Table Of ContentA History of
Modern Europe
W. W. Norton & Company
New York ■ London
For Laura Merriman and
Christopher Merriman
Copyright © 2010, 2004, 1996 by John Merriman
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Editor: Steve Forman
Project editor: Kate Feighery
Production manager, College: Eric Pier-Hocking
Composition: Westchester Book Group
Manufacturing: Courier Companies—Westford division
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Merriman, John M.
A history of modern Europe : from the Renaissance to the present / John
Merriman.—3rd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 978-0-393-93433-5 (pbk.)
1. Europe—History—1492- I. Title.
D228.M485 2009
940.2’ 1 —dc22 2009027982
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Contents
List of Maps xxi
Preface xxiii
Acknowledgments xxix
Chapter 1
PART ONE FOUNDATIONS
Medieval Legacies and Transforming
Discoveries 3
Medieval Continuities 5 The Fragmentation of
Europe • At the Crossroads of Cultures • The
Structure of Society • Feudalism • A Subsistence
Economy • Religion and Popular Culture
The Emergence of Early Modern Europe 18
A Rising Population • An Expanding Economy •
The Growth of Towns • Municipal Liberties • The
Emergence of Sovereign States • Developing State
Structures • Limits to State Authority
Transforming Discoveries 31 Gunpowder, Warfare,
and Armies • The Printing Press and the Power of the
Printed Word • Exploration and Conquest in the New
World: The Origins of European Empire
Conclusion 42
Chapter 2
The Renaissance 44
The City-States of the Italian Peninsula 45
Thriving Economies • Social Structure • Renaissance
Political Life • Florence: Anatomy of a Renaissance
City
vi Contents
A Dynamic Culture 55 The Rediscovery of
Classical Learning • From Scholasticism to
Humanism • The Renaissance and Religion •
The Renaissance Man and Woman
Renaissance Art 62 Architecture • Patronage
and the Arts • Renaissance Artists • Painting and
Sculpture • High Renaissance Style
The End of the Renaissance 73 Economic
Decline • Foreign Invasion • Machiavelli • The
Decline of the City-States • Impulses Elsewhere
Chapter 3 The Two Reformations 80
The Northern Renaissance 82 Northern Art
and Humanism • Erasmus's Humanistic Critique
of the Church
The Roots of the Reformation 85 The Great
Schism (1378—1417) • Heretical and Spiritual
Movements • The Challenge of Conciliarism to Papal
Authority • Clerical Abuses and Indulgences •
Martin Luther
Social Background of the Reformation in the German
States 95 Urban Centers of Reform • The Process
of Reform • The Peasants' Revolt
The Spread of the Reformation 98 Divisions
within Christendom • Charles V and the
Protestants • The Peace of Augsburg
The Reformation in Switzerland and France 103
Zwingli and Reform • Radical Reformers • Jean Calvin
and Reform • Calvinist Conversions
The English Reformation 111 Henry VIII and the
Break with Rome • After the Break with Rome
The Catholic Reformation 114 Retreat to
Dogmatism • Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits • The
Council of Trent • Putting Its House in Order
Culture during the Two Reformations 118 Print
Culture • Lay Education and Reading • Popular
Rituals and Festivals • The Role of Women • The
Baroque Style
The Legacy of the Two Reformations 124
Contents vii
Chapter 4 The Wars of Religion 126
The Wars of Religion in Sixteenth-Century
France 127 A Strengthened Monarchy • Economic
Crisis • French Calvinists and the Crisis of the French
State • Henry of Navarre • Statemaking • Louis XIII
and the Origins of Absolute Rule
The Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) 145
Factionalism in the Holy Roman Empire • The
Origins of the Thirty Years' War • Conflict in Bohemia
• The Expansion of the Conflict • The Danish
Period • The Swedish Interlude • The Armies of the
Thirty Years' War • The Wars of Religion and Dynastic
Struggles (1635-1648) • The Treaty of Westphalia
(1648)
PART TWO STATEMAKING
Chapter 5 The Rise of the Atlantic Economy:
Spain and England 165
Economic Expansion 166 Increased Agricultural
Productivity • Expansion of Trade • The Global
