This innovative study explores Europe's long 19th century from the French Revolution to the end of World War One. It tells the story of how Europe's peoples and states, from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Circle, from the Atlantic to the Urals, experienced and reacted to the set of social, cultural, economic and political changes that slowly transformed Europe and the world beyond it between 1789 and 1918.

As Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels announced in their Communist Manifesto of 1848, the French Revolution launched a new era in Europe in which virtually every aspect of the previous epoch, the 'old regime', was eventually overhauled, transformed and overthrown. Europe's Long Nineteenth Century characterizes this period as one of multiple transitions to highlight the different forces of change and the variability of their impact at different points of time and in different parts of Europe. Organized into three overlapping sections (1789-1850, 1840-1880, and 1870-1918), the book covers overarching tendencies in each period while also exploring unique aspects of specific regions and countries. Throughout, the argument is supported by illustrative material and bibliographic notes designed to encourage further reading and the understanding of changing historical perspectives on key topics.