A History of Modern Europe From 1815 to the Present Wiley Blackwell Concise History of the Modern World Series

• Concise, readable single volume covering Europe from the early nineteenth century through the early twenty-first century
• Vigorous interpretation of events reflects a fresh, concise perspective on European history
• Clear and thought-provoking treatment of major historical themes
• Lively narrative reflects complexity of modern European history, but remains accessible to those unfamiliar with the field

Preface: The Dilemmas and Rewards of a Concise Historical Overview xiv

List of Maps xix

List of Figures xx

Acknowledgments xxii

Introduction: What Is Europe? 1

“Christendom” and Europe 2

Geographical Definitions 3

Europe’s Unusual Seas: The Mediterranean and Baltic 6

Europe’s Unusual Races 7

European Languages 8

Europe’s Religious Mixes 9

The Differing Rates of Growth in Europe’s Regions 10

Notes to the Reader 12

A Few Words about the Further Reading Sections 12

National and Thematic Overviews 13

Biographies 15

Historiography and Bibliography 15

Further Reading (to the Introduction) 16

Part I Romanticism and Revolt: The Seedtime of Modern Ideologies, 1815–40 17

1 The Legacy of the French Revolution 19

France’s Preeminence 19

The Changes Made by the Revolution 20

The Revolutionary Mystique 20

The Opening Stages of the Revolution 21

The Causes of the Revolution: Precedents 22

The Ambiguous Ideal of Equality 23

Civil Equality for Jews? 24

The Many Meanings of Fraternity 24

The Revolution: Progressive or Regressive? 25

Further Reading 28

2 The Congress of Vienna and Post-Napoleonic Europe: 1815–30 29

A Uniquely European Meeting 29

The Major Powers: Goals and Compromises 32

Napoleon Returns: The Hundred Days 34

The Issue of Poland 35

Other Territorial Settlements 37

Accomplishments of the Congress: Short-Term, Long-Term 39

The Repressive Years in Britain 40

Metternich’s Repressions 41

Further Reading 42

3 The Engines of Change 43

Conceptualizing Historical Change 43

The Industrial Revolution and Its Preconditions 44

The British Model of Industrialization 45

Industrialization in Other Countries 47

Resistance to Industrialization 50

Technological Innovation and Industrialization 50

The Implications of Industrial Change 53

Further Reading 54

4 The Seedtime of Ideology: A Century of “Questions” 55

Europe’s Major “Questions” and Its Belief in Progress 56

The Elusive Genesis and Evolution of Europe’s Isms 56

Conservatism, Liberalism, Socialism 57

Edmund Burke: The Conservative Tradition and Its Opponents 59

Feminism and the Woman Question 60

The Evolution of Liberal Theory and Practice: Radicalism and Utilitarianism 61

Classical Liberalism 62

Mill on Socialism and Feminism 63

Fourier’s Fantastic but “Scientific” Vision of Socialism 65

The “Practical” Socialist, Robert Owen 66

Saint-Simon, Prophet of Modernism 67

The Communist Tradition 68

Romanticism and Classicism 69

Further Reading 70

Part II From the 1820s to the Great Depression of the 1870s and 1880s 71

5 Liberal Struggles, Victories, Dilemmas, Defeats 75

The Revolution of 1830 in France 76

Unrest in the 1830s 77

Agitation to Repeal the Corn Laws 80

The Great Hunger in Ireland 81

The Darker Vision of Thomas Malthus 83

Again, Revolution in France 84

Reform in Britain: The Chartist Movement 85

Revolutions of 1848 and the End of Metternich’s Europe 85

The Republican Provisional Government and the “National Workshops” 86

Rising Class Conflict and the “June Days” 87

The National Question Outside France 87

Growing Divisions among the Revolutionaries 88

Further Reading 90

