Table of Contents:
  • The instruments of high politics
  • Dynastic policy and Realpolitik ; Diplomacy and diplomatic organization ; Armies and navies
  • The world war of 1683-1699
  • The first stage, 1683-1684 ; The war in the east ; Generalization of the war ; Turin, Ryswick, and Carlowitz
  • The new balance of power
  • The Great Northern War: first phase ; The war of the Spanish Succession: diplomatic background ; The campaigns in the west, 1701-1706 ; Charles XII: Poland, Saxony, Russia ; War and diplomacy, 1707-1712 ; The pacification of the west ; The end of Swedish hegemony ; Conclusion
  • The shift of power in western Europe
  • The administrative monarchy in France ; England: the "glorious revolution" ; The Dutch republic and the Venetian oligarchy ; Spain in decline
  • The Hapsburg monarchy and middle Europe
  • The rise of the Danubian monarchy ; The growth of Brandenburg-Prussia ; The collapse of the Swedish empire
  • The reshaping of the east. The achievement of Peter the Great ; The Polish republic and the Ottoman empire
  • Economics and war
  • The demands of war ; The financial crisis ; Commerce and war ; Business as usual?
  • The frontiers of knowledge. The thirst for knowledge ; L'esprit geometrique ; The triumphs of science ; The new cosmos: Newton and Fontenelle ; The advance of natural history ; The impact of foreign cultures ; The history of man
  • The culture of the elite
  • The Baroque style ; Origins of the Rococo ; Music of the High Baroque ; Mirrors for men
  • Of God and man
  • The spiritual crisis ; L'esprit geometrique and the idea of God ; The state church and the continuing Reformation ; The secularization of political thought.