EUROPE 1780-1830 FRANKLIN L. FORD LONGMAN London and New YorkLONGMAN GROUP LIMITED London Associated companies, branches and representatives throughout the world Published in the United States of America by Longman Inc., New York © Franklin L. Ford, 1970 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or trans- mitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Copyright owner. First published 1970 First issued in paperback 1971 Seventh impression 1979 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Ford, Franklin Lewis, 1920- Europe, 1780-1830. (A General history of Europe) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Europe—History—1789-1815. 2. Europe—History —1815-1848. I. Title. D308.F65 1976 940.2°7 7534400 ¥ ISBN 0-582-48346-8 * Printed in Hong Kong by Wilture Enterprises (International) LtdFor Stephen and JohnContents I. INTRODUCTION European rather than global scope of the volume, p. 1 - The prob- blem of continuity versus change, p. 1 - Special attention to France required, p. 2 - Placing this period in the history of Europe, p. 3. Il. THE SOURCES Profusion but also limits of sources for the age of the Revolution, Napoleon and the Restoration, p. 4 — Collections of texts, p. 5 - Legislative records, p. 6 - Administrative documents, p. 7 - Diplomatic papers, p. 8 - Private correspondence, p. 9 - Memoirs and diaries, p. 10 ~ Newspapers, magazines and pamphlets, p. 12 ~ Popular jingles and songs, p. 14 ~ Theoretical treatises, p. 14 - Travel books, p. 15 - Fiction and drama, p. 16 - Poetry, music and other works of art as documents, p. 17 ~ Architecture, p. 18 - Un- published documents in national repositories, p. 18. III, SOCIETY AND CULTURE IN 1780 The late eighteenth century as a time of change, p. 20 - Population growth, p. 21 - Social stratification, p. 21 - Legally defined orders of men, p. 21 - Status groups defined by gradations of honour, p. 23 - Economic classes, p. 24 - The social and political élite, p. 25 ~ Landholders, urban magnates, higher officials, professional men, P. 26 ~ Rural producers, urban consumers, p. 27 - Farmers, p. 27 - Merchants, craftsmen, service personnel, p. 28 - ‘Unproductive’ elements, p. 28 - Regional variations: Britain, p. 29 — Precocious growth of cities, p. 30 — Scotland and Ireland, p. 31 - Iberia and Italy, p. 31 - Spanish and Portuguese society, p. 31 - Wide diver- sity of conditions in Italy, p. 32 - France, p. 33 — The Low vu Page 20CONTENTS Countries, p. 34 - Scandinavia, p. 35 - The German lands, p. 36 - Eastern Germany and the ‘Junkers’, p. 36 - Free cities and southern principalities, p. 37 - Switzerland, p. 38 - Austria and Habsburg Central Europe, p. 38 - The Habsburgs’ Slavic and Magyar subjects, p. 39 - The Balkans under Ottoman rule, p. 39 - Varying degrees of Turkish control, p. 40 - Poland, p. 41 - Russia, Pp. 42 ~ ‘Souls’ as property: the bonded peasants, p. 43 - The cultural scenes, p. 43 ~ International use of Latin and French, p. 44 — Levels of education, p. 45 - Cosmopolitan ‘high’ culture: scholar- ship and belles lettres, p. 45 - Architecture and painting more elegant than original, p. 46 - Music, p. 47 - The ‘low’ culture of folk songs and vernacular tales, p. 48. IV. THE EUROPEAN STATE SYSTEM Many states either more or less than nations, p. 49 - The major powers: Great Britain and France, p, 50 ~ Austria, p. 51 — Prussia and Russia, p. 54 - Lesser powers, p. 54 - Decline of formerly powerful states: Poland, Ottoman Turkey, Spain, Portugal, the Dutch United Provinces, p. 55 - And Sweden, p. 56 - Other medium-sized states: Denmark and Switzerland, p. 56 - Italian kingdoms of Naples and Sardinia, p. 57 - Large duchies: Tuscany, Bavaria, Saxony, p. 57 - The Venetian Republic, p. 57 — The ‘swarm of gnats’, p. 58 - Smaller entities: ecclesiastical and secular principalities, free cities, p. 58 - Diplomatic theory and practice, p. 58 - Importance of the French model since Louis XIV, p. 59 - Diplomats an international caste, p. 60 - Armies and navies, p. 61 - Ordre mince and ordre profond, p. 62 - Nature and