For much of the past five centuries, the history of the European continent has been a history of chaos, its civilization thrown into turmoil by ferocious wars or bitter religious conflicts - sometimes in combination - that have made and remade borders, created and eliminated entire nations, and left a legacy that is still influencing our world. This 36-lecture series from an award-winning teacher and honored scholar pursues an explanation for this chaos that goes beyond the obvious ones of political ambition, religious intolerance, the pursuit of state power, or the fear of another state's aspirations. In pursuing that explanation, Professor Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius of the University of Tennessee offers everyone interested in the "why" of history a remarkable look into the evolution of the European continent and the modern state system. His provocative lectures allow us to peer through the revealing lens of statecraft to show us its impact on war, peace, and power and how that impact may well be felt in the future. As you learn to examine key points on history's diplomatic timeline in the context of attempting to establish - successfully and not - a lasting idea of order in the European world, you'll begin to grasp the key Professor Liulevicius offers to understanding the dynamics of international politics. And you'll see how such key concepts as the balance of power, power itself, sovereignty, and "reason of state" fit into those dynamics. All Lectures: 1. Foundations of Diplomacy 2. Europe in 1500 - Ancient and New Monarchies 3. Renaissance Statecraft in Italy 4. Religion and Empire 5. The Thirty Years' War 6. The Peace of Westphalia, 1648 - A New Era 7. French Superpower 8. The Great Powers 9. Northern Earthquake 10. 18th-Century Competition 11. Revolutions 12. Napoleon's Glory and Defeat 13. The Congress of Vienna 14. The Concert of Europe System 15. Eastern and Western Questions 16. The Challenge of 1848 and Napoleon III 17. Britain's Empire 18. The Crimean War 19.Italian Unification 20. German Unification 21. The Bismarckian System 22. High Imperialism 23. The Reconfigured World of 1900 24. Balkan Instability 25. The Outbreak of World War I 26. World War I - Total War 27. The Paris Settlement 28. Interwar Europe 29. Europe into Crisis 30. World War II 31. Aftermath and Peace Plans 32. The Cold War Begins 33. Blocs and Decolonization 34. The European Project 35. The Fall of the Wall 36. Post - Cold War to the Present