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The Long 19th Century: European History from 1789 to 1917
History at its most interesting is complex, a fascinating whirl of events, personalities, and forces, and few periods of history offer us such captivating complexity as Europe's 19th "century"—the often-broadly defined period from the French Revolution to World War I that formed the foundation of the modern world
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First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
September 12, 2017
Robert Weiner provides a thought provoking overview of this fascinating period. I've listened to it twice now and will again. Each lecture is packed with ideas. He adopts more of an interpretive approach rather than just reciting events although he does provide the context necessary. I also appreciated the excellent notes and recommendations for further reading. There is a noticeable emphasise on diplomatic history but other aspects are covered. My only minor criticism is that his vocal volume tends to go up and down a wee bit too much, although I was still able to hear everything. Excellent and I hope the Great Courses release a version of his course on the twentieth century.
March 26, 2023
A series of 36 lectures on 19th-century European history, ending at the beginning of World War 1. Weiner strikes a good balance between history and historiography for beginners on the subject like myself. I would recommend these lectures if you want an intro into this era of European history and/or an understanding of the causes leading to the World Wars.
“Like it or not, industrial society was a society of movement, and change, and especially of urbanization. Not only did it create the new, but it uprooted the old.”
Listened to Audio Version
“Like it or not, industrial society was a society of movement, and change, and especially of urbanization. Not only did it create the new, but it uprooted the old.”
Listened to Audio Version
December 30, 2023
I believe that if you’re looking for a good introduction into the various events of the 19th century, the 30 or so lectures in this series is perfect. I was able to learn a lot of Bismarck, Napoleon III, Mussolini, and Lenin to name a few. While I was somewhat familiar with the era, the professor does an amazing job of making the lessons conversational and bringing in more insight to the subjects at hand. I definitely will be re-listening to this!!
August 1, 2018
The late 19th and early 20th centuries have long been a topic of great interest to me, and I blame Barbara Tuchman. If she hadn't written so engagingly about the events leading up to WII, and about the war itself in The Proud Tower and The Guns of August, (I vividly recall reading the former in an elevator, missing my floor, and not caring one bit.) I might never have gotten so hooked on that era's history. No, that's a lie, I would have, but Tuchman's work was a gateway drug, which I revisit from time to time.
Study of that era has made me curious about the origins of the events that occurred during those years (And after, but that's another review entirely.) which is why I enjoyed The Long 19th Century so much. Beginning with the French revolution, and following the threads of revolution and change throughout the century, Weiner presents a clear, concise view of those years, of how this event informed that one, and that one informed many others, and gives the sense that some things, WWII for example, were inevitable given the political climate in Europe.
He introduces us to some of the great men of the era: Bismarck, Kaiser Wilhelm, Gladstone, Napoleon III, Mussolini, Lenin, Nicholas II of Russia, and many other movers and shakers whose personalities as much as their politics shaped the world of the 19th century. His lectures on Bismarck were so interesting that I hit up my local library for books about him. Who knew? Okay, well people who study Bismarck probably knew how interesting a man he was, but I didn't until I listened to these lectures.
And the same is true for so much of what Weiner discusses, not just new things, but new facets to the things I already knew. And that's why we set ourselves to learn, isn't it? To encounter new facts, new ideas, new things to ponder. If you're even remotely as interested in the history of this era as I am, I recommend you give this series a listen. You will learn new things, and you'll enjoy the process.
Study of that era has made me curious about the origins of the events that occurred during those years (And after, but that's another review entirely.) which is why I enjoyed The Long 19th Century so much. Beginning with the French revolution, and following the threads of revolution and change throughout the century, Weiner presents a clear, concise view of those years, of how this event informed that one, and that one informed many others, and gives the sense that some things, WWII for example, were inevitable given the political climate in Europe.
