ABSTRACT
To brigade together Britain, the Scandinavian kingdoms and some of the German states is unusual, but they did have common features. They all had relatively advanced political systems in which constitutions often figured, and their governments proved more adaptable than many. Even the much maligned German princes were willing, albeit under duress, to embark on political changes. Furthermore, their social patterns, involving sometimes large numbers of independent peasant farmers, active artisans and middle-class liberals, and even flexible upper classes, made them structurally, if not geographically, part of the heartland. Social dynamics played a significant role, even if the timing of political change could differ from that in countries to the south and west.
