Critics have long viewed monarchies as unmodern and incapable of modernization. Like the contributions which follow, this introduction offers a counter-interpretation, arguing that monarchies were in fact drivers of modernization in the ‘long’ nineteenth century since they had to contend with modernity’s various challenges. The introduction thus discusses the problem of modernity for those European continental monarchies which possessed characteristics of empires because they possessed multi-ethnic territories gained through annexation and/or colonization. It moves beyond classical modernization theory and focuses on ‘mental’ and societal modernization; it defines modernity as the multiplying of the individual’s societal roles, the belonging to new collectives, the possibilities of constituting new political orders, and the formation and consolidation of new political centers which underwent charismatisation.