Contemporary Europe since 1870

the long version

This volume treats of two brief related epochs that might be described as the "grandeur" and the "decline" of Europe. The former covers the last three decades of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth. It was then that Europe seemingly climaxed its historical evolution with world supremacy in industrial production, military might and imperial domination, and with phenominal progress in wealth and social betterment, in democracy and education, in the arts and sciences.