He introduces us to some of the great men of the era: Bismarck, Kaiser Wilhelm, Gladstone, Napoleon III, Mussolini, Lenin, Nicholas II of Russia, and many other movers and shakers whose personalities as much as their politics shaped the world of the 19th century. His lectures on Bismarck were so interesting that I hit up my local library for books about him. Who knew? Okay, well people who study Bismarck probably knew how interesting a man he was, but I didn't until I listened to these lectures.
And the same is true for so much of what Weiner discusses, not just new things, but new facets to the things I already knew. And that's why we set ourselves to learn, isn't it? To encounter new facts, new ideas, new things to ponder. If you're even remotely as interested in the history of this era as I am, I recommend you give this series a listen. You will learn new things, and you'll enjoy the process.
December 10, 2025
18 hours long. What a ride. Most of it not new (though I'd never heard of Cavour), but the scope is magnificent and the comparisons, dramatic delivery and storytelling make it worthwhile.
December 23, 2020
It's pretty good- undercut somewhat by the order of a few lectures and Weiner's capitalist apologism. But a very thorough look at Europe during the period.
July 16, 2013
I think the four stars are more because of how interesting and complex the topic is, rather than for the actual analysis. I feel I know a bit more, indeed, and it's hard to make sense of such a complex set of circumstances all over the place. I could have done without the side remarks (no, I'm not impressed at Prof. Weiner's having spent New Year's Eve in Berlin once, or by how he and his wife once saw a rally in Paris. Seriously?) and without the over-emphasizing of half the words in a sentence and without him telling us how professional the people at the TC are. I guess I'm more of a barebones kind of reader.
March 17, 2019
Tackling a long and complex period of history is difficult. Weiner manages to give a fairly balanced and coherent account of events and their causes, but I felt his account was incredibly dry. Perhaps covering over a century necessitated the lack of depth; however I found that I never really learnt enough about any topic to thoroughly understand it. It was hard to stay engaged with the lectures, which I think was partly due to the slow pace and excessive pauses in the delivery. This course will give you some insight into the 19th century - and why it is so important to study it - but look elsewhere for a more immersive treatment.
November 13, 2019
A solid, if somewhat rambling, basic intro. There is very little beyond political history (with perhaps the exception of excursions into Jewish history), and the course lacks the charm that comes with a book/course with an argument at its centre, such as Hobsbawm's series. But unlike most of the other Great Courses I've listened to, Weiner engages, even if briefly, in useful historiographical discussion as well, so the listeners can go to other sources and make balanced assessments of interpretations themselves.
May 12, 2025
Many courses in the Great Courses library are very good. This is not one of those courses.
This course is structurally incoherent, skipping backward and forward in time in a way almost seeming to be calculated to confuse the student. We have a lessonn on the Crimean War followed by a lesson on France from Napoleon Bonaparte to Napoleon III. We have lessons about Germany, Austria, and Italy separately, randomly intermixed with their interactions with each other. Further, the material in the course is chosen haphazardly, mentioning virtually nothing outside the actual "continent" of Europe until the late 19th century, in spite of the fact that the imperial ambitions and entanglements of most of the UK, France, Portugal, Spain, and Russia were all heavily involved in imperial adventures for the entire century.
The presenter is fairly typical of my experience of college professors from the late 20th century. To wit, he seems to "know" exactly how every nation went wrong. Conveniently, his solution for every ill is more socialism, though a bit of Marxism wouldn't go amiss, of course. (Marx and Engels are called out as being "prophetic".) And make no mistake, every European nation went very, very wrong in his eyes. It is error to take the hagiography of 19th century European civilization as its press would have it. But it's just as erroneous to attempt to make a case that there was no good to be found in 19th-century European civilization. This course falls very much into that latter camp.
