Free summaries
History - European — page 10
633 public-domain history - european books, summarised. Page 10 of 14.
Cuba: Its Past, Present, and Future
A. D. (Arthur D.) Hall
The star of hope, symbolized by the lone star upon the Cuban flag, rises from the gloom of colonial struggle to promise a new dawn for the "Pearl of the Antilles.
A Tour Through Old Provence
A. S. (Archibald Stevenson) Forrest
Provence is a landscape defined by its sun-drenched ruins and the enduring weight of history. This travelogue serves as a meditative survey of a region where the remains of Roman, feudal, and papal empires linger in the architecture and the very soil.
The Chief Periods of European History: Six lectures read in the University of Oxford in Trinity term, 1885
Edward A. (Edward Augustus) Freeman
The grand narrative of European civilization is defined by the shifting boundaries of power, tracing how ancient city-states evolved into modern nations through the persistent, echoing influence of Rome.
The French Army from Within
Anonymous
The French military machine of the early twentieth century is revealed here, exploring the lives of conscripted soldiers and the rigid structures governing their service. This account offers a rare, ground-level view of a nation arming itself.
Journal of the Third Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage
Parry, William Edward, Sir
This record of Arctic exploration chronicles a relentless struggle against unforgiving ice, where the pursuit of discovery remains inseparable from the constant, looming threat of catastrophe.
Spain in 1830, vol. 1
Henry D. (Henry David) Inglis
A traveler’s keen observations capture a nation standing on a knife’s edge of political change, where ancient customs and modern tensions collide. This account offers a rare, vivid window into the heart of a country caught between the fading past and an uncertain future.
With the Zionists in Gallipoli
J. H. (John Henry) Patterson
Under an overcast Mediterranean sky, thousands of Jewish refugees march under the unlikely command of a sharp-tongued British officer, forging an extraordinary transport unit bound for the slaughter of the Dardanelles.
Craft Gilds
W. (William) Cunningham
A careful study of medieval craft guilds reveals how organized labor once elevated human skill, governed quality, and shaped civic identity.
Inside the Russian Revolution
Rheta Childe Dorr
Dispatches from the front line of political collapse reveal how quickly a grand revolution degrades into mob rule, institutional breakdown, and daily chaos when idealists surrender authority to reckless zealots.
The different modes of cultivating the pine-apple: From its first introduction into Europe to the late improvements of T.A. Knight, esq
J. C. (John Claudius) Loudon
A comprehensive eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century guide reveals how European horticulturists tamed an exotic tropical fruit using ingenuity, wood-burning flues, and steaming piles of manure.
Watching on the Rhine
Violet R. (Violet Rosa) Markham
An Englishwoman enters conquered post-war Germany not to celebrate victory, but to observe with steady compassion the human cost of defeat.
Gibraltar
Henry M. (Henry Martyn) Field
The solitary cliff at the edge of the world becomes a bustling nexus of global empires, where military discipline meets the quiet routines of an isolated garrison town.
Spain in 1830, vol. 2
Henry D. (Henry David) Inglis
A traveller's view of a nation on the brink, capturing the textures, sounds, and stark political tensions of nineteenth-century Spain.
The Martyrdom of Belgium: Official Report of Massacres of Peaceable Citizens, Women and Children by The German Army
des lois et des coutumes de la guerre Belgium. Commission d'enquête sur la violation des règles du droit des gens
The cold, systematic destruction of a neutral nation reveals the terrifying mechanics of state-sponsored terror. This document exposes the lethal intersection of military doctrine and human suffering during the Great War.
Dixmude: The epic of the French marines (October 17-November 10, 1914)
Charles Le Goffic
The French Marine Brigade transforms from sailors into infantrymen, holding a critical, mud-soaked line against overwhelming German forces to safeguard the Allied flank during the early, desperate days of the Great War.
Poitiers
Hilaire Belloc
The Black Prince leads a desperate, outnumbered force through the French countryside, finally turning to face a massive royal army in a fight that secures his legend and cripples the French nobility.