Economy • Price Revolution and Depression
The Rise of Spain 171 Centralization and the
Spanish Monarchy • The Spanish Economy • The
Expansion of the Spanish Empire • The Age of
Philip II
The Rise of England 179 The House of Tudor •
Religious Settlement and Conflict under
Elizabeth I • Elizabeth's Statemaking • Demographic
and Economic Expansion • English Society in the
Tudor Period • The Quest for Public Order • The
Elizabethan Theater • An Emerging Empire
of Trade
The Decline of Spain 198 The Dutch Revolt •
Economic Decline • An Empire Spread Too Thin
Conclusion 206
viii Contents
Chapter 6
England and the Dutch Republic in the
Seventeenth Century 208
Conflicts in Stuart England 209 Conflicts between
James I and Parliament
Religious Divisions 211 Charles I and Parliament
Clash
The English Civil War 214 Moving toward Conflict
• Taking Sides • Oliver Cromwell and the New Model
Army • Divisions within Parliament • Radicals •
Parliament's Victory • The Puritan Republic and
Restoration
The Glorious Revolution 226 Stuart Religious
Designs • The “Protestant Wind” • The Bill of Rights
The Golden Age of the Dutch Republic 231 The
Structure of the Dutch State • Expanding
Economy • Tolerance and Prosperity • Seventeenth
Century Dutch Culture
The Decline of the Dutch Republic 239
Conclusion 241
Chapter 7
The Age of Absolutism, 1 650-1 720 242
Theories of Absolutism 243
Characterizing Absolute Rule 245 Monarchsand
Nobles • Expanding State Structures • Absolutism and
Warfare • Absolutism and Religion • Monumentalism
in Architecture and Art • Absolutism in France • The
Fronde: Taming i(Overmighty Subjects” • Mercantilism
under Louis XIV • The Absolute Louis XIV • Louis XIV
at Versailles • Louis XIV’s Persecution of Religious
Minorities • The Limits of French Absolutism
The Balance of Power 261 The Origins of
International Law
The Habsburg Monarchy 262
The Rise of Prussia 265
The Russian and Swedish Empires 268 The Expansion
of Muscovy • The Rival Swedish Empire • Peter the
Great Turns Westward • Louis XIVs Dynastic Wars
The Modern State 283
Contents ix
PART THREE NEW CULTURAL AND
POLITICAL HORIZONS
Chapter 8 The New Philosophy of Science 287
Changing Views of the Universe 288 Ancient and
Medieval Science • Copernicus Challenges the
Aristotelian View of the Universe • The Universal Laws
of the Human Body • Brahe and Kepler Explore the
Heavens • Francis Bacon and the Scientific Method •
Galileo and Science on Trial
Descartes and Newton: Competing Theories of
Scientific Knowledge 298 Descartes and Deductive
Reasoning • The Newtonian Synthesis
The Culture of Science 302 The Diffusion of the
Scientific Method • The Uses of Science • Science
and Religion
Consequences of the Scientific Revolution 310
Chapter 9 Enlightened Thought and the Republic
of Letters 312
Enlightened Ideas 313 Intellectual Influences on
Enlightened Thought • The Republic of Ideas •
Montesquieu • Voltaire • Diderot • Rousseau
The Diffusion and Expansion of the
Enlightenment 325 Religious Enthusiasm and
Skepticism • Expansion of the Cultural Base • The
Arts • Music • The Spread of Enlightened Ideas
Enlightened Absolutism 336 Reform of
Jurisprudence • Educational Reform • Religious
Toleration • Frederick the Great • Rural Reforms
Currents of the Late Enlightenment 343
Enlightened Thought and Economic Freedom •
German Idealism • The Enlightenment and Public
Opinion • Forbidden Publications and the
Undermining of Authority
Legacy of the Enlightenment 347
x Contents
Chapter 1 0 Eighteenth-Century Economic
and Social Chance 349
The Social Order 350 Nobles • The British Landed
Elite • The Clergy • The “Middling Sort” • Peasants
The Beginnings of the Industrial Revolution 360
Stagnation and Growth in Agriculture • Population
Growth • Manufacturing: Guilds and Domestic
Industry • Inventions • Expanding British
Economy • Expanding Continental Economies
Social Changes 375 The Growth of Towns and
Cities • Social Movement within the Elite • The
Changing Condition of the Poor
Social Control 382 Protecting Property in
Britain • Subordination and Social Control
A Century of Contrasts 385
