ABSTRACT
War was central to the history of the period and to the experience of its people, while, in so far as long-term developments are concerned, these conflicts were also of great importance. As the result of the wars of the period, the Turks were pushed back into the Balkans, French hegemonic aspirations in Europe were defeated, and the fates of North America and India were settled, as was the struggle between Britain and France for maritime and colonial dominance. Furthermore, the Spanish empire was fatally weakened. Thus, the period was not only important to the rise of the West within the world, but also to the question of who was to dominate the West, which indeed answered the question ‘which West?’. In particular, different versions of French predominance (Bourbon, Revolutionary and Napoleonic), in and beyond Europe, were offered and defeated during the period. Apart from these grand shifts – of territorial change, state-building and, more infrequently, ideological control – armies were also responsible for the maintenance of order and the defence of authority, whether against rioters, separatism, brigands, striking workers or religious dissidence.
