ENG 1A Term Paper

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From Religious Reform to Global Conflict:

How Martin Luther Caused World War II

Essay by Devin Bates


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Devin Bates

Dr. BeloofEnglish 1A

05 December 2005

From Religious Reform to Global Conflict:

How Martin Luther Caused World War II

Martin Luthers influence on history is common knowledge. However, the extent of his

influence is not. One can simply look at the events following Luthers actions to understand

their real impact. Protestantism, initiated by Martin Luther, set off a chain reaction that

eventually led to the American Revolution. That revolution, and its outcome, led the French to

start a revolt against their own king. The French Revolution gave rise to the empire of Napoleon

Bonaparte, who dissolved the Holy Roman Empire and turned the German states into French

puppets. Both the American and French Revolutions served as templates for the later revolutions

of the early nineteenth century. The Revolution of 1848 gave Otto von Bismarck his chance to

rise to preeminence in Prussian government, and the previous abuse of German autonomy at the

hands of Napoleons armies gave Bismarck the ideological impetus to unify the German states at

French expense. The Franco-Prussian War, which was caused by Bismarck, caused increasing

tension between France and Germany. That tension lead to the various alliances that created the

powder-keg which, when ignited by the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, led to World War

I. The Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I, forced Germany to pay major reparations

to the allies that defeated it and further increased the tension between France and Germany. That

increased tension gave Hitler the grounds to seize power and eventually start World War II.

Posted on the door of the Wittenberg Castle church on All Saints Eve in 1517, Martin

Luthers ninety-five theses set in motion a series of events that led to the most devastating war in

the history of the world. Luther intended his theses to be a proposition for reform within the


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Catholic Church. What he felt needed reformed, or even abolished, was the Churchs practice of

selling indulgences as a means to alleviate sin. Though his words eventually led to the reform he

sought, Luther had no way of knowing how big an impact his ideas would really have on the

future of the world. Probably Luther did not see what he was doing as particularly important,

since he had spoken on indulgences before. . . (MacCulloch 123). Luthers ninety-five theses

sparked a zeal for religious reform throughout Europe that eventually culminated in the

foundation of numerous Christian churches with no ties to the Roman Catholic Church. That

period of remarkable religious reform, which has since been labeled the Protestant Reformation,

started a domino effect that, four centuries later, brought about the destructive conflict we now

know as World War II. So how did this domino effect get started with Martin Luther?

Many people before Luther had written theses urging religious reform. Some of the more

famous people who objected to the various practices of the Catholic Church, including the sale of

indulgences, were John Wycliffe and Jan Hus. These men called for similar changes and they

were branded heretics for it. The difference between Luther and earlier would-be reformers was

the printing press. Invented in the fifteenth century, many years after both Wycliffe and Hus, the

printing press allowed Luthers views to be disseminated to a much larger audience. That

audience, which included many learned people and even some nobles, was also largely

disillusioned with the Church. Superstition and the abuse of religion could not be assigned to

any special groups. One can notice, however, many signs of the growing intensification and

deepening of religious feeling toward the end of the fifteenth century (Holborn 117). These

people simply didnt have the theological training and education that Martin Luther, who was a

Catholic priest, had received. Because of this, when Luthers ninety-five theses were published

and sold throughout the Holy Roman Empire and the rest of Europe, they ignited a fervent desire


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for reform in many people. Luthers theses, along with other works, were so widely read and so

ardently accepted that he effectively, though not intentionally, started his own religion. So was

born the Protestant Reformation.

The period in history known as the Protestant Reformation saw the rise of many new

Christian religions, but there were three that were fundamental in shaping the events of the next

four hundred years. Lutheranism, Anglicanism, and Calvinism were, perhaps, the three most

important religions to develop during the Protestant Reformation. Lutheranism was important

because it set the stage for future Protestant religions. Calvinism was important because

provided a basis for the reform of Anglicanism. Anglicanism was important because its

doctrines and practices caused so many people to leave England in search of religious freedom.

Lutheranism obviously got its start with Martin Luther, and it quickly spread throughout most of

Europe. It was especially popular in northern and central Europe, and, with the rise of Calvinism

in Switzerland, it reached another phase of reform.

