In the book Professor Anderson surveys all aspects of European life in the eighteenth century. Most of the discussion is on a continent-wide basis; the British Isles are treated as an integral part of the continent; and the book is particularly strong in the attention in devotes to the important but often neglected states of eastern Europe. It also deals with the European colonial empires, and with the extra-European cultural influences that now affected the life of the continent.Professor Anderson looks in detail at the central political events of the time - amongst them the emergence of Russia and Bradenburg-Prussia as great powers, and the increasing tensions of the old regime in France. He also explores the mechanisms of international relations, and the armed forces whose demands were a significant factor in the lives of all the great European states.