The first volume of The Cambridge History of the Napoleonic Wars examines the political context that produced the Napoleonic Wars and contains chapters from twenty-one contributors. It is divided into three parts: The Origins of the Napoleonic Wars; Napoleon and his Empire; and the War Aims of the various participants. Part I is a prelude to the Napoleonic Wars. It examines eighteenth-century great power politics and warfare, as well as looking at the geopolitical implications of the changes brought about by the French Revolution and in the way diplomacy was conducted. Part II looks at several themes concerning the construction, governance and nature of the Napoleonic Empire. In Part III one can find the aims of the great powers – France (to the extent that it had any aims), Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia – but it also examines some of the state players that one might not at first think of, such as the Ottoman Empire and the Scandinavian states.