Empire, War and Faith in Early Modern Europe by Geoffrey Parker
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.