6 Nationalism and National Unification 92

Problems of Definition 92

Ideas of German Nationality 95

People, Language, and State: Herder and Hegel 96

Slavic Identities 97

Southern Europe: Latin Identities 98

New Power Relations in Europe: The Wars of Mid-century 99

The Unification of Italy 101

The Unification of Germany 103

Further Reading 105

7 Mid-century Consolidation, Modernization: Austria, Russia, France 106

The Habsburg Empire 106

The Russian Empire 110

France’s Second Empire 113

Further Reading 116

8 Optimism, Progress, Science: From the 1850s to 1871 117

The Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune 117

The Classic Age of British Liberalism 121

Britain’s Social Peace, Political Stability, and Economic Productivity 122

Liberalism, Population Growth, and Democracy 123

The Irish Question 124

Darwin and Darwinism 125

Further Reading 129

Part III From Depression to World War: The 1870s to 1914 131

9 The Depressed and Chastened 1870s and 1880s 133

The Spread of Marxism: Controversies about the Meaning of Marxism 133

The Development of Social Darwinism and Evolutionary Thinking 137

Russian Revolutionary Movements in the 1870s and 1880s 138

The Appearance of Modern Racial-Political Antisemitism 140

Antisemitism in Germany 143

The Weakness of Antisemitism in Italy and Britain 144

Antisemitism in France: Renan and the Scandals of the 1880s 144

Further Reading 146

10 Germany and Russia in the Belle Epoque: 1890–1914 147

A Rising Germany 148

Liberalism Challenged, Mass Politics, and the Second Industrial Revolution 148

The Influence of Friedrich Nietzsche 150

New Aspects of the German Question 151

The Evolution of German Social Democracy: The Revisionist Controversy 153

Russia under Nicholas II 155

The Appeals of Marxism in Russia and the Emergence of Leninism 156

The Russo-Japanese War, 1904–5 158

Revolution and Reaction in Russia, 1905–14 159

Further Reading 161

11 France and Britain in the Belle Epoque: 1890–1914 162

France in Turmoil 162

The Dreyfus Affair 164

French Socialism 167

Edwardian Britain 168

The Boer War 170

The Woman Question 173

Further Reading 175

12 The Origins of World War I 176

Growing International Anarchy, Hypernationalism, Polarization of Alliances 177

An Inevitable War? 178

The Role of Personality and Chance 179

The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand 180

From Euphoria to Stalemate Warfare 183

Further Reading 185

Part IV The European Civil War: 1914 – 43 187

13 World War I: 1914 –18 189

Stalemate Warfare in the West and Expansion in the East 189

1916: The Battles at Verdun and the Somme 192

1917: A Turning Point 193

Autumn 1917 to Autumn 1918: The Last Year of War and Germany’s Collapse 196

November 1918: The Balance Sheet of War 197

Further Reading 198

14 Revolution in Russia: 1917–21 199

A Proletarian Revolution? 199

The March (February) Revolution: Provisional Government and Soviets 200

Lenin’s Return: The Paradoxes of Bolshevik Theory and Practice 204

The Mechanics of the Bolshevik Seizure of Power 206

The Constituent Assembly 207

Civil War in Russia: The Red Terror 208

The Failure of Revolution in the West 210

What “Really Happened” in Russia between November 1917 and March 1921? 212

Further Reading 212

15 The Paris Peace Settlement 214

The Settlements of 1815 and 1919 Compared; the Issue of German Guilt 214

Popular Pressures, “New Diplomacy,” Russia’s Isolation 217

Wilson’s Role: The Fourteen Points 217

The Successor States and the Issue of Self-Determination 218

The Creation of New Nation-States: Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia 219