distribution of sea power, p. 63 - Traditional rivalries: Britain and France, p. 63 - Britain dangerously isolated in the War of American Indepen- dence, p. 64 - Catherine II’s League of Armed Neutrality, p. 65 - Peace negotiations of 1782-3, p. 66 - Dutch crisis of 1785-7, p. 68 ~ British-French commercial agreement of 1786, p. 69 - Tradi- tional rivalries: Austria, Prussia and Russia, p. 69 - Catherine II seeks Austrian support against Turkey, p. 70— Joseph II aggressive in the Netherlands and Germany, p. 71 - Frederick II’s League of Princes, p. 72 ~ The Russian-Turkish war of 1787-92, p. 73 - Treaties of Sistova and Jassy, p. 74 - The European states in 1789, P. 74 — France the heaviest loser of the decade, p. 75. ‘vill Page 49CONTENTS Vv. DOMESTIC POLITICS IN THE 1780S Divisions and disputes within states, p. 76 - Unrest and Reform: material and ideological pressures, p. 77 — Rising population and fear of famine, p. 78 - Enlightenment criticism, p. 79 - The American Revolution, p. 80 - Frustrations in diplomacy and war, p. 81 — Failures of enlightened despotism, p. 82 - Diffuseness of demands for reform, p. 83 - Conservative resistance to change, p. 84 - England and Ireland, p. 85 - The General Association and the Lord Gordon riots, p. 86 - Grattan, Flood and the Irish Volunteers, p. 87 - The United Provinces, p. 88 ~ The stadtholder saved by foreign aid, p. 89 - The Austrian Netherlands, p. 90 - Expulsion and return of Austrian forces, p. 91 - Habsburg central Europe, p. 92 - Joseph H’s reform projects resisted in Hungary and elsewhere, p. 93 - Poland, p. 93 - Achievements of the Four Years’ Diet, p. 94 ~ Reform and reaction in other countries, p. 95 — Russia and the Germanies, p. 95 - Sweden under Gustavus IT, p. 96 - Spain under Charles ITI and his ministers, p. 97 - France, p- 97 - Necker’s Compte rendu signals the crisis, p. 98 - Calonne rebuffed by the Assembly of Notables, p. 99 - Louis XVI forced to call the Estates General, p. 100 — Peculiarities of the French situation, p. tor ~ Difficulty of visualizing a great revolution in advance, p. 102. VI, THE UPHEAVAL IN FRANCE Initial appearance of victory for privileged groups, p. 103 - From the Estates General to National Assembly, p. 104 - Classes, status groups and political parties, as well as orders, in conflict, p. 105 - The Estates General elected and convened at Versailles, p. 106 - The Tennis Court Oath and transition to the National Assembly, p. 107 - The Declaration of the Rights of Man, p. 107 - The fall of the Bastille and the ‘Great Fear’, p. 108 - The National Assembly legislates, p. 109 - The monarchical experiment, p. 110 - Dilemma of the king, p. 111 - Debates over the Constitution of 1791, p. 112 - Food shortages and administrative reorganization, p. 114 - The assignats, p. 115 — The Civil Constitution of the Clergy, p. 116 - The fall of the monarchy, p. 117 - Louis XVI’s flight to Varennes, p. 118 - Republican agitation by the Jacobins in Paris, p, 119 - The birth of the Republic, p. 120 - The new Convention dissolves the monarchy, p. 120 - The Republican calendar and the metric x Page 103CONTENTS system, p. 121 - The king and queen beheaded and the Terror mounts, p. 122 - Military difficulties, the levée en masse of 1793, Pp. 123 — Internal threats to the Republic, p. 123 - economic prob- lems and regional revolts, p. 124 - Repression under the Com- mittee of Public Safety, p. 125 - The peak of the Terror and Robespierre’s Fall, p. 125 - Execution of Girondins, Hébertists and Danton, p. 126 - Execution of Robespierre, the Thermidorean reaction, p. 128 - The government of the Directory, p. 129 - Military successes under Carnot, but mounting political unrest, p. 130 - Bonaparte made one of three consuls, p. 131 - Interpreting the Revolution, p. 132 - Political splintering from 1789 to 1799, p. 133 - The role of the Terror, p. 134 ~ Individual roles, p. 135 - A vast civil war with several battles lines, p. 136. VII, THE REVOLUTION OUTSIDE FRANCE The European ferment, p. 138 - First reactions to the Revolution, p- 139 — Diversity of French émigrés, p. 140 —- Contrasting views in Britain, p. 141 - Enthusiasm of Dutch, German and Swiss dis- sidents, p. 142 — Relative lack of awareness in Italy and the Iberian kingdoms, p. 144 - Responses of Gustavus III and Catherine II, p. 146 - Revolutionary France at war, p. 146 - French and German responsibilities in 1792, p. 147 - The ‘miracle of Valmy’, p. 148 - Treaties of Basel end the First Coali- tion, p. 149 - The final partition of Poland, p. 149 - Europe takes stock, p. 150 — Arrests for sedition increasing in Great Britain, p- 152 — Repression in other countries, p. 153 ~ The emergence of Bonaparte, p. 154—- His first Italian campaign in 1796, p. 155 - The Austrians humbled by the treaty of Campo-Formio, p. 156 - Bonaparte in Egypt, French defeats by the Second Coalition, p. 157 ~ But the situation stabilized in 1799, p. 158 ~ France and its territorial conquests, p. 158 - Political and religious policies in occupied areas, p. 159 - The burden of exactions in money and goods, p. 161 - Reactions elsewhere in Europe, p. 162 - Political tensions, in Britain and elsewhere, decreasingly dominated by the ‘French question’, p. 162 ~ Death of Wolfe Tone, failure of naval mutinies at Nore and Spithead, p. 163 - International warfare now the central issues, p. 164. Page 138CONTENTS VIII. NAPOLEON IN POWER Bonaparte the Man, p. 165 ~ His personality, p. 167 - A Caesar, an enlightened despot, or a condottiere?, p. 169 - The constitution of the Empire, p. 170 - Ministers and prefects, p. 170 - A threefold legislature: Senate, Corps Législatif, Tribunate, p. 171 - Regional and national ‘notables’, p. 172 - Judicial controls, the. Code Napoléon, p. 173 - The internal economy, p. 174 ~ Industrial and commercial regulation, p. 175 - Agricultural and labour organiza- tion, p. 176 — Religious policy, p. 176 - The mounting conflict with Rome, p. 177 - The imperial catechism and the annexation of the Papal States in 1809, p. 178 — Education reorganized, p. 179 - The Imperial University, p. 180 - The control of culture, p. 181 - Censorship, p. 181 - Disciplining drama and the arts, p. 182 - The reintroduction of social hierarchy, p. 182 - Returning émigré nobles, p. 183 - The Legion of Honour and the Imperial Nobility, Pp. 184 - Innovations - ephemeral and permanent, p. 185 ~ Many institutional changes not reversed by the Restoration, p. 186 - A reappraisal of Bonaparte, p. 187. IX. NAPOLEON AND THE NATIONS OF EUROPE The dramatic structure of the Napoleonic wars, p. 189 — To the treaty of Lunéville, p. 191 - Napoleon’s second Italian campaign succeeds at Marengo, p. 192 - Moreau’s victory at Hohenlinden, P. 193 - Britain and the war, p. 196 ~ George III rejects Pitt’s Trish policy, p. 197 - Addington prime minister, p. 198 - Europe after Amiens, p. 198 - British financial retrenchment during a year of peace, p. 199 - assassination of Tsar Paul I, p. 200 - Consolida- tion of German states by the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, p. 201 - The war resumed: 1803 to the treaty of Tilsit (1807), p. 202 - England declares war and Napoleon prepares to invade, p. 203 - Formation of the Third Coalition, p. 204 - Nelson victorious at Trafalgar, Napoleon at Austerliz, p. 205 - the Prussian disaster at Jena, p. 206 - Tsar Alexander I and Napoleon make peace for the Continent at Tilsit, p. 206 - the ‘Continental System’ proclaimed, Pp. 207 - Napoleonic Europe: fighting in Iberia and Austria, p. 208 - The Spaniards rebel, p. 209 - Stadion’s Austrians defeated at Wagram, p. 212 - The soaring Bonaparte dynasty, p. 212 - Napoleonic Europe: the nations? internal affairs, p. 213 - The emergence of Canning in England and the murder of Perceval, xi Page 165 189CONTENTS Pp. 213 - Administrative reforms in Russia, p. 214 - Marshal Bernadotte becomes crown prince of Sweden, p. 215 - Sweeping changes in Germany, p. 216 ~ The Prussian era of reform, p. 217 - From the invasion of Russia to Waterloo, p. 219 - Advance and retreat of the Grand Army, p. 220 - The Battle of the Nations at Leipzig, p. 