John Calvin was a French lawyer and an early convert to Lutheranism. He spent many

years after his conversion from Catholicism trying to spread Protestant ideas throughout France,

but he was largely unsuccessful. He eventually had to leave France because the king was

Catholic and would not tolerate Protestants. While traveling to Germany, intending to retire

from public life, he found himself waylaid by the citizens of Geneva. Before the Protestant

Reformation, Geneva had been governed by a Catholic bishop and numerous priests. By the

time Calvin arrived there, Genevas citizens were tired of the situation and ready for a change.

They asked Calvin, who had already written many works on Protestant ideals, to help them

reform the Church in Geneva.


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Calvins interest was equaled by the Genevan city elites concern to make sure

that such a structure would be under their control; neither side fully achieved its

goal, but the creative tension embodied in theEcclesiastical Ordinances which

the city authorities ordered Calvin to draft in 1541 had resonances throughout the

continent. (MacCulloch 237-8)

What Calvin did was create an entirely knew religion, based on Lutheran ideas, with an entirely

new hierarchical structure. This new religion spread throughout Europe almost as quickly as

Lutheranism, and it soon reached the burgeoning Protestant reform in England.

Englands religious reform was very shaky in the beginning. It was started by King

Henry VIII when, in an effort to rid himself of a wife who didnt seem able to give him an heir,

he decided to split from the Catholic Church. His wife, Catherine of Aragon, was the aunt of

Charles V, King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor. Charles had considerable pull with the

Pope and, when Henry asked for a divorce from Catherine, convinced the Pope to deny Henry.

Henry did it anyway.

The king was recognized as Supreme Head of the Church and its chief governing

authority; the popes spiritual powers were transferred to the archbishop of

Canterbury; and the church in England was transformed into the Church of

England, a separate national entity without allegiance to any external power.

(Lehmberg 157)

The church that Henry established was very similar to Catholicism, and it didnt experience

much Protestant reform until Henrys son, Edward VI, inherited the throne. Under Edward, the

Church of England began to shift toward a more Protestant and less traditionally Catholic

religion. Edward died young, however, and his half-sister Mary, the Catholic daughter of


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Catherine of Aragon, took the throne. Mary I spent her brief time as the Queen of England

trying to bring the country back into the Catholic fold. She too died young, however, and she

was succeeded by Henrys second child, Elizabeth I. Under Elizabeth, the Church of England,

also known as the Anglican Church, adopted many Calvinist ideals. By the time Elizabeths

successor, James I, finally took the throne, England was thoroughly Protestant. The Anglican

Churchs rocky beginning was instrumental in shaping the events of the next two hundred years.

Because Elizabeth had no children, she was succeeded by her cousin, King James VI of

Scotland. When James took the throne of England, he soon encountered problems. Money was

tight, Parliament was stubborn, and even being Head of the Church seemed too much for him.

His son, Charles I, had even more problems. On top of economic issues, Charles had to contend

with the Puritans, a faction within the Anglican Church that had risen even before his fathers

reign. The Puritans called for major reforms within the Church, most of which were along strict

Calvinist lines. The Anglican Church, to that point, had maintained a number of practices that

stemmed from its origin in Catholicism. The Puritans felt that anything that resembled

Catholicism was bad, especially the ceremonial rituals still practiced in Anglican worship. A

few radical Puritans had even left England during James reign in search of a place in which they

could found their own austere religion. They eventually made their way to North America and

landed at Plymouth Rock. A number of less severe Puritans left England during Charles reign

and established the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Puritans had rejected the English state in

order to establish perfect Calvinist communities that would stand as cities of righteousness for all

the world to follow (Heyck 147). Though they were some of the first people to leave England

for religious reasons, they were not the last. Between the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock and


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the outbreak of the Seven Years War, many people, both Catholics and Protestants, left England

and immigrated to the British Colonies in America in search of religious freedom.

The British colonies along the North American coast of the Atlantic Ocean from

Massachusetts to Georgia were not like the colonies that had been established in the Americas by

other countries. The few Europeans that lived in the American colonies established by Spain,

Portugal, the Netherlands, and even France were there to exploit the locals and to seek economic

gain. The British colonies, however, had a much larger European population. Most of the

people who lived in the British North American colonies left Great Britain because they were not

satisfied with the status quo. Many of them came to America in search of religious self-

determination. The descendents of these religious dissenters soon found other reasons to object

to the rule of the British monarch and Parliament.