Further, the presenter is clearly biased. E.g., he treats alliances aimed at Germany late in the 19th century as obviously purely defensive. But when Germany forms alliances in response, those are obviously threatening. The Dreyfuss affair is treated as an unfortunate choice and the eventual response of France as a sign of France's fundamentally strong society. And the fact that much of the animus aimed at Dreyfus was antisemitic is just one of those things that happens. In contrast, any instance of antisemitism in Germany is clearly a precursor of the obscenity that would attend WWII. There is fault to be found on all sides for the events that lead to WWI, and Weiner makes mouth noises about that, but his thesis does not support that attitude.
There is some good material here, but to find it, the student will need a solid grounding on the history of Europe in the 19th century (which would seem a problem for a course on 19th century European history) and the ability sieve the presentation for its precious-metal dust. And he or she will also need to be able to strain out the iron pyrite from the bits of gold.
This should not be used as a first course on European history of this period. It should not be used as a second course, either. Perhaps after half a dozen survey books and university-level courses, it might actually be useful, but even then, it's unlikely that it will be more useful than a randomly chosen book on the subject.
I've many times said that a history educator who can't capture his audience should leave the field. History has too much interesting detail for anyone but an incompetent to make it boring. This educator can't capture an audience.
Avoid this course.
This course is structurally incoherent, skipping backward and forward in time in a way almost seeming to be calculated to confuse the student. We have a lessonn on the Crimean War followed by a lesson on France from Napoleon Bonaparte to Napoleon III. We have lessons about Germany, Austria, and Italy separately, randomly intermixed with their interactions with each other. Further, the material in the course is chosen haphazardly, mentioning virtually nothing outside the actual "continent" of Europe until the late 19th century, in spite of the fact that the imperial ambitions and entanglements of most of the UK, France, Portugal, Spain, and Russia were all heavily involved in imperial adventures for the entire century.
The presenter is fairly typical of my experience of college professors from the late 20th century. To wit, he seems to "know" exactly how every nation went wrong. Conveniently, his solution for every ill is more socialism, though a bit of Marxism wouldn't go amiss, of course. (Marx and Engels are called out as being "prophetic".) And make no mistake, every European nation went very, very wrong in his eyes. It is error to take the hagiography of 19th century European civilization as its press would have it. But it's just as erroneous to attempt to make a case that there was no good to be found in 19th-century European civilization. This course falls very much into that latter camp.
Further, the presenter is clearly biased. E.g., he treats alliances aimed at Germany late in the 19th century as obviously purely defensive. But when Germany forms alliances in response, those are obviously threatening. The Dreyfuss affair is treated as an unfortunate choice and the eventual response of France as a sign of France's fundamentally strong society. And the fact that much of the animus aimed at Dreyfus was antisemitic is just one of those things that happens. In contrast, any instance of antisemitism in Germany is clearly a precursor of the obscenity that would attend WWII. There is fault to be found on all sides for the events that lead to WWI, and Weiner makes mouth noises about that, but his thesis does not support that attitude.
There is some good material here, but to find it, the student will need a solid grounding on the history of Europe in the 19th century (which would seem a problem for a course on 19th century European history) and the ability sieve the presentation for its precious-metal dust. And he or she will also need to be able to strain out the iron pyrite from the bits of gold.
This should not be used as a first course on European history of this period. It should not be used as a second course, either. Perhaps after half a dozen survey books and university-level courses, it might actually be useful, but even then, it's unlikely that it will be more useful than a randomly chosen book on the subject.
I've many times said that a history educator who can't capture his audience should leave the field. History has too much interesting detail for anyone but an incompetent to make it boring. This educator can't capture an audience.
Avoid this course.
January 14, 2024
Many scholars believe that when studying 19th century Europe, it is more useful to start at the French Revolution in 1789 and to end with World War I which concluded in 1918. This captures the massive political, social, economic, and intellectual transformations that helped to initiate the modern world in Europe. The revolutions that expressed a growing and increasingly well-articulated desire for liberty are one critical component of this story. They start with non-aristocratic portions of the upper classes and move to include the growing and increasingly distinctive middle class. Those groups attempted to use the continent's working men (and increasingly women) but eventually come into conflict with them in the struggle over constitutions and the push in many sectors for socialism and communism.