A Detailed Account of the Battle of Austerlitz
Karl von Stutterheim
The battle that redefined the map of Europe remains a masterclass in the lethal consequences of strategic overreach and fragmented command. This account serves as a cold, analytical autopsy of a decisive imperial collapse.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 68, No. 417, July, 1850
Various
This volume of a venerable nineteenth-century monthly serves as a sprawling, articulate window into the anxieties, aesthetic values, and political tensions of mid-Victorian Britain. It gathers diverse voices to survey the intellectual landscape of 1850, offering a vivid, if partisan, portrait of a nation grappling…
Lausanne
Francis Henry Gribble
This account of a classic Swiss resort paints a vivid portrait of a town shaped by centuries of religious fervor, intellectual giants, and an enduring community of curious expatriates.
The Truth About German Atrocities: Founded on the Report of the Committee on Alleged German Outrages
Anonymous
A grave historical document meticulously examines the conduct of invading forces during the early months of the Great War, seeking to hold a modern power accountable for systematic violations of international law.
John Ronge
Anonymous
A stinging critique of religious corruption, this historical account captures a pivotal moment when one man’s defiance of a relic-worship spectacle ignited a mass movement for spiritual reform across mid-nineteenth-century Germany.
Irish Historical Allusions, Curious Customs and Superstitions, County of Kerry, Corkaguiny
Patrick M. Foley
This collection gathers the fading echoes of a specific Irish landscape, documenting the intersection of ancient folk memory, harsh colonial history, and the turbulent political awakenings of the early twentieth century.
Throne-Makers
William Roscoe Thayer
These biographical portraits examine the nineteenth-century "throne-makers"—the powerful individuals whose outsized influence reshaped European nations and defined the political landscape of their era.
With Those Who Wait
Frances Wilson Huard
The world of the Great War is often seen through the lens of trenches and strategy, but there is a parallel story written by those who stayed behind to keep the heart of a nation beating. This account captures the fragile, defiant normalcy of French villages and families living under the constant, encroaching…
The Albigensian Heresy
Henry James Warner
A nuanced investigation into the medieval religious movements of Southern France, this work dismantles the monolithic label of "heresy" to reveal a complex, multifaceted struggle for spiritual autonomy against an encroaching Roman Church.
![Cover of The Chronicles of Enguerrand de Monstrelet, Vol. 03 [of 13]](https://cdn.myebooksbuy.com/c/the-chronicles-of-enguerrand-de-monstrelet-vol-03-of-13-enguerrand-de.webp)
The Chronicles of Enguerrand de Monstrelet, Vol. 03 [of 13]
Enguerrand de Monstrelet
A chronicler’s meticulous eye captures the fracturing of a kingdom, documenting how internal betrayals and shifting alliances steered France toward a long, agonizing collapse.
General History of Civilisation in Europe, From the Fall of the Roman Empire Till the French Revolution. A Treatise on Death Punishments
François Guizot
European history is not a chaotic series of accidents, but a grand, coherent progression of distinct forces. This analytical inquiry uncovers the structural evolution of a society built upon the synthesis of diverse traditions.
Alsace-Lorraine
Daniel Blumenthal
The fate of Alsace-Lorraine serves as a foundational test of democracy, pitting the self-determination of a people against the territorial ambitions of an autocratic empire.
![Cover of The chronicles of Enguerrand de Monstrelet, Vol. 12 [of 13]](https://cdn.myebooksbuy.com/c/the-chronicles-of-enguerrand-de-monstrelet-vol-12-of-13-enguerrand-de.webp)
The chronicles of Enguerrand de Monstrelet, Vol. 12 [of 13]
Enguerrand de Monstrelet
This account documents the transition of late-medieval power, detailing the Italian campaigns of French monarchs and the shifting alliances that defined the threshold of the Renaissance.
The Medici Balls: Seven little journeys in Tuscany
Anna R. Sheldon
In the golden hills of Tuscany, a wandering pair of travelers discovers that the history of a powerful dynasty is etched into every stone, vineyard, and village they traverse.
A voyage to Senegal
Jean Baptiste Léonard Durand
A former French administrator provides an expansive, empirical tour of Western Africa, measuring its navigable waters, commercial networks, and varied coastal societies with cool administrative clarity.
The Myth of a Guilty Nation
Albert Jay Nock
A devastating indictment of Allied diplomacy proves that Europe's great conflict was no sudden ambush by a single guilty state.
