This book describes and analyses many interesting events in the political development of Europe from the Ancient world to the present day and offers opportunities for a comparative approach, which lays emphasis not only on the historical, economic and social context, but also on the spiritual and intellectual heritage of our European culture. "This is not a history of all the pertinent events, major and minor, that have occurred in Europe but rather an essay on the ideas, experiments, successes, and failures of individuals, societies, and states to meet the challenges of human organisation and technological development that define the Europe of today." Stanislav J. Kirschbaum