reviews the problem or period as a whole.;In this text the contributors assess reform and reformers in late 18th century Europe, covering such topics as Catherine the Great, the Danish reformers, the Habsburg Monarchy and events in Spain and Italy.