The Pursuit of Glory:
Europe 1648-1815
An accessible chronicle of European history from the end of the Thirty Years' War to the Battle of Waterloo
DIFFICULTY
advanced
PAGES
736
READ TIME
≈ 900 mins
DIFFICULTY
advanced
PAGES
736
READ TIME
≈ 900 mins
About The Pursuit of Glory
Modern Europe, Tim Blanning argues, emerged not from one earthquake but from five intertwined revolutions after 1648.
He explores how infrastructure stitched markets and minds together, and how farming reform and a new appetite for goods reshaped daily life. Populations surged and cities swelled, scrambling old hierarchies. The fiscal‑military state and professional diplomacy concentrated power and bankrolled mass warfare.
Meanwhile, the Enlightenment widened a public sphere that rewired faith, art and political legitimacy. The French Revolution and Napoleon did not create these shifts so much as accelerate and export them.
Blanning blends grand narrative with granular detail—from court salons to muddy coaching inns—to show how Europe became recognisably modern. Read it to grasp why states, ideas and consumer desire still set the terms of European life today.
What You'll Learn
- Five interconnected revolutions that reshaped Europe, 1648–1815
- How roads, canals, and print accelerated communication and markets
- The rise of centralized, fiscal‑military states and new diplomacy
- The agricultural and consumer revolutions’ impact on everyday life
- The Enlightenment, religion, and the expanding public sphere
- Connect the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars to a new European order
Key Takeaways
- Modern Europe emerged from multiple revolutions
- Infrastructure transformed economies and society
- Fiscal‑military states dominated the era
- Culture and the public sphere gained power
- 1789–1815 redrew Europe’s political map
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