Ideas of Europe during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7864539 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Martyn P Thompson (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1994 |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 37 |
| Publication date | 1994-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the History of Ideas (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-5037 • E-ISSN: 1086-3222 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2709952 |
| OpenAlex | W2333637093 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
In the early days of the contemporary European Community a number of distinguished historians turned their minds to tracing the history of as an idea. One was Denis de Rougemont, whose Idea of Europe appeared in English in 1966. The message of the study was clear. After centuries of experiment Europe was at last acquiring appropriate political shape. The past, littered with false starts, was coming to fruition. The chance that had been lost during the French Revolution and in the age of nationalisms that followed was now being offered a second time. Europe's moment had come again.' From being, in Edmund Burke's words, virtually one great state, Europe was now on its way to becoming an actual state. But the future has played tricks on these Europeanists of the recent past. Post-communist Europe has dwarfed both the geography and many of the political, social, and economic problems of the European Community. Just as the newly emerging Europe is a challenge to the politicians of the European Community, so it is a provocation to historians of ideas of Europe. At the very least it seems advisable to reconsider Europe's historical identity, and I propose to offer a sketch of one central part of such a reconsideration. At one point de Rougemont concluded that to for Europe is to build Europe! In other words, it is the search that creates her.2 The observation is useful. Europe never has been a self-evident or natural geographical, cultural, or political division of the world. It is something created, artificial, and elusive. There have been periods in Western intellectual history when the search for Europe has been much more intense than at others. The present half-centurv since the Second World War is certainly one such period. But so
Ancient history · Economic history · French revolution · Political science · Politics · Classics · European Political History Analysis · History · Law · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.14 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2004 - 2020 (17) |
| Highly cited | No |