ABSTRACT
This chapter examines international relations and the role of war within domestic politics. It focuses on the most important political event of the century, the French Revolution, which not only unleashed a massive wave of military violence but also reanimated ideological battles about the role of the people in political life. By around 1750, the network of great powers that would dominate nineteenth-century international relations – France, England, Austria, Prussia and Russia – was in place. The great powers were becoming what historians have called 'fiscal-military states'. The 'great power' system, the mercantile rivalries, the global theatre of war and the development of fiscal-military states all had important transformative consequences for domestic politics. The French Revolution revolutionized the conduct, reach and significance of European warfare. The balance of power seemed like a forgotten dream, as French power and influence extended throughout Europe.
