The Parallel Paths of Two Doomed Royal Houses The famous epigram describing Bourbon exiles—”they had learned nothing and forgotten nothing”—could […]
The European Power Landscape in Transition The mid-17th century witnessed a dramatic reconfiguration of European power dynamics that would shape […]
A Patchwork of Territories: The Origins of Brandenburg-Prussia The story of Brandenburg-Prussia’s remarkable ascent begins with its improbable geography. Unlike […]
The Dawn of Absolutism: Europe’s Turbulent 1640s The mid-17th century marked a pivotal turning point in European political history. As […]
The Trial of Louis Capet: A Nation Votes for Regicide On January 17, 1793, after a marathon 36-hour session, France’s […]
The Decline of Rural Dominance in Modern Society The most striking difference between the modern world and the old regime […]
The Enlightenment Context of Population Studies In 1798, two seminal works on European population dynamics emerged from opposite ends of […]
The Slow World of Early Modern Travel Before the transportation revolution of the 18th century, mobility in Europe was painfully […]
The Myth of Christian Unity in Medieval Europe For centuries, the concept of “Christendom” served as the organizing principle of […]
The Colossus of Eastern Europe In the early 17th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth stood as one of Europe’s largest and […]
A Monument to Ambition: The Amsterdam Town Hall Project In 1639, Amsterdam’s city council made a bold decision: to construct […]
The Rise of a Master Strategist Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu, emerged as France’s dominant political figure during the […]
The Scale of Warfare in Early Modern Europe The Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) witnessed military mobilizations on a scale previously […]
The Thirty Years’ War and the Rise of Ferdinand II The Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) remains one of Europe’s most […]
The Thirty Years’ War and the Rise of Ferdinand II The Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) remains one of Europe’s most […]
The Thirty Years’ War and the Rise of Ferdinand II The Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) remains one of Europe’s most […]
Europe on the Brink: The Powder Keg of the Early 17th Century The late 1620s marked a turning point in […]
The Fractured Landscape of Post-Reformation Europe By the dawn of the 17th century, Europe stood deeply scarred by decades of […]
The Great Schism and the Rise of Ottoman Power For centuries, Christendom defined itself in opposition to the faith communities […]
The Roots of Religious Upheaval The Protestant Reformation emerged in early 16th-century Europe as a theological and institutional challenge to […]