Penguin Books has introduced a history of Europe from Troy through the present; a massive nine volume history with each period written by a different author. The historians aside from Evans include Ian Kershaw, Tim Banning and others of worthy note. This volume reflects the usual attention to detail by Evans (his 3 volume history of the Third Reich is, in my opinion the definitive history of the Third Reich); it is rich in detail and almost overwhelming in providing information that makes the reader stagger under its weight.
Unlike other histories of this period, Evans spends little time rehashing the wars, but rather, creates a political, social, economic and moral history of the various forces unleashed by the wars of Napoleon. It was Napoleon who brought to Europe the ideals of the French Revolution (although at a terrible price with over 1,000,000 French troops being killed not to mention the slaughter of Germans, Russians, Poles, Italians, etc.). The victors attempted to create a new order in Europe which would allow them to keep a firm handle on the changes they feared and it continued through the revolutions of 1848 until the rise of nationalism.
If you ever want to learn about the impact of railroads on Europe, or the abolition of Serfdom, the Carlist Wars, the Religious divisions, the rise of Imperialism or the first genocides in Europe (naturally in the Balkans), this is the go to book. But beyond the major movements, we find who invented words such as “socialism”, “feminism”, “communism” (no it was not Marx or Engels), or the diet of the average Englishman vs. the slave in the United States (the slave in the U.S. was inches taller than the average Englishman reflecting a superior diet!), the practical use of the bustle and countless other bits of trivia, etc. this volume will quench your thirst for the trivia. Yet, Evans manages to pull it all together so that you have a real feeling of the times and context of Europe during that time.
At the same time, when dealing with the major events (the Carlist Wars, Unification of Germany or Italy, the problems from the revolution of 1848 for the Hapsburg Empire, etc.), you came away with a wonder of how any politicians were able to weather the political storms and demands of the time. It helps us today as it puts our great problems into an historical context and in its own perverse way, can give the reader optimism for the future; what other leaders did with poorer communication and information were able to accomplish, should make us believe in our own ability to move into the future.
Finally, I have to say that this book is almost a curse. How? Because given the quality of the historians for the other volumes, I see myself tied to each volume (this one took me two weeks to read, an inordinately long time) and finding at the end, other releases on the subject will offer little that is new and certainly will not be as entertaining.
This is one of those books that if anyone ever asks, “what books would you recommend on this subject”, you could point to this one volume as the beginning and end of the quest. Beware if you start down this path, for it shall capture you and hold you close till the end.