The Seven Years War was one of the first wars to span more than one continent. Its

main participants, Great Britain and France, both held colonies in North America. Those

colonies were quickly drawn into the conflict between the two major European powers, and there

was significant fighting between the English colonists in North America and the French and their

Native American allies. The British eventually won the war and, because they had spent so

much money and manpower defending the North American colonies, soon began to tax their

colonies to pay for some of its expense. The British were simply asking the Americans to pay

their fair share of the costs for their own defense, through taxes that were already familiar in

Britain (Kennedy 79). The citizens of the North American colonies were not pleased by this.

Between the end of the Seven Years War and 1775, the British Parliament passed a number of

taxes and tariffs on the thirteen North American colonies. The colonists objected to every one of

them. In 1776, dissatisfied with the British government, the citizens of the thirteen colonies


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finally revolted against the British and proclaimed their independence from British rule. The

ensuing war lasted for six years, and the French, eager to harm their old enemies in anyway,

were soon enmeshed in the conflict. With the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1883, a new

nation emerged from the American continent. This nation, the United States of America, and its

fight for independence would soon have a major impact on the powers of Europe.

The French were deeply involved in the American Revolution. They not only lent money

to the fledgling U.S. government, they also sent ships and troops to help the Americans fight the

British. When the war was over and the French troops returned home, they brought a new

perspective on the traditional forms of government that had dominated Europe for so many

centuries. The American Revolution changed the political opinions of many French people,

strengthened the opinions of others, and proved that representative government could actually

work. It also sapped the resources of the French government. Although the King of France,

Louis XVI, tried to pull his country out of the economic crisis, his attempts were largely

unsuccessful. By 1789, the French people were tired of being poor and having no say in their

government. When Louis had the Estates General assembled, in an attempt to appease his

people and hopefully find a solution to the countrys problems, the people of France used the

opportunity to take control of the government. In the ensuing conflict, the entire European

continent was changed.

The French Revolution began with the lower classes, which made up the Third Estate of

the Estates General, taking power from the king and the other two Estates, which were made up

of the nobility and the clergy. The semi-peaceful transition from absolute monarchy to

representative government, however, soon turned violent. In 1793, Maximilien Robespierre, a

leading member of the Revolution, assumed executive power in the government as head of the


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Committee of Public Safety. Upon his rise to revolutionary preeminence, Robespierre initiated

a policy of violence against anyone suspected of not supporting the Revolution. This policy,

which was labeled the Reign of Terror, was intended as a temporary expedient and has

determined the attitudes of both contemporaries and later commentators towards the Revolution

(Price 138). It was so effective that, within a year the guillotine, which symbolized the Reign of

Terror, claimed even its initiator. Robespierre was executed in 1794 and, following his death,

the Revolution took on a more republican aspect. From 1794 to 1799, France was a functioning,

mostly stable Republic. Its only real problems were the constant wars it was fighting against

various European powers. The army of the French Republic was largely successful against its

enemies, and its importance in the Republic gave one of its best generals his chance to take

power.

In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte seized control of the French Republic and had himself

declared First Consul. Within five years, Napoleon was declared Emperor of the French. By

1812, Napoleon controlled more of Europe than anyone since the last western Roman Emperor.

A military genius and gifted politician, Napoleon proved to be the most influential person in

European history since Martin Luther. His successful codification of French and church laws

had almost as large an impact on the next 150 years as his conquest of Europe and the dissolution

of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1806, Napoleon defeated the last Holy Roman Emperor, Francis

II, and, with the exceptions of Prussia and Austria, took control of the states which had been part

of the Holy Roman Empire. He then placed many of his supporters in charge of the various

German states and bound them into the Confederation of the Rhine, which was under his rule.

This lack of respect for German autonomy started a struggle for political and territorial


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dominance between French and German people that would ultimately be decided over one

hundred years later.

Franco-German rivalry could be traced to the division of Charlemagnes Empire;

but its modern emanations were rooted in the Revolutionary Wars. Frenchmen

remembered the two German powers, Prussia and Austria, as the invaders of 1793

and 1814-15. Prussians and Austrians remembered France as the occupier of

1805-13, against whom their modern existence had been won and defined.

