Europe Under the Old Regime by Albert Sorel

Europe Under The Old Regime by Albert Sorels
80 pages

[Brief disclaimer: I may be related to the author.]

This extremely brief work is actually the preface to another work of Albert Sorel (1842 - 1906), Europe and the French Revolution. It covers the art of international politics and diplomacy from the Renaissance to the French Revolution. It describes the end of Universalism in international relations and the rise of Machiavellian thinking, first employed under Cardinal Richelieu (1585 - 1642) as raison d'etat. It's a great way to brush up on your European history.