221 ~ Napoleon defeated in France and exiled to Elba, p. 222 - The Hundred Days end at Waterloo, p. 223 - The nature of the Napoleonic Empire, p. 223 - Bonaparte’s conception of ‘hegemony’, p. 224 — His rejection of France’s ‘natural fron- tiers’, p. 225. X. THE CHANGING FACE OF WAR Need to analyse methods of conflict in a warlike age, p. 226 - Size and equipment of armies, p. 227 - Mass warfare, p. 228 - Evolution of uniforms, p. 229 - Artillery and hand arms, p. 231 - Supporting services, p. 232 - Supply trains and engineers, p. 232 - Medical, communication and intelligence services, p. 233 - Tactics, Pp. 234 ~ Both disciplined lines and charging phalanxes persist, p. 235 - Command machinery, p. 235 - Officers and men, p. 237 - Recruitment of officers, p. 237 ~ Discipline and morale of troops, p. 238 - Naval forces, p. 239 - Conservative dress and formal etiquette, p. 239 - But relative openness of social recruitment of British officers, p. 240 ~ Marines, p. 241 - the design of fighting ships, p. 241 - Tactics at sea, p. 242 - Trafalgar a victory for practised seamen, p. 243 — Amphibious warfare, p. 244 — British landings at Aboukir Bay and at Copenhagen, p. 245 - The ‘army of England’ at Boulogne and the crossing that never came, p. 245 - Economic warfare, p. 246 - Blockades and embargoes, p. 247 - Comparison of British and French losses, p. 249 ~ Patriotic propa- ganda, p. 250 - Discouraging rumours and appeals to disaffected groups, p. 251 — Decline in portrayal of enemy as inhuman, Pp. 252 - Military theorists not influential at the time, p. 253 - familiarity of land and sea tactics outweighed by mass and in- tensity, p. 254. XI, THE EUROPEAN STATE SYSTEM AFTER NAPOLEON Mixture of old and new elements, p. 255 — The two treaties of Paris, p. 256 - Metternich’s leniency towards France, p. 257 - xii Page 226 255CONTENTS The Congress of Vienna, p. 258 - Leading diplomatic figures, p. 259 — Disputes over Poland and Saxony, p. 261 — Agreement on the Final Act, p. 263 - Congress Europe, p. 265 — Castlereagh and the Quadruple Alliance, p. 268 - The Holy Alliance as viewed by Alexander I and by Metternich, p. 269 - Congress of Aix-la- Chapelle, p. 270 - Congresses of Troppau, Laibach and Verona, p. 271 - Canning succeeds Castlereagh, p. 272 ~ Diplomacy after Vienna: Italy, Spain and Portugal, p. 273 - Intervention against Neapolitan, Piedmontese and Spanish rebels, p. 273 - Britain supports Portuguese constitutionalists, p. 274 ~ The Americas and the Monro Doctrine, p. 275 ~ Canning and the initiative of the United States, p. 276 ~ Greek Independence, p. 277 — Archbishop Germanos denounces Turkish rule, p. 277 - The sultan calls upon Ibrahim Pasha’s Egyptians, p. 278 - Popular sympathy for the Greeks, p. 279 ~ British, French and Russian intervention: the battle of Navarino, p. 280 - The treaty of Adrianople, p. 281 - The European powers in 1830, p. 282 — Fewer and larger states, p. 283 - Increased role of public opinion, p. 284. XII, RESTORATION POLITICS Not just ‘a world restored’, p. 285 ~ Revolutionary-Napoleonic legacy of passions, p. 286 — Revolutionary secret society and the figure of Buonarotti, p. 287 - Economic changes, p. 288 - Public finances, p. 289 - Continued population growth and expanding Cities, p. 290 - Early industrialism, p, 292 ~ British superiority in manufacturing, p. 293 - Customs barriers generally high, p. 294 - Birth of the Prussian Zollverein, p. 295 - Religion, p. 295 - Con- servative and liberal Catholics, p. 296 - Other denominations, p. 297 - Conservative administrative reforms, p. 298 — Special importance of the Russian case, p. 298 ~ Patterns of Restoration politics: central and northern Europe, p. 299 - Nationalism, con- stitutionalism, democracy, p. 300 - Metternich’s influence in Austria and Germany, p. 302 - The Carlsbad Decrees, p. 303 - The Mediterranean lands, p. 304 - Riego’s revolt in Spain, p. 304 — Constitutional movements in Portugal and Italy, p. 305 - The Balkans and Eastern Europe, p. 308 - Beginning of the feud between houses of Obrenovich and