In this well-known, best-selling book M S Anderson explores the major aspects of European history in the century from the Congress of Vienna to the First World War. This is not, in the main, a narrative of political or other events but rather a series of analytical surveys on a comparative and continent-wide basis. It gives full weight not only to political and economic factors but also to social and intellectual ones. The subjects treated in The Ascendancy of Europe include: A * the political and economic balance of power A * the mechanisms of government A * armed forces and war A * the movement of ideas A * states and nations A * Europe and the wider world. For the second edition, Professor Anderson has reworked the text throughout and has added a completely new chapter on economic and social aspects. M S Anderson is Professor Emeritus of International History in the University of London, and taught for many years at the London School of Economics. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and has written extensively on a wide range of topics in European History from the Sixteenth Century onwards.