(Davies 868)

Napoleon was finally defeated, for the second time, in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo. After

Napoleons defeat, Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and a newly restored Bourbon France

redrew the borders of Europe during the Congress of Vienna. They dissolved Napoleons

Confederation of the Rhine and bound the German states, including Prussia and Austria, into the

German Confederation, which was dominated by Austria. The German Confederation, and

especially Austria and Prussia, would play a major role in the events of the nineteenth century.

Though France returned to monarchial rule, the burning desire for representative

government that had sparked the American and French Revolutions did not fade out. During the

first half of the nineteenth century, Europe was rocked by two major sets of revolutions. In the

first wave, Greece fought for and won its independence from the Ottoman Empire in the 1820s.

The 1830s saw the newly restored Bourbon monarchy in France replaced with a form of

constitutional monarchy. Also in the 1830s, Belgium revolted against the Netherlands and

established itself as an independent nation. Other, less successful revolts occurred in Poland and

Italy.


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The second set of early nineteenth century revolutions occurred nearly simultaneously in

1848. Beginning soon after the ringing in of the New Year, revolutionary fervor swept through

nearly every European country (Kishlansky 734). France suffered another major revolution that

ended with the founding of the Second Republic in early 1848. Almost all the German states,

including Prussia and Austria, suffered from revolts. Many of them, including Prussia,

established representative assemblies in attempts to appease the revolutionaries. Austria faced

numerous revolts from its Italian and Hungarian territories, along with revolts in the streets of

Vienna by the working classes, but it was able to stifle them all through military force. Even the

kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies were forced to grant their

citizens a constitution. Though few of the revolutions in 1848 were even moderately successful,

their outcomes, especially in Prussia, were very important.

The Revolution of 1848 stemmed from a liberal movement for representative

government. It was countered by reactionary forces who wished to maintain the status quo.

Leading the reactionary political forces in Prussia was Count Otto von Bismarck. Bismarck was

appointed as prime minister of Prussia by King Wilhelm I when the kings policies on military

reform met with opposition in the Prussian parliament, which was created following the

Revolution of 1848. Instead of working out a compromise with the parliament, Bismarck pushed

the reforms through by sheer will. He then used the newly improved Prussian army in a series of

wars that ended in the unification of the separate states in the German Confederation into a single

empire. The last, and most important, of these wars was the Franco-Prussian War. It started

because of a meeting between the Prussian king and a French ambassador over the Spanish

succession.


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Wilhelm telegraphed an account of his meeting to Bismarck. The chancellor

immediately seized the opportunity this message provided. He edited what

became known as the Ems dispatch, making the exchange between king and

ambassador seem more curt than it actually had been; then he released it to the

press. As he hoped, the French interpreted the report as a deliberate snub to their

ambassador and overreacted. Napoleon III [the ruler of France] was deluged with

emotional demands that he avenge the imagined slight to French national honor,

and on July 15 he declared war. (Noble 711)

Bismarck convinced the other German states to join Prussia in defending German honor against

the French, and then convinced them to accept the Prussian king as their leader. After that, the

French quickly lost the war. In the Palace of Versailles, the home of Frances former monarchy,

Wilhelm was crowned the first Kaiser of the German Empire. In the treaty that ended the

Franco-Prussian war, the newly established German Empire was granted the French provinces of

Alsace and Lorraine. The war, and especially these two provinces, would become very

important in the next forty years.

Though the unification of Germany was definitely his greatest achievement, Bismarcks

role in history was far from finished. In an attempt to ensure the ascendancy of the German

Empire and the relative peace in Europe, Bismarck entered his nation into a series of alliances.

Between 1873 and 1914, the German Empire formed five major alliances. The most important

of these was the Austrian-German Alliance. These alliances would probably have kept the peace

if Bismarck had remained in power to coordinate them; however, when Kaiser Wilhelm I died,

his son, Wilhelm II, forced Bismarck to retire. Within fifteen years of Bismarcks retirement

Europe was divided in two. On one side were Germanys allies, and on the other were Frances


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allies. The years following Bismarcks departure from the European political scene were marked

with increased tension among the major European powers. This tension was caused, in part, by

the dramatic increase in nationalist sentiments throughout Europe. Every major power in Europe

was determined to establish its own superiority through imperialism. Each nation was certain

that it was the greatest. The overwhelming arrogance of nationalism in the early twentieth

century helped initiate the worst war that Europe had yet seen. It has accordingly been said that

nationalism was the root cause of the Great War (Barzun 690).

