To the established causes of conflict (the limits of royal authority, the crown’s financial demands and factionalism) a more destabilising dimension was added after 1399: the legitimacy of the ruling branch of the Plantagenet dynasty itself. From 1455 the houses of Lancaster and York, two lines descended from Edward III, contested the throne in a series of civil wars. As Edward Hall put it in 1548, ‘All other disorders, divisions and factions flourish to this present day but the old divided controversy between the families of Lancaster and York (were) suspended and appalled in the person of … Henry VIII and by him clearly buried’.

This chapter tells the history of European urban heritage by evaluating its conceptual evolution, its relation to the major waves of urbanisation, and its role in shaping the historic quarters and the forms of urban governance as guiding indicators. The growing complexity of urban heritage integrates different types of expertise, social involvement and forms of governance. The urban growth of many nineteenth-century European cities led to their spread and to the replanning of their centres. Whereas many European city centres provided a privileged area for the political instrumentalisation of public remembrance, many became sites of industrial urbanisation. For the latter, deurbanisation usually accelerated after the Second World War due to the mass destruction or by faster industrialisation. From the 1970s, this tendency was reversed, with reurbanisation redefining these neighbourhoods. Although these processes do not entirely follow the same rhythm, they roughly determine four periods divided by the Second World War, the 1970s and 2000. Authenticity – as a historical reference, as a principle of heritage conservation, or as a constructive element of current identity-formations – remained the standard for safeguarding urban heritage and the conceptual bridge between the representation of the historic city and the urban realities in its place.

In the first section of the chapter, basic patterns of urban economic development are presented in general terms. Its conditions and dynamics are discussed from the perspective of the New Economic Geography, historical caesuras of the political/institutional environment, and determining technological trends. According to these dimensions, the overall development is divided into the three phases: the first industrialisation (until the 1880s), the second industrialisation (until 1960/1970s) and more recent post-industrial or post-Fordist developments (since the 1980s). Further sections illustrate the patterns of development, and the summary provides an overview of the most important findings.

The fourteenth century saw the arrival of what is often described as the late medieval crisis. A period of famine, war, plague and death on an unparalleled scale – it is hardly surprising that many believed the apocalypse was upon them. Given these vicissitudes it is equally unsurprising that the challenges of kingship became especially acute in this period. The fourteenth century saw the first deposition of an English king by his own people, but it was not the last. Edward II’s fate would be shared by his great-grandson, Richard II, who was well aware that a dangerous precedent had been set. Indeed, Richard’s cognisance of the events of 1327 and his attempts to prevent them from being repeated proved utterly counterproductive.

Volume II charts European urbanism between 700 and 1850, the millennium during which Europe became the world’s most urbanised region. Featuring thirty-six chapters from leading scholars working on all the major linguistic areas of Europe, the volume offers a state-of-the-art survey that explores and explains this transformation, how similar or different such processes were across Europe, and how far it is possible to discern traits that characterise European urbanism in this period. The first half of the volume offers overviews on the urban history of Mediterranean Europe, Atlantic and North Sea Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and European urbanisms around the world. The second half explores major themes, from the conceptualisation of cities and their material fabric to continuities and changes in the social, political, economic, religious and cultural histories of cities and towns.

The ‘Blockade’ of Leningrad lasted from September 1941 to January 1944. It was one of the most tragic events of the war, especially with the mass starvation of the early months of 1942. Leningrad had been exposed to attack from the west, due to the Red Army’s rapid collapse in the recently annexed Baltic states, and it was potentially threatened by a Finnish attack from the north. The ability of the Russian forces to hold the city was based on other geographical and political factors, including the enemy’s inability to block Lake Ladoga to the east and the unwillingness of the Finnish government to take part. Starvation was the main weapon; the Germans bombarded Leningrad with artillery and aircraft with only limited effect, and little fighting took place inside the city itself. However, once the Germans had achieved their position near Leningrad from the south, it was difficult for the Red Army to mount successful counterattacks from the ‘mainland’, or from within the encircled city. Fortunately, after winter 1941–1942 the Germans were committed to other parts of the Russian front and there was little likelihood Leningrad would fall, but fighting in the surrounding countryside would be deadly for many months. The final end of the blockade came in January 1944, remarkably late in the war.

This chapter examines the planning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. It sketches Hitler’s long-term economic and ideological motives for seeking to conquer the country, before examining the strategic considerations that determined the invasion’s particular timing in June 1941. Wehrmacht planners’ confidence was boosted by intelligence assessments that overlooked the less-than-overwhelming superiority of the German armed forces and underestimated Soviet military and economic potential. It was also boosted by their identification with the invasion’s ideological goals. Thus were the Panzer divisions and their air support, on which success depended more than anything else, committed to too many targets simultaneously, and the risk grew of a lengthy war in which superior Soviet resources would be increasingly likely to prevail. The chapter also sketches the peripheral roles played by Germany’s Axis allies in the invasion and the under-strength forces that the planners of Barbarossa would commit to rear area security. This underpowered occupation force would be compelled to cooperate closely with the SS and police in its efforts to control the occupied territories. This relationship, together with the Wehrmacht’s own ideological proclivities and harsh perception of military necessity, would help precipitate its deep involvement in Nazi crimes in the East.

Volume II charts European urbanism between 700 and 1850, the millennium during which Europe became the world’s most urbanised region. Featuring thirty-six chapters from leading scholars working on all the major linguistic areas of Europe, the volume offers a state-of-the-art survey that explores and explains this transformation, how similar or different such processes were across Europe, and how far it is possible to discern traits that characterise European urbanism in this period. The first half of the volume offers overviews on the urban history of Mediterranean Europe, Atlantic and North Sea Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, and European urbanisms around the world. The second half explores major themes, from the conceptualisation of cities and their material fabric to continuities and changes in the social, political, economic, religious and cultural histories of cities and towns.