ABSTRACT
We can also try to see where the European society stands in comparison with others discussed in the first section of the book. In doing so we must bear in mind that the grande république formed the core of a wider network of strategic, political and economic interests and pressures. The wider network or system closely involved the Ottoman empire and gradually covered the whole planet. Neither was static; both the European society itself and its relations with the outside world continually changed and expanded through the four centuries of its history.
