Themes In Modern European History 1830 90

Providing a series of lively essays which reflect the skills that historians have to master when challenged by problems of evidence, interpretation, and presentation, this important new text covers the topics of France, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Russia, as well as analyzing the themes of political thought, cultural trends, the economy and warfare, international relations and imperialism. Six distinguished scholars, all of whom are regularly involved in student teaching, provide an authoritative student guide to the main contours of nineteenth-century European history when the continent's standing was at its highest and its influence spanned the globe.

Themes in Modern European History 1780-1830 is an authoritative and lively exploration of a period dominated by events which have shaped modern Europe. In a series of articles, six leading academics present some controversial conclusions: * the east/west contrast in Europe today has more to do with responses to the French Revolution of 1789 than the Russian Revolution of 1917 * the conservative Europe of 1814 was the product of the Romantic imagnation, not a `Restoration' of the old regime Spanning political, social, economic and demographic facets of revolutions, this is an indispensable textbook for all students of the nineteenth century, and for all those interested in understanding the nature of Europe today.

Providing a series of lively essays which reflect the skills that historians have to master when challenged by problems of evidence, interpretation, and presentation, this important new text covers the topics of France, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Russia, as well as analyzing the themes of political thought, cultural trends, the economy and warfare, international relations and imperialism. Six distinguished scholars, all of whom are regularly involved in student teaching, provide an authoritative student guide to the main contours of nineteenth-century European history when the continent's standing was at its highest and its influence spanned the globe.

Adopting a thematic approach to a period of great change and upheaval in Europe, these essays throw new light on developments in society, the economy, politics and culture, fixing them not only in the political framework of the time, but also in their social and cultural contexts.

In 1842 Heinrich Heine, the German poet, wrote that the bourgeoisie, 'obsessed by a nightmare apprehension of disaster' and 'an instinctive dread of communism', were driven against their better instincts into tolerating absolutist government. Theirs was a 'politics motivated by fear'. Over the next 150 years, the middle classes were repeatedly accused of betraying liberty for fear of 'red revolution'. The failure of the revolutions of 1848, conservative nationalism from the 1860s, fascist victories in the first half of the twentieth-century, and repression of national liberation movements during the Cold War - these fateful disasters were all explained by the bourgeoisie's fear of the masses. For their part, conservatives insisted that demagogues and fanatics exploited the desperation of the poor to subvert liberal revolutions, leading to anarchy and tyranny. Only evolutionary reform was enduring. From the 1970s, however, liberal revolution revived on an unprecedented scale. With the collapse of communism, bourgeois liberty once again became a crusading, force, but now on a global scale. In the twenty-first century, the armed forces of the United States, Britain, and NATO became instruments of 'regime change', seeking to destroy dictatorship and build free-market democracies. President George W. Bush called the invasion of Iraq in 2003 a 'watershed event in the global democratic revolution'. This was an extraordinary turn-around, with the middle classes now hailed as the truly universal class which, in emancipating itself, emancipates all society. The debacle in Iraq, and the Great Recession from 2008, revealed all too clearly that hubris still invited nemesis. Bourgeois Liberty and the Politics of Fear examines this remarkable story, and the fierce debates it occasioned. It takes in a span from the seventeenth century to the twenty-first, covering a wide range of countries and thinkers. Broad in its scope, it presents a clear set of arguments that shed new light on the creation of our modern world.

The third edition of Europe 1783-1914 provides a comprehensive overview of Europe from the outbreak of the French Revolution to the origins of the First World War. William Simpson and Martin Jones combine accounts of the most important countries, notably France, Germany and Russia, with the wider political, economic, social and cultural developments affecting Europe as a whole. These include: A survey of Europe c.1780: the social and economic background, forms of government, and the Enlightenment The impact of the French Revolution and Napoleon on Europe The spread of nationalism: the 1848 Revolutions and the unification of Italy and Germany Changes in the world of ideas: religious belief, romanticism, and cultural achievements in art, literature and music The age of imperialism: the expansion of Europe, Marxism and left-wing movements, international relations, 1870-1914 The reciprocal relationship between Europe and the United States Europe in 1914: shifts in the intellectual climate through the works of Darwin and Freud, scientific discoveries and the impact of new technologies, and changes in society and the position of women. Each chapter features a list of key dates, concise background information and suggestions for further reading, as well as a concluding ‘Topics for Debate’ section which contains relevant contemporary sources and outlines the contrasting views of recent historians on the key issues. The suggestions for further reading have been updated in every chapter by the addition of relevant and significant new books, published up to and including 2014. Extensively illustrated throughout with maps, contemporary cartoons and portraits, Europe 1783–1914 is a clear, detailed and highly accessible analysis of this turbulent and formative period of European history.