Skip to Main Content

Europe against Revolution: Conservatism, Enlightenment, and the Making of the Past

Online ISBN:
9780191983443
Print ISBN:
9780198872139
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Europe against Revolution: Conservatism, Enlightenment, and the Making of the Past

Matthijs Lok
Matthijs Lok
Senior Lecturer in Modern European History, Universiteit van Amsterdam
Find on
Published:
23 March 2023
Online ISBN:
9780191983443
Print ISBN:
9780198872139
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

The revolutionary thesis of this book is that the European past and the idea of Europe as an essentially ‘historical continent’ was (re)invented by the critics of the French Revolution as part of their ideological struggle against the Revolution. The counter-revolutionary authors and statesmen were both conservative and cosmopolitan at the same time. In their writings they drew on the works of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment as well as criticized its alleged revolutionary legacy. This study seeks to uncover the roots of historically informed ideas of Europe and of European history, while at the same time underlining the fundamental differences between the writings of the older counter-revolutionary Europeanists and their self-appointed successors in the twenty-first century.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close