Karageorgevich in Serbia, p. 308 - Conservative opponents of the sultan and the tsar, p. 309 ~ Sham constitutionalism in Poland, p. 310 - Liberal secret societies Page 285CONTENTS in Russia, p. 310 ~ France and Britain: authority versus liberty, p. 311 - Louis XVIII as constitutional monarch, p. 312 - The accession of Charles X in 1824, p.:313 - Repression in Britain: the Peterloo incident, p. 314 - The Cato Street plotters, p. 315 ~ Reform in Britain and the Irish problem, p. 316 - The era of Peel and Huskisson, p. 317 — Wollington supports moderate reforms, p. 318 — Founding of the Catholic Association in Ireland, p. 319 - Repeal of the Test Act and passage of the Catholic Emancipation Bill, p. 320 - The Restoration challenged in France and the Low Countries, p. 321 - Charles X and Polignac, p. 322 - The Dutch king defied, p. 322 - Autocracy refurbished: Turkey and Russia, P. 323 - Relative torpor of central and southern Europe, p. 324 - Mahmud II destroys the Janissary Corps, p. 325 - The Russian Decembrists, p. 326 - Restoration and new themes reviewed, p. 327. XIII], INTELLECTUAL FERMENT IN A REVOLUTIONARY AGE Difficulty of characterizing the period, p. 330 — Relationship of theories to events, p. 331 - Political speculation: Enlightenment and Revolution, p. 331 — the Enlightenment’s legacy, p. 332 - Con- dorcet’s tenth epoch, p. 333 — Enlightened officials, p. 334 - Revolutionary thinkers: Tom Paine, p. 335 - And Robespierre, P. 336 - The proliferation of political theories, p. 337 — Burke, de Maistre, Bonald, p. 338 - Eldon and Savigny, p. 339 - Kant, p. 340 — Hegel, p. 341 - Social thought, p. 342 - Robert Owen, p. 343 - Saint-Simon and Fourier, p. 344 - The romantic-medievalist resistance, p. 345 — Malthus, p. 346 - Ricardo, p. 347 - Bentham and the Philosophical Radicals, p. 348 - Ethics: philanthropy, Utilitarianism, the categorical imperative, p. 349 - Secular human- ism replaces formal theology, p. 350 — Bentham’s creed, p. 351 — Kantian morality, p. 352 — Natural science, p. 353 - Centrality of French, British and German contributions, p. 354 - Mathe- matics and chemistry, p. 355 - Astronomy and physics, p. 356 — Geology and Creation, p. 357 ~ Biologists at war over species, Pp. 358 - The divorce between science and the humanities, p. 360 - Also between science and technology, p. 361 - Historiography, Pp. 361 — The challenge of the Revolution, p. 362 ~ Archaeology’s tole, p. 363 - Medievalism and documentary collections, p. 364 - xiv Page 330CONTENTS German philosophers of history, p. 365 - Kant and history, p. 366 — Hegel, p. 367 - Ranke, p. 368. XIV. SOCIETY AND CULTURE IN 1830 The remaining question: how much had changed?, p. 370 - The growth and distribution of population, p. 371 - Mushrooming cities, p. 372 - Emigration delayed, p. 373 - Some aspects of daily life, p. 374 - Changes and class lines reflected in costume, p. 375 — What Europeans ate, p. 376 — Social groupings and behaviour, P. 378 - Changing themes in art and letters, p. 379 ~ Neoclassicism and romanticism, p. 379 - Biedermeier, p. 380 - Music: Hadyn and Beethoven, p. 382 - Schubert and Berlioz, the opera, p. 383 - Romanticism in poetry, p. 383 - The historical novel: Scott and Manzoni, p. 384 - Psychological novels: Jane Austen and Sten- dhal, p, 385 ~ Nationalism and folklore, p. 386 — Conclusion: the balance between continuity and change, p. 387 - The altered con~ ception of social structure, p. 389 - Status groups, economic classes and political parties, p. 390 - The true nature of the revolutionary-Napoleonic ‘watershed’, p. 391. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE INDEX Page 370 392 395SYN AnW AWD Maps . Europe in 1780 . The French Republic by Departments (1790) . Partitions of Poland |. Europe after the Treaty of Lunéville (1801) . Europe in 1812 . Europe in 1815 (after the Congress of Vienna) . The German Confederation in 1815 }. Italy in 1815 52-3 113 194-5 210-11 266-7 301 307Introduction This volume, like its companions in the present series, is concerned specifically with European history. It deals, to be sure, with a period which saw Europe’s influence spread across the world in mounting waves, a period, too, when non-European forces were beginning to work back with increasing effect upon the old continent and its principal islands. Nevertheless, it would be folly for such a book to make any pretence of global coverage—especially in view of the fact that many European developments of the period must themselves be passed over, or treated only briefly. An American, despite inherited attitudes and attachments, must look at Europe somewhat from the outside; but he is better qualified to do that than to try to write world history as seen through European eyes. Having accepted the limits of the commission, we can concentrate on a central problem of interpretation. It is the problem of the relation- ship between Europe before and Europe after the general crisis of the revolutionary-Napoleonic era. Was the quarter-century which began in 1789 in fact the great historical watershed we generally assume it was? Or were the deep, underlying strands running from the eighteenth into the nineteenth century so important that we should dismiss any notion of a deep cleavage between one and the other as merely the product of over-emphasis on exciting events? Obviously, the only way to attack the question of continuity versus change, in any period, is through thoughtful attention to the ‘before’, the ‘after’ and the ‘in-between’. Hence, this is a book of narration, but narration interspersed with reflections and preceded, as well as followed, by examinations of European society around 1780, and then around 1830. The chronicle of public events—of treaties and battles, legislative enactments and executive decisions—is not ignored. Neither is the record of European thought and artistic accomplishment. If there exists a topical emphasis, it falls on relationships among groups ofINTRODUCTION people, variously defined in legal, economic, honorific and political terms. Here, it seems to me, the central issue can be most usefully addressed. Was European society at the end of our period only super- ficially different from what it had been five decades earlier? Or were the differences so fundamental as to mark the coming of a new age? It is a subsidiary thesis of the ensuing chapters that public events, ideas and man’s essays at beauty in colour or form or sound or language have all contributed to, even as they have reflected, the patterns and movements of society in general. One of the most difficult balances to maintain in a book about Europe, 1780-1830, is that between emphasis on France and adequate coverage of other regions or states. There are dangers on both sides. It would be a crippling error to view this period as above all a dramatic segment of French history, in which the other peoples of Europe were obliged or privileged, depending on the historian’s nationality, to play their parts. Perhaps less apparent, however, is the opposite form of distortion, which would result if one denied the power and importance of the French engine, at once destructive and creative, in this epoch of the European past. We shall therefore pay close attention to the France of Louis XVI, of Robespierre, of Napoleon and of the restored monarchy after 1815. We must also, however, try to keep the British Isles and the Germanies, the Low Countries, the Iberian kingdoms, Italy, the Austrian Habsburg lands, Russia, Poland, Scandinavia and the Balkans before us. Because the half-century here examined was so filled with great in- novations and violent reversals, there is a temptation to visualize the eighteenth century in excessively quiet colours. By the same token, we sometimes speak of ‘the nineteenth century’ as though things setrled down after 1815. Actually, of course, the Old Régime was far from static. It had seen the rise and fall of kingdoms, churches and social groups, amid a vociferous tumult of argumentation and questioning. Every state in Europe was in important respects far different in the 1780s from what it had been in 1715, to say nothing of 1648. Similarly, one has only to think of Germany and Italy, France and Britain, Russia and Austro-Hungary, as they existed by the 1890s, to realize how much was to change in the three-quarters of a century after the fall of the Napoleonic Empire. It is worth emphasizing the importance of movement within the periods before and following the developments treated in this book, for we shall only confuse our thinking if we conceive of those developments as sandwiched between two glacial masses of rela- tive immobility, Europe has never been quiet, never truly static. 