In the new edition of this classic book, Geoffrey Parker draws on material from all over Europe to provide an authoritative and exciting account of the eventful first half of the seventeenth century.

Geoffrey Parker is Andreas Dorpalen Professor of History at Ohio State University. He previously taught at Yale University (1993-96) and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he was department chair from 1989 to 1991. He also taught at the Universities of Cambridge and St Andrews in Britain and at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, in Canada. His many books include The Military Revolution. Military innovation and the rise of the West, 1500-1800 (1988), the winner of two book prizes, Philip II (1978), now in its third edition, The Grand Strategy of Philip II (1998) The Dutch Revolt (revised edition, 1984), and The Thirty Years' War (revised edition, 1997).