The Emergence of the European World is a narrative history of Europe, and of four centuries in which the European nations so extended their influence that for much of the period the world could very largely be described as European. The story encompasses the great revolutions in England, America, France and Russia; the rise of the European and American democracies; the acquisition and loss of Empire; demographic transition and the industrial revolution; and the wars almost constantly fought, either directly or by proxy, which at various times so critically changed the course of human history.