Dilemmas and Contradictions of Ethnic-Linguistic States 220

Minority Treaties 221

League of Nations Mandates 222

Further Reading 224

16 The Dilemmas of Liberal Democracy in the 1920s 225

Containing Germany: The Weakness of the League of Nations, 1919–29 226

The Dilemmas of American Leadership: Isolationism 227

Reactionary Trends and the Woman Question 228

The Negative Impact of the Versailles Treaty: Undermining German Democracy 230

The Evolution of Liberal Democracy in Germany 231

Developments in the Third Republic 232

The Brief Rule of the British Labour Party 234

The Stock-Market Crash, November 1929: The Beginning of the Great Depression 235

Further Reading 236

17 Stalinist Russia and International Communism 237

Stalin and Stalinism 237

The 1920s: Lingering Dilemmas and the Industrialization Debate 238

Stalin’s Victory in the Struggle for Power 240

Stalin and the Jewish Question in the Bolshevik Party 242

Collectivization and the Five-Year Plan 244

The Blood Purges 247

1939: The Balance Sheet: Paradoxes and Imponderables 249

Further Reading 250

18 The Rise of Fascism and Nazism: 1919–39 251

The Origins of Italian Fascism 252

Mussolini’s Assumption of Power 252

The Evolving Definition of Fascism: Initial Relations with Nazism 254

The Spread of Fascism Outside Italy, 1922–33 256

Nazism: The Basis of Its Appeal 258

The Nature of Hitler’s Antisemitism 259

Hitler in Power 261

A Moderate Solution to the Jewish Question? 265

Nazi and Soviet Rule: Comparing Evils 266

Further Reading 266

19 The Origins of World War II and the Holocaust: 1929–39 267

European Diplomacy, 1929–34 267

Hitler’s Retreats, the Stresa Front 269

The Great Turning Point, 1934–5: Comintern Policy and the Ethiopian War 270

The Popular Front in France, 1935–9 273

The Spanish Civil War, 1936–9 275

The Era of Appeasement, 1936–8 278

Evaluating Appeasement 281

Further Reading 282

20 World War II and the Holocaust: 1939–43 283

Appeasement from the East and the Outbreak of World War II 284

The Opening Stages of World War II 286

War in the West, 1940 289

The War against Judeo-Bolshevism 291

The Turning of the Tide 293

Victories at Stalingrad and the Kursk Salient 296

Further Reading 297

Part V Europe in Recovery and the Cold War: 1943–89 and Beyond 299

21 Victory, Peace, Punishment: 1943–6 303

The Problems and Paradoxes of Victory 303

Planning for Victory 306

Personal Diplomacy and Realpolitik 309

Winning the War: Myths and Realities 312

The Ambiguous Peace 313

The Holocaust’s Final Stages: Vengeance 314

The Nuremberg Trials 315

Dilemmas and Paradoxes of Punishment 319

Further Reading 321

22 Europe’s Nadir, the German Question, and the Origins of the Cold War: 1945–50 322

War-time Deaths, Military and Civilian 322

The Unresolved German Question: Germany’s Borders 323

Denazification 324

The Two Germanies, East and West 326

Schumacher and Adenauer 329

Social Democrats vs. Christian Democrats 330

Postwar Austria 331

The Origins and Nature of the Cold War 331

Further Reading 336

23 The Mystique of Revolution: Ideologies and Realities, 1945 to the 1960s 337

The Revolutionary Mystique in the Immediate Postwar Years 337

Democratic Socialism in Western Europe: Great Britain 339

Democratic Socialism in Western Europe: Scandinavia 341

The Revolutionary Mystique, the Cult of Personality, and “Real” Socialism 343

Titoism and the New Show Trials 344

Stalin’s Death and Khrushchev’s “De-Stalinization” 345

Revolts in Poland and Hungary, 1956 346

The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 348

East Germany and the Berlin Wall 349

Further Reading 350

24 The End of Imperialism, and European Recovery: 1948–68 352

European Exhaustion and the End of Empire 352

India and the Middle East 353

New Dimensions of the Jewish Question 355

“French” Algeria 358

The Vagaries of Historical Memory: The Role of the Cold War 360

The Establishment of the Fourth Republic in France 361

Restoring Liberal Democracy in Italy 364

European Unification: The First Steps 366

De Gaulle’s Vision: The Fifth Republic 368

Further Reading 370

25 Europe in a New Generation 371

Communism with a Human Face: Czechoslovakia, 1968 372

Young Rebels in Western Europe 373

France: The “Events of May” 375

Feminism in the New Generation 376

Further Reading 380

26 Détente, Ostpolitik, Glasnost: A New Europe 381

Shifting International Relationships: Frictions and Contretemps in the Soviet Union and United States 382

The Impact of the Oil Embargo of 1973: “Stagflation” 383

The Restive Soviet Bloc in the 1970s and 1980s 384

Poland and Solidarity 385

West Germany’s Ostpolitik: Management of Modern Capitalism 386

Gorbachev and Glasnost, 1985–9 389

The Disintegration of Communist Rule 391

From Mystique (1989–90) to Politique (1991–2012) 391

From Soviet Union to Russian Federation 392

The Unification of Germany 393

The Breakup of Former Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia 394

Western Europe: From Common Market to European Union 394

Further Reading 397

27 Europe in Two Centuries: An Epilogue and General Assessment 398

Europe’s Evolving Identity 400

European Liberties and Toleration 401

The Irish Question 402

The Woman Question 403

The Social Question and the Role of the State 403

The Eastern Question and the End of Empires 404

The German Question 404

Americanization, Globalization, and the European Model 406

The Jewish Question 407

The New Enemy: Islam 408

Environmentalism under Capitalism and Communism 409

The Demographic Question and European Xenophobia 410

The Sovereign Debt Crisis: The Dilemmas of the European Union 411

Further Reading 411

Index 413