War and social change in modern Europe

This book revisits the historical terrain of Polanyi´s The Great Transformation. The author traces the persistence of traditional class streuctures during the development of industrial capiotalism in Europe and the way in which these structures shaped states and state behaviour and generated conflict. She documents European conflicts between 1789 and 1914 and links these conflicts to structures characteristic of industrial capitalist development in Europe before 1945.Ultimately, the book shows how and why these coflicts both culminated in the world wars and brought challenges about a great transformation in Europe.