''The Cambridge Modern History'' is a comprehensive

modern history The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500, ...

of the

world The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

, beginning with the 15th century

Age of Discovery The Age of Discovery (), also known as the Age of Exploration, was part of the early modern period and overlapped with the Age of Sail. It was a period from approximately the 15th to the 17th century, during which Seamanship, seafarers fro ...

, published by the

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

in England and also in the United States. The first series, planned by

Lord Acton John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, 13th Marquess of Groppoli, (10 January 1834 – 19 June 1902), better known as Lord Acton, was an English Catholic historian, Liberal politician, and writer. A strong advocate for individua ...

and edited by him with Stanley Mordaunt Leathes, Sir Adolphus William Ward and G. W. Prothero, was launched in 1902 and totalled fourteen volumes, the last of them being an historical atlas which appeared in 1912. The period covered was from 1450 to 1910. Each volume includes an extensive bibliography. A second series, with entirely new editors and contributors, '' The New Cambridge Modern History'', appeared in fourteen volumes between 1957 and 1979, again concluding with an atlas. It covered the world from 1450 to 1945.

Planning and publishing

The first discussions about creating ''The Cambridge Modern History'' took place in 1896. The original ''Cambridge Modern History'' was planned by

, who during 1899 and 1900 gave much of his time to coordinating the project, intended to be a monument of objective, detailed, and collaborative scholarship. Acton was Regius professor of modern history at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, and a

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of All Souls,

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

. He had previously established the ''

English Historical Review ''The English Historical Review'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal that was established in 1886 and published by Oxford University Press (formerly by Longman). It publishes articles on all aspects of history – British, European, a ...

'' in 1886 and had an exalted reputation.

The new work was published in fourteen volumes between 1902 and 1912, in the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

by the

and in the United States by Macmillan & Co. of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Written mostly by English scholars, the first twelve volumes dealt with the history of the world from 1450 up to 1870. The final volume, numbered 12, was ''The Latest Age'' and appeared in 1910. There then followed two supplemental volumes. The history was later followed by similar multi-volume works for the earlier ages, namely the '' Cambridge Ancient History'' and the '' Cambridge Medieval History''.Leslie Bethell, ''The Cambridge history of Latin America: Latin America since 1930'' (vol. 6)
p. 11
/ref> As the first of such histories, it later came to be seen as establishing a tradition of collaborative scholarship.Roberto González Echevarría, Enrique Pupo-Walker, 'Introduction', in ''The Cambridge History of Latin American Literature'' vol. 2 (1996), p. xvii: "The Cambridge history of Latin American literature draws upon a long tradition of collaborative scholarship that began with the Cambridge modern history (1902–1912)..." A second edition of the atlas (volume XIV) was published in 1924.William Robert Shepherd, ''Historical Atlas'' (1964), p. iv

Volumes published

I. The Renaissance (1902)

II. The Reformation: The end of the Middle Ages (1903)

III. The Wars of Religion (1904)

IV. The Thirty Years War (1906)

V. The Age of Louis XIV (1908)

VI. The Eighteenth Century (1909)

VII. The United States (1903)

Scanned full tex
here
( Archive.org)

VIII. The French Revolution (1904)

IX. Napoleon (1906)

X. The Restoration (1907)

XI. The Growth of Nationalities (1909)

XII. The Latest Age (1910)

XIII. Tables and General Index (1911)

This volume includes * A four-page addendum, written by Ernest Alfred Benians, to Chapter 9 of Volume 6: Naval Operations in the Period of the Seven Years' War * Genealogical Tables and Lists ** 1. Genealogical Tables of Ruling and Noble Houses (112 tables) ** 2. Lists of Spiritual Princes, Elected Sovereigns, Etc. (28 lists) ** 3. Lists of Parliaments, General Councils, Etc. (6 lists) * General Index to all volumes

XIV. Atlas (1912, 2nd ed. 1924)

This volume begins with an extensive introduction to the maps, written by Ernest Alfred Benians. It is divided into several sections: * I. Europe in the Fifteenth Century * II. The Age of Habsburg Power and of the Reformation * III. The Rise of France and Sweden * IV. The Formation of the Great Powers of the Eighteenth Century * V. The Age of the Revolution and of Napoleon * VI. Since 1815 Except for the first, each is in turn subsectioned for Europe and "Greater Europe", with the latter term referring mostly to the colonial empires. A separate index is provided for the introduction. There are 141 maps in this volume. Two-page maps are bound in such a way as to prevent information from being lost in the gutter between pages. The concluding index gives the latitude and longitude of the places named.

Notes

External links

''Cambridge Modern History''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cambridge Modern History, The History books about the late modern period Cambridge University Press books 1902 non-fiction books Series of history books