The pattern of European development since 1789 can be understood only by study of all those all-embracing forces that have affected the whole Continent, from the British Isles to the Balkans. David Thomson (Master of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge 1957-1970, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Thomson_(historian) first published this magisterial and acclaimed history in 1957. The book deals with all those grand sweeping forces. In it he emphasises particularly the overall factors of population growth, industrialization, overseas nationalism, and the connection between war and revolution. He considers these not country by country but phase by phase, so that the development of European civilization over the past century and a half unfolds as a continuous whole. This is a book that has now soundly educated generations of students and I commend it to you. Enjoy the updated 1990 Penguin edition.
1008 pages in Penguin New Edition paperback
ISBN 978-0140135619