Its sixteen thematic chapters - each written by an expert in the field - cover social and economic developments, the rise and fall of all the major political movements as well as the immense changes generated by war and international diplomacy across Europe.

Martin Pugh is Research Professor in History at Liverpool John Moores University. His previous books include Electoral Reform in War and Peace (1978), The Tories and the People (1985), Women and the Women's Movement in Britain (1992), The March of the Women: a revisionist analysis of the women's suffrage movement (2000), and The Making of Modern British Politics (3rd Edition 2001, Blackwell).