Chapter 1 1 Eighteenth-Century Dynastic Rivalries
and Politics 386
The Eighteenth-Century State System 387 Global
Rivalries • The Hanoverians and the Stuarts in Great
Britain • The Prussian-Austrian Dynastic Rivalry in
Central Europe
Conflicts between the Great Powers 394 The War
of the Austrian Succession • The Seven Years’
War • Armies and Their Tactics in the Eighteenth
Century • Navies
Political Change in Great Britain 404 Expanding
Central Government in Britain • The Role of the
House of Commons • The Development of Party
Politics in the 1760s: Whigs and Tories • The Rise of
British Nationalism
Challenges to Established Authority 411 British
Radicals • American Revolutionaries • The Parlements
and the French Monarchy • Other Movements
for Reform
Declining Power, Disappearing State: The Ottoman
Empire and Poland 425 The Decline of Ottoman
Turkish Power in Europe • The Partitions of Poland
Conclusion 430
PART FOUR REVOLUTIONARY
EUROPE, 1789-1850
Contents xi
Chapter 12 The French Revolution 435
The Old Regime in Crisis 436 Long-Term Causes of
the French Revolution • The Financial Crisis
The First Stages of the Revolution 440 Convoking
the Estates-General • Storming of the Bastille • The
Great Fear and the Night of August 4
Consolidating the Revolution 447 The Declaration
of the Rights of Man and Citizen • “The Baker, the
Bakers Wife, and the Bakers Little Boy” • Reforming
the Church and Clergy • The Reforms of 1791 •
Resistance and Revolution • The Flight to Varennes
War and the Second Revolution 456 Reactions to
the French Revolution in Europe • A Second
Revolution • Counter-Revolution • The Terror
The Final Stages of the Revolution 470 Thermidor
• The Directory: Politics and Society • Instability •
The Eighteenth Brumaire
Perspectives on the French Revolution 476
European Responses to the Revolution • Historians’
Views of the Revolution
Chapter 1 3 Napoleon and Europe 479
Napoleon’s Rise to Power 479 The Young Bonaparte
• Napoleon and the Revolution
Consolidation of Power 482 Establishment of the
Consulate • The Concordat • Napoleons Leadership •
Wars of Conquest and Empire • The Corsican Warrior
The Foundations of the French Empire 494
Institutional Foundations: Imperial Centralization •
Legal Foundations: The Napoleonic Code • Social
Foundations: The Imperial Hierarchy
The Tide Turns against Napoleon 498 The
Continental System • The Peninsular War • Stirrings
of Nationalism in Napoleonic Europe • Military
Reforms in Prussia and Austria • The Empire’s Decline
and the Russian Invasion • The Defeat of Napoleon
xii Contents
Monarchical Restoration and Napoleon’s Return 508
The Bourbon Restoration • The 100 Days
Napoleon’s Legacy 510
Chapter
Chapter
14 The Industrial Revolution 51 3
Preconditions for Transformation 514 Demographic
Explosion • The Expanding Agricultural Base • Trains
and Steamboats
A Variety of National Industrial Experiences 524 In
the Vanguard: Britain’s Era of Mechanization •
Industrialization in France • Industrialization in the
German States • Sparse Industrialization in Southern
and Eastern Europe
The Middle Classes 532 Diversity of the Middle
Classes • The Entrepreneurial Ideal and Social
Mobility • Rising Professions
Middle-Class Culture 537 Marriage and Family •
Separate Spheres and the Cult of Domesticity • A
Culture of Comfort • Education • Religion
The Ambiguities of Liberalism: Voluntarism versus
State Intervention 544
Impact of the Industrial Revolution 547 Continuities
on the Land • Urbanization • On the Move
Industrial Work and Workers 553 Gender and
Family in the Industrial Age • Child Labor • The
Laboring Poor • Class Consciousness • Workers’
Associations and Social Protest
The Origins of European Socialism 563 Utopian
Socialists • Practical Socialists • Karl Marx and the
Origins of “Scientific Socialism”
Conclusion 568
1 5 Liberal Challenges to Restoration
Europe 569
The Post-Napoleonic Settlement 571 The Treaty of
Paris • Diplomatic Maneuvering at the Congress of
Vienna • The Congress System • The Concert of Europe
Restoration Europe 576 The Restoration of
Monarchs} Noblesy and Clergy • Conservative Ideology
