Absolutism -- 3. Political Absolutism -- 4. The State and War -- 3. The Time of Troubles in the East, 1593-1618 -- 1. The Austrian Habsburgs and the Turks -- 2. The Vasas and their Enemies -- 3. The Rape of Russia -- 4. Armed Neutrality in the West, 1598-1618 -- 1. The Recovery of France -- 2. The Netherlands Divided -- 3. Spain under Philip III -- 5. The Apogee of Habsburg Imperialism, 1618-1629 -- 1. The Bohemian Revolt -- 2. Years of Victory -- 3. Rise and Fall of a Coalition -- 4. France and the Cold War for Italy -- 6. The Defeat of the Habsburgs, 1629-1635 -- 1. Sweden and Poland -- 2. Gustavus Adolphus and Wallenstein -- 3. The Cardinal-Infante -- 7. War and Revolution, 1635-1648 -- 1. On the Edge of Disaster. 2. The Crisis of the Spanish Monarchy -- 3. France Resurgent -- 4. The End of the Eighty Years' War -- 5. The End of the Thirty Years' War -- 8. The Culture of Post-Renaissance Europe -- 1. War and Culture -- 2. The Culture of Everyday Life -- 3. Elite Culture.