The long 19th century is also the period where nationalism becomes a driving force in Europe and, through colonialism and imperialism, spreads outward into other parts of the world. It is the bedrock period of the early industrial revolutions which transformed the economies and permitted massive population growth both in Europe and around the planet to a degree not imagined before. It witnesses efforts to actualize the intellectual developments of the enlightenment. And it sees humongous developments in the ability of European nations to wage war.
The Great Courses format breaks this highly complicated period into easy to digest nuggets with Weiner constantly moving from the forest view to that of the individual groves of trees that represent the nations of Europe. If you have any interest in understanding how Europe was able to develop into global superpowers in this period and how they then ripped themselves apart setting the stage for the twentieth century, this is a great place to start.
The long 19th century is also the period where nationalism becomes a driving force in Europe and, through colonialism and imperialism, spreads outward into other parts of the world. It is the bedrock period of the early industrial revolutions which transformed the economies and permitted massive population growth both in Europe and around the planet to a degree not imagined before. It witnesses efforts to actualize the intellectual developments of the enlightenment. And it sees humongous developments in the ability of European nations to wage war.
The Great Courses format breaks this highly complicated period into easy to digest nuggets with Weiner constantly moving from the forest view to that of the individual groves of trees that represent the nations of Europe. If you have any interest in understanding how Europe was able to develop into global superpowers in this period and how they then ripped themselves apart setting the stage for the twentieth century, this is a great place to start.
June 23, 2024
I thought this was an excellent set of lectures that introduced me to a part of European history during the time after the establishment of the thirteen colonies. This is an area that is very much ignored in American high school history. The nice thing about it was that it was not just a bunch of dates and events, but the more important drivers behind the events. This makes it a lot more interesting that the dry stuff in my High School American history books, and is a lot more relevant since learning lessons of history required one to understand what caused events. The fact that an event happened does not help in understanding how to prevent the mistakes of the past, and understanding what led to mistakes of the past allows one to understand the potential future from today’s events. At least he notes he probably has a bias. However, I found that he had a great bias when he discusses World War II Germany. Among other things he somewhat conveniently totally ignores the issues of the Versailles Treaty when he discusses the causes of the Second World War. In fact I think he was extremely unprofessional, lacking the detachment he seems to have with other periods. But his stated expertise is the 19th century to World War I, and not beyond.
April 6, 2023
In 36 lessons of 30 minutes each, Professor Robert I. Weiner attempts to describe all that happened in Europe between the late eighteenth century and the beginning of World War I. It was a period of rapid industrialization, increasing democratization, growing nationalism, changing loyalties between countries, and frequent wars and skirmishes.
There were too many changes during this period for Weiner to explain any theme or country in depth. He gave Bismarck the most attention.
I was impressed with Lecture 22, titled The Longest Hatred – European Anti-Semitism, which went back to the beginnings of anti-Semitism in Rome, through the Middle Ages and into the twentieth century. It had more information on the topic than I had heard or read in one place.
As usual for Great Courses lecturers, Weiner was informative, organized and a good speaker.
There were too many changes during this period for Weiner to explain any theme or country in depth. He gave Bismarck the most attention.
I was impressed with Lecture 22, titled The Longest Hatred – European Anti-Semitism, which went back to the beginnings of anti-Semitism in Rome, through the Middle Ages and into the twentieth century. It had more information on the topic than I had heard or read in one place.
As usual for Great Courses lecturers, Weiner was informative, organized and a good speaker.
April 7, 2018
This series of lectures provided me with a lot more detail of European history from that particular time. So much was crammed in that 125+ year period, that I knew highlights like the French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, the revolutions of 1848 (in a general sense), and... kinda petering out til WWI. Weiner fills in a lot of that space, and really helped me understand a little more about the building of Germany and Italy as semi-coherent states, social changes, political changes, technological change -- the whole schmeer. I think it's a great survey of the period, and he provides plenty of further reading if one wants to learn further about any of the aspects.
