An introduction to the complex era from 1878 to the end of World War I, this book explores the political history of the period running up to the war, setting events in the context of social, economic and cultural changes.

This book is a fascinating introduction to the complex era from 1878 to the end of World War I. The forty years before 1914 were a period of extraordinary peace and prosperity, but this world came to a dramatic end with the start of the First World War. Stone explores the political history of the period running up to the war, setting events in the context of social, economic and cultural changes. The period was marked by complexity: in politics parties were emerging, dividing and revising their alliances: international affairs were complicated by the maneuvering of six major European powers; at the same time dramatic economic and social changes were occurring, populations were increasing, the family altering, education developing and attitudes to religion changing.Norman Stone makes sense of this confusing era by exploring these common European themes and establishing a political and international chronology for readers to follow. He reveals the individual character of the European countries, discussing the five Great Powers in essay rather than narrative form. He treats war and revolution in a separate section and concludes by considering the cultural developments of the period.

Preface to the Second Edition. Preface to the First Edition. 1. The End of
'Moral Order': Metropolis. The Liberal Revolution. The 'Great Depression.' 'Transformism': The Politics of the 1880s. 2. Strange Death, 1890-1914: The New Course. 'National Efficiency' and Sammlungspolitik, 1896-1904. 1905: The Ghost of 1848. 'Technocracy,' 1906-1910. The Ghost of Bonapartism: Reveil National, 1910-1914. 3. The Great Powers of Europe: International Relations, 1897-1914. Germany. Russia. Italy. France. Austria-Hungary. 4. War and Revolution, 1914-1918. 'Gift from Mars.' The War, 1914-1918. 'Red Dawn'? 5. New Structure: The Cultural Revolution of 1900. Bibliography.
Index.