The tension reached its peak and exploded into war when the heir to Austria-Hungary,

Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in Sarajevo, which was occupied by Austrian

forces, by a Serbian nationalist. Austria used the assassination of its heir as an excuse to declare

war on Serbia. In response to Austria-Hungarys declaration of war, Russia, Serbias ally,

declared war on Austria-Hungary. Because of the military alliance between Austria and

Germany, Germany had to declare war on Serbia and Russia. Also, [a]ssuming that France

would come to the aid of Russia, Germany invaded France through Belgium. The British,

concerned by the threat to their ally France and outraged by the violation of Belgian neutrality . .

. declared war on Germany (Noble 792). The war, which was originally called the Great War,

lasted for five years and resulted in the deaths of millions of Europeans. Very little land actually

exchanged hands during the course of the war and, [b]y September [1918] British, French, and

American armies were advancing steadily on all fronts, and a panicky General Ludendorff

[Commander of the German forces] realized that Germany had lost the war (McKay 911). In

November 1918, Germany signed an armistice with the Allied victors. By January 1919, the

victors had gathered in Paris for a peace settlement. [T]he Allies declared that Germany (with

Austria) was responsible for the war and had therefore to pay reparations equal to all civilian


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damages caused by the war (McKay 914). On June 28, 1919, Germany signed the Treaty of

Versailles in the Palace of Versailles, where it had proclaimed its first Kaiser almost fifty years

before. On top of requiring Germany to pay massive reparations, the Treaty of Versailles

returned the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine to France, and Germany was forbidden from

keeping troops in the Rhineland. The reparations imposed on Germany by the Treaty of

Versailles, though they crippled Germany at the time, created a short-lived, volatile peace in

Western Europe.

Though tension and enmity had existed between France and Germany for centuries, the

outcome of World War I and the following years caused that hostility to grow substantially. Part

of the Treaty of Versailles called for French occupation of the Rhineland in Germany. The

French didnt seem to think that the Rhineland was enough, however. Out of frustration, in

early January 1923, armies of France and its ally Belgium moved out of the Rhineland and began

to occupy the Ruhr district, the heartland of industrial Germany, creating the most serious

international crisis ofthe 1920s (McKay 938). The German people peacefully resisted and the

French eventually abandoned their attempts at forcing Germany to pay the reparations according

to French schedules. The issue that caused France to invade the Ruhr district was Germanys

inability to pay the reparations imposed on it by the Treaty of Versailles. World War I had left

Germany in economic shambles, and the Treaty of Versailles made it worse.

According to [English economist John Maynard] Keyness interpretation [of the

economic situation following World War I], astronomical reparations and harsh

economic measures would impoverish Germany and also increase economic hardship in

all countries. Only a complete revision of the foolish treaty [of Versailles] could save

Germanyand Europe. (McKay 938)


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By the time that the Great Depression hit Europe in the early 1930s, Germany was already

suffering from inflation and recession. The government in Germany, known as the Weimar

Republic, did its best to combat unemployment and economic collapse, but it, like other Western

nations, was unsuccessful. The Weimar government was caught between the German peoples

hatred and resentment of the French and their frustration over being poor. All the people of

Germany really wanted at that point was someone to lift them from poverty and restore their

pride. The man who stepped forward was Adolf Hitler.

Hitler came to power in the midst of the Great Depression when his political party, the

National Socialist German Workers party, or Nazis, gained control of the German Reichstag in

1932. Within a year Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany, and a few months later he was

granted absolute power over the German government. Hitler used the instability that racked the

Weimar government to overthrow it. He was an eloquent speaker who knew how to get the

German people to follow him. He convinced them that their hardships were the fault of various

other people including the French, Slavs, and Jews. He played on their sense of pride by

inventing an entirely new race, called Aryans, and telling the German people that they were the

only true descendents of this master race. He also used their fear of Communist revolution and

democratic shortfalls to convince them to grant him sole power. By the end of 1938, Hitler had

reclaimed the Rhineland, annexed Austria, and captured Czechoslovakia. He established an

empire, known as the Third Reich in deference to the Holy Roman Empire (First) and

Bismarcks German Empire (Second), which soon spread to every corner of the European

continent. In September 1939, Hitlers Nazi Germany invaded Poland and started the Second

World War.


