From Vienna to Versailles

by L.C.B. Seaman

This classic text examines the story of European affairs and international relations from 1850 to 1920. Authoritative and concise, it emphasizes interpretation rather than the chronological narrative of the facts.

Genres: History

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

(Lewis Charles Bernard)

Reviews

[Emilija · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very good book if you were looking to get a basic understanding of European political relations between the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the beginning of the First World War. It isn’t a period of history that I’m massively interested in, but Seaman really held my attention.

[Fergus Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe a bit Anglo-centric, probably more "colonial" than current taste, but really made me think, and Google, lots of tributaries of modern history I'd never heard of of thought about. Turned my understanding of the unification of Italy and of Germany on its head. A strong argument about the roots of the First World War - again revised my understanding.

This is not an easy book to read, but it is a tour de force.

[Mike Pinter · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, many, commas, that, one, gets, lost, in, all, the, couching.
A very interesting book with lessons for current policies.
A lot of the time the book just names people out of the blue and one has to assume that they are the prime ministers and leaders of the countries mentioned. The text would benefit from less concise in that way. So too would it benefit if some of the other reasons for events turning out as they did were mentioned. Anarchists are mentioned ONCE, yet their influence hung over society for long enough to merit more than one phrase. The industrial machinery and profiteering, the jockeying for raw materials, the fight over how to split the remains of the Ottoman Empire before it was even dead, particularly the oil-rich lands of what was Persia are left out of the scope of this work even though they were important, the race for Africa and its colonisation isn't given the treatment it deserves.
Perhaps it is unfair to judge a book first published in 1955 nearly seventy years later when so many facts have been wrested from the roots of history like so many truffles. As it is, it is a very eye-opening text as to all the times other wars could have changed the course of History but didn't.

[Robert Monk · Rating 2 out of 5]

I saw this old book at a book sale, and read a quote on the cover: "The best short book now existing on 19th Century European history." That's a very important period, and one I'm kind of weak on, so I grabbed it. Well, it is technically a book on European history, but it's far more historiography than straight history. It operates on the assumption that you know all of the main points, that you know who Sir Edward Grey was and what the battle of Sadowa meant. None of this is explained; it's assumed you know it. This book is for people already well-versed in the characters and events, who want interpretation. Indeed, it says so in its introduction. And that's a good thing, I appreciate such books. But it's not what I was looking for. Do you know the North German Confederation from the Dual Monarchy? Well, you might want to check this out. Do you want to find out how the North German Confederation came to exist? You probably need another book.

[Peter Li]

Read it ~6 years ago. Can't remember much. The writing style is what you would expect from a book published in the 50s, when the perceived success of the Concert of Europe was of much academic interest due to (1) the failure of Versailles and (2) the desire to prevent another war through diplomacy during the Cold War. It's harder (albeit still possible) to find books on a similar topic now.

One thing memorable about this book was how the author had a "realpolitik" attitude toward liberal revolutions, attributing their causes to practical concerns instead of aspirations for freedom. Don't remember much besides that.