Sign-In
Cart
Modern Europe: Europe in History
Paperback
Series: Europe in History, Book 11
French HistoryGeneral Political ScienceGeneral World History
ISBN13: 9789190150337
Publisher: Hui Wang
Published: Feb 27 2026
Pages: 192
Weight: 0.43
Height: 0.41 Width: 5.00 Depth: 8.00
Language: English
Modern Europe: Europe in History, PART ONE, is my attempt to guide readers through the dramatic transformation of France from a Bourbon monarchy into a revolutionary republic. I begin with Henry IV (reigned 1589-1610 CE), the founder of Bourbon rule in France, then turn to Cardinal Richelieu-chief minister to Louis XIII (serving roughly 1624-1642 CE)-and the early consolidation of royal authority. From there I move into the long reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King (1643-1715 CE), whose vision of absolute monarchy remade the political landscape of Europe. Along the way we meet powerful religious and political forces-the Jesuits (founded 1540 CE), the Jansenists, and the bitter tensions between them that helped to test and define royal power. This is where the modern story begins: not with a single explosion of revolution, but with the patient building of centralized authority.
As the narrative unfolds, financiers and speculators like John Law-whose Mississippi scheme and the ensuing bubble in 1719-1720 CE rattled France's finances-take the stage, showing how credit and gambling could shake the foundations of the Ancien Régime. The Enlightenment does not appear as an abstract, detached phenomenon; it arrives in the voices of Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who challenged authority, questioned religious dogma, and reimagined the structure of society itself. Slowly but unmistakably, science, philosophy, and political thought begin to tilt the balance of power away from the old doctrine of divine right and toward reason, public debate, and fresh ideas about sovereignty.
Under Louis XV the cracks in the ancien régime grow harder to ignore. War - above all the Seven Years' War (1756-1763 CE) - exacts a heavy toll, deepening the monarchy's financial woes and exposing the crown's growing weakness. Political paralysis at court, mounting fiscal disaster, and the ferment of Enlightenment ideas together feed a slow, structural collapse that historians have traced in The Fall of the Old Regime. What erupts in The Opening of the French Revolution is not random chaos but the long-awaited release of decades of pent-up pressure.
The Revolution brings a new cast of forceful personalities. Abbé Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès forces a rethink of what the nation actually means with pamphlets like What is the Third Estate?. Jacques-Pierre Brissot and the Girondins try to steer the Revolution toward a more moderate, federalist path, while the Jacobins push for centralization and a sharper republican zeal. As these factions collide in The Battle for the Republic, Maximilien Robespierre increasingly emerges as one of the Revolution's most decisive - and most controversial - figures.
The book reaches its climax in the figure of Robespierre and the Reign of Terror, where the optimistic promise of liberty smashes into political extremism and the grim necessities of revolutionary survival. By following the lives and struggles of Louis XIV and Louis XV, the polemics of Voltaire and Rousseau, and the political maneuverings of figures like Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès and Jacques-Pierre Brissot, I trace the long arc that bends history from absolutist monarchy toward the idea of popular sovereignty.
1 different editions
Also available
Also from
Wang, Hui
Shield Tunneling Technology in Mixed Face Ground Conditions
Zhu, Weibin
Wang, Hui
Ju, Shijian
Hardcover
Graph Neural Network Methods and Applications in Scene Understanding
Liu, Weibin
Hao, Huaqing
Wang, Hui
Hardcover
The Maillard Reaction in Food Chemistry: Current Technology and Applications
Cheng, Faliang
Ruan, Dongliang
Wang, Hui
Paperback
Also in
French History
Art of the Defeat: France 1940-1944
Jane Marie Todd (translator)
Laurence Bertrand Dorleac (author)
Hardcover
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
Purnell, Sonia
Hardcover
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
Purnell, Sonia
Paperback
The Art Spy: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland
Young, Michelle
Hardcover
Wine and War: The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France's Greatest Treasure
Kladstrup, Donald
Kladstrup, Petie
Paperback
The Hotel on Place Vendome: Life, Death, and Betrayal at the Hotel Ritz in Paris
Mazzeo, Tilar J.