November 8, 2018
A nice survey history course. Dr. Weiner does an excellent job reviewing what many have labeled the long 19th century. I can’t think of anything that would have made the course better as he covers most aspects of political history from Napoleon to the end of World War I. Are there other historical areas he could have covered? Yes, but then again the series would need to be much longer than the 36 lectures that were required to cover the areas Dr Weiner covered. Overall, I would recommend this course to anyone interested in history...SLT
June 22, 2022
This is a very good introduction for the 19th century. This lecture series has gotten me interested in Otto von Bismarck which, in the past, for me, never really made a blip on my radar. The professor also offers some very interesting book recommendations that I would love to get my hands on as well. Most of the books he recommends go into further detail about the particular subjects he talks about in each lecture.
Overall a great introductory lecture series. Highly recommend especially if you are interested in European history, in particular, the 19th century.
Overall a great introductory lecture series. Highly recommend especially if you are interested in European history, in particular, the 19th century.
September 27, 2018
Weiner provides a great summary of the long 19th century. He makes a challenging topic digestible and interesting. He also provides some great suggestions about supplementary reading.
I've seen a few people complain about how slow he speaks... Play it at 1.25x.
I've seen a few people complain about how slow he speaks... Play it at 1.25x.
January 11, 2019
I've said it before and I'll say it again. When you study history you realize you should be damn grateful for the relative peace and stability of our time. As The Long 19th Century, and every other century shows, war seems to be a feature of the human condition.
January 8, 2024
I liked all the info and the way it was presented with enthusiasm. The professor had some odd pronunciation of English words at times and also at one point referred to Adam Smith as English, which is a bit unforgivable for Scottish people.
June 12, 2025
One of the best courses Ive worked on through Great Courses. It is presented very well. The instructor is very knowledgeable and the style, looking at one nation or topic at a time, made it very easy to fit the pieces together.
November 26, 2017
This is one of the more enjoyable Great Courses that I’ve partook with. And I have a nice stack of books on my TBR to fill in the gaps.
December 9, 2021
Will come back to this time and time again just for the bibliography. Wonderful overview of an extremely complicated era.
December 24, 2023
Excellent course with great details of 19th century that truly changed the world .
June 6, 2024
Great overview. I learned a ton and really enjoyed it.
April 23, 2014
I started this course with great excitement, due to the teacher's great passion, oratorical skill and knowledge and the growing realization of just what a huge treasure of events and lessons unknown to me lie in that century. Unfortunately as the course went on I got more and more the feeling that this course suffers from the curse of most historians: a tendency to glorify or at least obsess about individuals & their morals (be it kings, generals or politicians), centralized governments & their monuments, battles and dates, all while being moralistic and using retroactive/retrospective logic (as opposed to logical analysis of incentives and means).
This results in many long preaching sermons and not internally coherent positions. For example on the one hand the author condemns a lot of the actions of states/governments which have resulted in deaths, on the other he wishes they had done more with a socialistic & pro state-can-do-everything view of the world. I guess ever since I read the kind of history books like T.Sowell's "Migrations and Cultures" I've been spoiled and my standards have been raised of history books/course to also make logical arguments and theories and to sustain them with coherent research and comparative studies. For example both in that book and this course the issue of the persecution and treatment of Jewish people comes up, but where as in that book there was a reasonable theory offering some explanation as to reasons of behaviors of native populations as well as comparison's with similar treatments of other minorities in this course the line of reasoning seemed to me to be quite confused (a lot of talk about darwinism/evolution theory as causality seems to me unsatisfactory as an explanation). Anyway, I got off topic... just meant to say I encountered for me too much soft logic explanations in this course to be able to give it a higher score despite how fascinating I find the historical subject matter, how skilled a speaker the author is and what interesting events he relates.
