A twenty-four lecture course that examines European history during an era of intense religious and political violence. The course is organized around five major conflicts: the French Wars of Religion (1562-1598), the Revolt of the Netherlands (1566-1609), the Thirty Years' War in central Europe (1618-1648), the English Civil War (1642-1649) and Glorious Revolution (1688), and the emergence of French absolutism (1610-1715).