Vagabonds of the sea
Maurice Larrouy
In the gray expanse of the Adriatic Sea, French sailors endure the quiet, grueling monotony of blockading enemy ports, caught between the sheer beauty of Mediterranean waters and the invisible, constant threat of destruction.
The Two Maps of Europe, and Some Other Aspects of the Great War
Hilaire Belloc
The shifting borders and military realities of the First World War define this analysis of a continent in crisis. It serves as a stark, contemporary snapshot of the conflict as it stood in the winter of 1914–15.
The World Decision
Robert Herrick
An eyewitness dispatch from the battlefields and political centers of Western Europe that frames the First World War not as a mere geopolitical struggle, but as a defining spiritual conflict for the soul of modern civilization.
Europe—whither bound? (Quo vadis Europa?)
Stephen Graham
In the aftermath of the First World War, a traveler journeys across a fractured continent to map its physical borders, broken currencies, and wounded spirits, searching for unity in a civilization threatening to collapse.
Glimpses of the dark ages
Anonymous
This examination of early medieval life avoids the grand narratives of kings and battles, focusing instead on the quiet, often harsh realities of the social structures that shaped Europe between the fifth and twelfth centuries. It offers a measured look at the institutions—the Church, the monastery, the feudal…
Six months on the Italian front
Julius M. (Julius Mendes) Price
A seasoned war artist ventures to the Italian Front during the Great War, documenting the mountain terrain and the raw, unvarnished spirit of a nation at arms. This account captures the visceral reality of a campaign defined by sheer cliffs, heavy artillery, and the fervor of a newly mobilized army.
The Campaign in Russian Poland
Percy Cross Standing
A brisk, contemporary chronicle of the early maneuvers on the Eastern Front, capturing the shifting tides of the Great War’s initial Russian campaign.
Democracy in France. January 1849
François Guizot
The French nation stands at a precipice, torn between the promise of democratic liberty and the abyss of revolutionary chaos. Only a return to social and moral stability can prevent the collapse of civilization.
Through Bolshevik Russia
Ethel Snowden
The arrival of a British delegation in 1920 offers a sobering, firsthand window into the early, uncertain days of the Soviet experiment. This record captures the tension between revolutionary fervor and the harsh reality of a starving nation.
Famous Affinities of History: The Romance of Devotion. Volume 2
Lyndon Orr
The lives of history’s most influential figures are often defined not by their public policies, but by the private, often turbulent, attachments that shaped their character and steered their destinies. By peering behind the veneer of crowns and epaulets, we uncover the fragile, human heart at the center of…
The Battle of Tsu-shima: between the Japanese and Russian fleets, fought on 27th May 1905
V. I. (Vladimir Ivanovich) Semenov
This account of the Battle of Tsushima captures the final, devastating hours of the Russian fleet in the Russo-Japanese War. It serves as a stark, first-hand record of modern naval warfare’s brutal transition into the age of steel.
The Red Glutton: With the German Army at the Front
Irvin S. (Irvin Shrewsbury) Cobb
The Great War began as a shock, and this narrative captures the sudden, disorienting transition from ordinary life into a industrialized, mechanized apocalypse. It serves as a haunting, firsthand witness to the German invasion of Belgium and France in 1914.
The Russian Advance
Marr Murray
This account chronicles the opening months of the Great War on the Eastern Front, documenting Russia’s rapid mobilization and early strategic maneuvers against the Central Powers. It provides a contemporary perspective on the shifting alliances and military expectations of 1914.
An Account of the Destruction of the Jesuits in France
Jean Le Rond d' Alembert
An impartial analysis of the Jesuits’ rise and fall reveals how a society built on intellectual brilliance and rigid discipline finally succumbed to its own insatiable political ambition. This historical account dissects the friction between an influential religious order and the sovereign interests of the French…
Reports on atrocities in the districts of Yalova and Guemlek and in the Ismid Peninsula
Inter-Allied Commission of Enquiry into Atrocities in Yalova and Guemlek
The landscape of the Greco-Turkish War is often obscured by the fog of nationalist narratives, but these official reports strip away the rhetoric to reveal the cold, mechanical reality of a region undergoing systematic erasure.
Roman Catholicism in Spain
Anonymous
The history of a nation is written in its altars. This study examines how centuries of religious dogma shaped the Spanish character and how, in the modern age, a nation begins to reclaim its own spirit.