Still, I'm quite happy about this course because even though i might disagree with some of the positions took by the author, it awakened in me an even bigger thirst to dig deeper into the 19th and 18th centuries and provided me with a lot of anchor points and perspectives I didn't know of before.
This results in many long preaching sermons and not internally coherent positions. For example on the one hand the author condemns a lot of the actions of states/governments which have resulted in deaths, on the other he wishes they had done more with a socialistic & pro state-can-do-everything view of the world. I guess ever since I read the kind of history books like T.Sowell's "Migrations and Cultures" I've been spoiled and my standards have been raised of history books/course to also make logical arguments and theories and to sustain them with coherent research and comparative studies. For example both in that book and this course the issue of the persecution and treatment of Jewish people comes up, but where as in that book there was a reasonable theory offering some explanation as to reasons of behaviors of native populations as well as comparison's with similar treatments of other minorities in this course the line of reasoning seemed to me to be quite confused (a lot of talk about darwinism/evolution theory as causality seems to me unsatisfactory as an explanation). Anyway, I got off topic... just meant to say I encountered for me too much soft logic explanations in this course to be able to give it a higher score despite how fascinating I find the historical subject matter, how skilled a speaker the author is and what interesting events he relates.
Still, I'm quite happy about this course because even though i might disagree with some of the positions took by the author, it awakened in me an even bigger thirst to dig deeper into the 19th and 18th centuries and provided me with a lot of anchor points and perspectives I didn't know of before.
July 18, 2019
Finished. Really good series. It took me awhile to adjust to Dr. Weiner's speaking style.... he has the wonderful lilt of a New Yorker!! I sat in enjoyment for awhile just soaking up his speaking style. And then I started over and listened to the content.
Excellent series. I particularly appreciated his summary, instead of focusing on all the ills that came of the problems that arose in the Longest Century (the French revolution to WWI), he chose instead to highlight the amazingly positive things that happened in the century. Every century has their ills, but some centuries have explosions of progress..... the Longest Century had great strides that impacted the every day life of so many people in hugely positive ways.
*******
Very excited to start this Great Course, it deals with how the European nations came to be. I've never understood how Italy became unified, and am not as conversant with how Germany came to be unified also. So far the series is really quite good.
Excellent series. I particularly appreciated his summary, instead of focusing on all the ills that came of the problems that arose in the Longest Century (the French revolution to WWI), he chose instead to highlight the amazingly positive things that happened in the century. Every century has their ills, but some centuries have explosions of progress..... the Longest Century had great strides that impacted the every day life of so many people in hugely positive ways.
*******
Very excited to start this Great Course, it deals with how the European nations came to be. I've never understood how Italy became unified, and am not as conversant with how Germany came to be unified also. So far the series is really quite good.
August 27, 2013
This is the first Teaching Company product that I've been through . . . it was longer than I expected but very interesting. I thought it covered the material very well & I enjoyed the personal stories that the professor included as well as comments about recommended books to read, historians with different opinions about the events, etc. I tried to read the lecture notes after watching each 30 minute lecture to make sure I understood the main points.
June 18, 2015
While a fine scholar, I suppose, and a very able communicator, Weiner's political correctness to me cripples his study. Instead of judging the period he discusses through their eyes and values, he stumbled badly by using a 21st Century filter which is both distracting, and to some extant, inaccurate. A less studied reader/listener might accept his opinions without a jaundiced eye. Objectivity is the first demand of the historian.
March 5, 2016
A tour de force! I knew this history pretty well, but Professor Weiner's insights and his recurring habit of introducing the most eminent historians for every given moment, kept my head turning and going, Oh wow! ... that makes sense. I highly recommend this course.
February 21, 2016
Excessive pauses and emphases in the lectures made it difficult to listen to.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews