The Aristocracy in Europe 1815-1914

Free Download Dominic Lieven - The Aristocracy in Europe 1815-1914
Columbia University Press | 1993 | ISBN: 023108112X | English | 308 Pages | PDF | 220.87 MB
Dominic Lieven studies the challenges to hereditary elites in the 19th century and how effectively the German, English and Russian aristocracies responded to these challenges. The book surveys the wealth, economic activities, manners and morals, everyday life, culture, values, occupations and political roles of aristocracy in Europe's three most powerful monarchies. The enobled upper class in the 19th century viewed the Industrial Revolution and (in Britain) the expansion of the franchise in quite a different light from the middle classes. To them, increased educational and occupational opportunities were an economic and social threat to their power and right to rule. This book investigates their "strategies" and the ways they responded to the danger. What Lieven finds, not surprisingly, is that each national group responded in its own way to the challenge from the lower classes in its own country.