ABSTRACT
Every historical situation comes from somewhere. Without going right back to the dawn of time we do need to kick off our study with a reflection on the geostrategic situation of the powers around 1700, their realistic expectations of dominance in view of their immediately preceding experience and the present challenges posed by these future ambitions. Historians too begin from a given point that reflects the current state of their knowledge. The issues at stake have been debated, sometimes to death, by specialists. The public at large might even pitch in with a few details. The idea in this chapter is to gain, firstly, an overview of the strategic situation according to the main international events of the moment and then take in some methodological lines underlying the issues under study.