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Though Adolf Hitlers actions actually started World War II, the chain of events that led

up to it can be traced all the way back to Martin Luther. One can simply look at the possible

repercussions of the events following Luthers split from the Catholic Church not happening in

order to see the role that Luther played in the outbreak of World War II. Eliminating even one of

the links in the chain of events that started with Luthers ninety-five theses could easily have

changed history enough that World War II would never have happened.

If Martin Luther had not posted his ninety-five theses, then the reform of the Christian

religion may have taken much longer to come about. Had Lutheran ideas not spread across

Europe when they did, then John Calvin would not have adopted them and would not have

founded his own church in Geneva. Had Calvinism not been established, then it would not have

affected the Anglican Church the way it did. Had the Anglican Church not been influenced by

Calvinism, then the Puritans would never have split from it and other religions, such as Catholics

and Quakers, would never have left England. Had the Puritans not split from the Anglican

Church in its early years, then Massachusetts would not have been founded. Had the other

religious groups not left England, then colonies like Maryland and Pennsylvania would not have

been established. Had the colonies not been established when they were, then they wouldnt

have developed the independent lifestyle that caused them to revolt against oppressive British

rule. Had the colonies not revolted, then the United States of America would not have been

founded. Had the revolt which freed the thirteen colonies from British rule not occurred, and the

U.S. not been established, then the French would not have begun their own revolt because they

would not have realized it could be successful. Had the French Revolution not occurred,

Napoleon would never have taken power and the Revolutions of 1830 and 1848 would not have

happened. Also had Napoleon not taken power, then the Holy Roman Empire would not have


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been disbanded. Had the Holy Roman Empire not been disbanded, then there would have been

no need for German unification. Had the Revolution of 1848 not occurred, then Bismarck, who

was only a minor Prussian noble, would not have been appointed chancellor. Had Bismarck not

become chancellor, then the Franco-Prussian war would not have been fought, Germany would

not have been unified, and the system of alliances would not have been formed. Had there been

no system of alliances, there would have been no World War I. Had World War I not happened,

then World War II would not have happened either.

By the simple act of posting his disagreement with, and solution to, the Catholic sale of

indulgences, Martin Luther started a chain reaction that eventually led to World War II. His

theological ideas ignited a desire for change in the people of Europe that is almost impossible to

fathom. After over one thousand years of almost perpetual stagnation, one priests ethical

dilemma spurred Europe, and the world, into the modern era. Had he ignored his sense of

principle and simply continued on with his life, the world would be a very different place.

Because of his impact on the history of the world, Martin Luther exemplifies the adage that one

person can make a difference.


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Works Cited

Barzun, Jacques. From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the

Present. New York: Perennial-Harper, 2001.

Davies, Norman.Europe: a History. New York: Perennial-Harper, 1998.

Heyck, Thomas William. The Peoples of the British Isles: a New History from 1688 to 1870.

Vol. 2. Chicago: Lyceum, 2002. 3 vols.

Holborn, Hajo.A History of Modern Germany: the Reformation. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1982.

Kennedy, David M., et al. The Brief American Pageant: a History of the Republic. 6th ed. Vol. 2.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. 2 vols.

Kishlansky, Mark, Patrick Geary, Patricia OBrien. Civilization in the West. 5th ed. 2 vols. New

York: Longman, 2003.

Lehmberg, Stanford. The Peoples of the British Isles: a New History from Prehistoric Times to

1688. Vol. 1. Chicago: Lyceum, 2001. 3 vols.

MacCulloch, Diarmaid. The Reformation. New York: Penguin, 2004.

McKay, John P., Bennett D. Hill, John Buckler.A History of Western Society: from Absolutism

to the Present. 7th ed. Vol. 2. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003. 2 vols.

Noble, Thomas F. X., et al. Western Civilization: the Continuing Experiment. Dolphin ed. Vol. 2.

Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2005. 2 vols.

Price, Roger.A Concise History of France. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2005.

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