Paperback
The Dark Side of France: A History of the French Far Right from the 1890s to the Present
O'Doherty, Enda
Hardcover
The First Emancipation: The Forgotten History of Abolition in Revolutionary France
Popkin, Jeremy D.
Hardcover
Josephine Baker's Secret War: The African American Star Who Fought for France and Freedom
Diamond, Hanna
Hardcover
Beyond the Ocean: France and the Atlantic World from the Crusades to the Age of Revolutions
Hodson, Christopher
Rushforth, Brett
Hardcover
A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France
Moorehead, Caroline
Paperback
A Bite-Sized History of France: Gastronomic Tales of Revolution, War, and Enlightenment
Hénaut, Stéphane
Mitchell, Jeni
Paperback
The Art Spy: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland
Young, Michelle
Paperback
The Last Empress of France: The Rebellious Life of Eugénie de Montijo
Resnick, Evelyne
Kladstrup, Petie
Hardcover
The People's Justice: Revolutionary Law and the Founding of the French Republic
Hesse, Carla
Hardcover
The Leopard in the Garden: Animal and Human Lives in Paris at the First Public Zoo of the Modern Era
Burkhardt, Richard W., Jr.
Hardcover
The Napoleonic Wars: An Enthralling Guide to Global Conflict, Revolutionary Tactics, and the Empire's Expansion
Wellman, Billy
Hardcover
And There Was Light: The Extraordinary Memoir of a Blind Hero of the French Resistance in World War II
Lusseyran, Jacques
Paperback
From Occupation to Integration: Recivilizing the French Zone of Post-Nazi Germany, 1945-1955
Flanagan, Drew
Hardcover
Passionate Minds: Emilie du Chatelet, Voltaire, and the Great Love Affair of the Enlightenment
Bodanis, David
Paperback
Dancing to the Precipice: The Life of Lucie de la Tour Du Pin, Eyewitness to an Era
Moorehead, Caroline
Paperback
The First Total War: Napoleon's Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It
Bell, David A.
Paperback
Devil's Guard: The Fascinating, True Story of the French Foreign Legion's Nazi Battalion
Elford, George R.
Paperback
Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918
Barthas, Louis
Paperback
Six Armies in Normandy: From D-Day to the Liberation of Paris; June 6 - Aug. 5, 1944; Revised
Keegan, John
Paperback
Who Will Rescue Us?: The Story of the Jewish Children Who Fled to France and America During the Holocaust
Hobson Faure, Laura
Hardcover
Fashion Victims: Dress at the Court of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette
Chrisman-Campbell, Kimberly
Paperback
From Ancient Gaul to Canada: A Trip Through the Enchanting History of French Canadians
Kish, Dennis
Paperback
The Mapmaker's Wife: A True Tale of Love, Murder, and Survival in the Amazon
Whitaker, Robert
Paperback
City of Light, City of Poison: Murder, Magic, and the First Police Chief of Paris
Tucker, Holly
Paperback
The Collapse of the Third Republic: An Inquiry into the Fall of France in 1940
Shirer, William L.
Paperback
Napoleon's Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812: Complete and Unabridged (Warbler Classics Annotated Edition)
Bonaparte, Napoleon
Paperback
The Story of Modern France: The Kings, the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars and the Establishment of Democracy and Liberty
Guerber, Hélène Adeline
Paperback
A Good Place to Hide: How One French Community Saved Thousands of Lives in World War II
Grose, Peter
Paperback
A Protestant Air: Gide, Sartre, Barthes, and the Religion of Literary Modernity
Fauré-Bellaïche, Clémentine
Paperback
Herald of a Restless World: How Henri Bergson Brought Philosophy to the People
Herring, Emily
Hardcover
Matriarchal Societies of the Past and the Rise of Patriarchy: West Asia and Europe
Goettner-Abendroth, Heide
Hardcover
When Paris Went Dark: The City of Light Under German Occupation, 1940-1944
Rosbottom, Ronald C.
Paperback
A Life of Her Own: The Transformation of a Countrywoman in 20th-Century France
Carles, Emilie
Destanque, Robert
Paperback
French Revolution: A Captivating Guide to the French Revolution, the Life of Marie Antoinette and the Impact Made by Napoleon Bonaparte
History, Captivating
Hardcover