The Development of European Civilization - The Great Courses Audiobook

Written by The Great Courses
Read by Professor Kenneth R. Bartlett
Format: MP3
Unabridged

In almost every way that matters, historical Europe was the laboratory in which the world you now live in was conceived and tested. And you’ll be living with the consequences for the rest of your life. These 48 lectures lead you through the doors of that laboratory and guide you through the development of Europe from the late Middle Ages through the eve of World War II.
As you follow Professor Bartlett through the dramatic story of European history, you’ll learn about the major ideologies and “isms” that bubbled forth from Europe’s constantly fermenting cauldron of debate and conflict, including absolutism, scientism, rationalism, capitalism, nationalism, liberalism, and totalitarianism. You’ll investigate the forces that intermingled to create the Industrial Revolution and the accompanying economic and social upheavals that would, in turn, create so many more. You’ll also make sense of the European ideologies of government, including the rule of law, the concept of “the consent of the governed,” taxation, an independent judiciary, and other concepts. You’ll explore the new roles for religion in European life, from the end of the traditional union of altar and throne to great upheavals such as the Protestant Reformation and the Great Schism. And you’ll witness the evolution of the European class system, which influenced the social forces that swirled around it just as much as it was influenced by them.
Rather than offering a laundry list of dates, events, and famous individuals, Professor Bartlett leaves you instead with an understanding of historical and social causality. More important: He offers you the chance to experience Europe’s development from a European perspective.

NOTE: The accompanying reference material is available as a PDF.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
01 The Idea and Place of Europe
02 Feudalism and the Medieval World
03 The Three Orders of Medieval Society
04 The Manorial Economy
05 The Growth of Trade and Towns
06 Humanism and the Italian Renaissance
07 Crisis in the Church
08 Christian Humanism
09 The Ottoman Threat to Europe
10 The Expansion of Europe
11 The Continental Reformation—Luther
12 The Continental Reformation—Calvin
13 The Wars of Religion
14 The English Reformation
15 The English Civil War
16 The Thirty Years’ War
17 The Absolute Monarchy
18 The Scientific Revolution
19 The Enlightenment, Part 1
20 The Enlightenment, Part 2
21 France in 1789
22 The French Revolution
23 The Age of Napoleon
24 The Congress of Vienna
25 The Industrial Revolution
26 The Industrial Working Class
27 Capitalism and European Society
28 The Middle Class
29 Liberals and Liberalism
30 Liberal Government
31 Science and Progress
32 19th-Century Optimism
33 Nationalism and 1848
34 The Unifications of Germany and Italy
35 Darwin and Darwinism
36 Social Darwinism
37 Socialism and Utopianism
38 Marx and Marxism
39 Reactions to Rationalism
40 Fin de Siècle
41 World War I
42 The Treaty of Versailles
43 The Disintegration of the Established Order
44 The Bolshevik Revolution
45 Fascism in Italy
46 The Nazi Regime in Germany
47 Europe between the Wars
48 The New Europe