The Transformation of European Politics 1763-1848 (Oxford History of Modern Europe) - Hardcover

Schroeder, Paul W.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198221193 ISBN 13: 9780198221197

Publisher: Clarendon Press, 1994

Synopsis

This landmark study of European international politics is a worthy complement to A.J.P. Taylor's classic The Struggle for Mastery in Europe 1848-1918. Paul Schroeder's comprehensive and authoritative addition to the Oxford History of Modern Europe charts the course of international history over the turbulent era of 1763-1848 in which the map of Europe and much of the world was redrawn time and again. Schroeder examines the wars, political crises, and intricate diplomatic transactions of the age, many of which, especially the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and the Congress of Vienna and its aftermath, had far-reaching consequences for modern Europe.
Schroeder also provides a new sharply revisionist account of the course of international politics over these years and a major reinterpretation of the structure and operation of the international system. He shows how the practice of international politics was transformed in revolutionary ways with extensive and beneficial effects. The Vienna Settlement established peace, he demonstrates, by abandoning, not restoring, the competitive balance-of-power politics of the eighteenth century, and devising a new political equilibrium in its stead. A European consensus on a new political balance was developed, with new rules to maintain it, ushering in a uniquely peaceful, progressive period in European international politics. This wide-ranging and penetrating study will be of great interest to historians, political scientists, and students of international relations.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

This is the only modern study of European international politics to cover the entire timespan from the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763 to the revolutionary year of 1848. Besides offering a comprehensive and authoritative account of this era's many wars, crises, and diplomatic developments, it reveals its unifying theme; the collapse of the eighteenth-century international system in a generation of great systemic wars from 1787 to 1812, the painful construction of a new international system from 1813 to 1815, and the successful operation of that system, giving Europe its most peaceful, progressive era of international politics ever. In a major reinterpretation of the structure and operation of the international system Professor Schroeder rejects most of the standard explanations for the failure of the earlier coalitions against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France, the success of the final one, and the durability of the Vienna Settlement. The secret of durable peace was not, he argues, military victory, the restoration of monarchical authority and a balance of power, and the fear of renewed revolution. It was instead the abandonment of competitive eighteenth-century balance-of-power politics in favour of a new political equilibrium, a balance of rights, security, and satisfactions, based upon a genuine, European-wide consensus on the meaning of peace and the kinds of rules and practices needed to sustain it. Thus the story of the transformation of European politics in this era offers insights and hope also for international politics today.

About the Author:

Paul W. Schroeder is Professor of History at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

About this edition

• Publisher: Clarendon Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0198221193
• ISBN 13: 9780198221197
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 920