2INTRODUCTION Our task of comprehension calls for a quite different approach. It involves examining the very end of the pre-revolutionary era, the great crisis itself and then the emerging outlines of the post-Napoleonic European world. We should recognize that we are analysing one slice cut from the annals of a civilization as self-critical and changing as it has been proud and traditionalistic. Our aim is to determine, if pos- sible, whether this slice represents something special. When we have finished, we must try to decide whether the years between the beginning of the 1780s and the end of the 1820s saw a break between an old world and a new one too striking for any historian to ignore, or whether they simply witnessed the temporary disruption of a European system which resumed its earlier characteristics with remarkable speed and com- pleteness, once the storm had passed.II The Sources No historian concerned with Europe in the age of the Revolution, Napoleon and the Restoration should complain of special difficulties or claim unique advantages in the matter of sources. He may some- times envy the medievalist’s concentration on a relatively small number BIBLIOGRAPHY. An essential guide to older works either containing or identifying documentary sources is P. Caron and M. Jaryc, editors, World List of Historical Periodicals and Bibliographies (rev. edn., Oxford, 1939). A more specialized listing of memoirs, correspondence and other materials will be found in F, M. Kircheisen, Bibliography of Napoleon (London, 1902). For national selections of central importance see Caron’s and his successive collaborators’ several Bibliographies des travaux publiés . . . sur V’histoire de la France depuis 1789, beginning with a volume covering the years 1866-97 (Paris, 1912); J. B. Williams, A Guide to the Printed Materials for English Social and Economic History, 1750~1850 (New York, 1926); and Germany’s magisterial ‘Dahimann- Waitz’, Quellenkunde der deutschen Geschichte, launched by F. C. Dahlmann in 1830 but revised by various continuators down to the roth edition, edited by H. Heimpel, H. Geuss et al. (Stuttgart, 1965). Papers having to do with inter- national relations are catalogued by D. H. Thomas and L. M. Case, Guide to the Diplomatic Archives of Western Europe (Philadelphia, 1959), while H. Temperley and L, M. Penson, A Century of Diplomatic Blue Books, 1814-1914 (Cambridge, 1938), combines a listing of the Foreign Office’s Parliamentary papers with evaluations of such key figures as Castlereagh and Canning, A number of valu- able chapters on statistical materials relevant to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries have been assembled by D. V. Glass and D. E. C. Eversley, editors, Population in History: Essays in Historical Demography (Chicago, 1965). Among important studies of newspapers and periodicals as historical sources should definitely be included Aspinall, Politics and the Press, c. 1780-1850 (London, 1949); the first volume of the official History of ‘The Times’: The Thunderer in the Making, 1785-1841 (London, 1935); René de Livois, Histoire de la presse francaise (Lausanne, 1965); and K. Schottenloher, Flugblatt und Zeitung (Berlin, 1922). Finally, although the work is itself one of great substantive value, R. Williams, Culture and Society, 1780-1950 (New York, 1960), deserves mention for its author’s suggestions for the use of literary sources in the writing of social history. 4