In this work, Geoffrey Parker traces the rise and fall of global empires, the impact of mass warfare and limits to religious growth in 16th- and 17th-century Europe. He ranges from the dramatic rise and fall of Philip II's Spanish superpower to William of Orange's invasion of England; from Elizabethan espionage and treason to the spread of Protestanism; and from the development of military technology to war crimes and the etiquette of atrocity in early modern Europe. All these studies reveal what the short-lived triumphs and devastating failures of this period can tell us about the modern world.