The pattern of European development since 1789 can be understood only by study of those all-embracing forces that have affected the whole continent, from Britain to the Balkans. Dr Thomson's history was written in this belief. In it he emphasises particularly the overall factors of population growth, industrialization, overseas nationalism, and the connection between war and revolution. He considers these not country by country but phase by phase, so that the development of European civilization over the past century and a half unfolds as a continuous whole.