The first discussions about creating
The Cambridge Modern History took place in 1896. The original
Cambridge Modern History was planned by
Lord Acton, 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, and a
fellow of
All Souls,
Oxford. He had previously established the
English Historical Review in 1886 and had an exalted reputation. The new work was published in fourteen volumes between 1902 and 1912, in the
British Isles by the
Cambridge University Press and in the United States by
Macmillan & Co. of
New York City. Written mostly by English scholars, the first twelve volumes dealt with the history of the world from 1450 up to 1870. 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. As the first of such histories, it later came to be seen as establishing a tradition of collaborative scholarship. A second edition of the atlas (volume XIV) was published in 1924.
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 text 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==