ABSTRACT
Arguing from a primarily European perspective, historians tend to speak of the ‘long’ nineteenth century. They date it from 1789 to 1914 and frame it by two cataclysms: the French Revolution of 1789, which led to a series of wars in Europe and beyond (1792–1815), and the First World War (1914–18), which, in its course, produced the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Industrial Revolution confronted Europeans with various challenges which had to be turned into a coordinated process of economic growth, technological expertise and social progress. The British war efforts were concentrated in three fields: to ‘rule the waves’ of the world in compensation for the dominance of the French army on the European continent; to defeat French attacks on imperial outposts; and to provide financial support for various allies. In most European countries the French Revolution either politicised already existing popular discontent or inspired debates on citizens’ rights, parliamentary reform and the nature of government.
