The Age of Revolution 1789-1848

Author: (British) Eric Hobsbawm, Wang Zhanghui
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1999-08-01
Features: Here, we refer to the French Revolution of 1789 and the concurrent (British) Industrial Revolution as the "dual revolution." The world transformation traced in this book is precisely from the perspective of the "dual revolution." Therefore, strictly speaking, the history presented in this book is neither a history of Europe nor a world history. My statements on a particular country (though often rough) are based on the impact of the dual revolution it experienced during this period. Those countries that were negligibly affected by the dual revolution are omitted. Thus, readers will find certain discussions on Egypt but no commentary on Japan, more elaboration on Ireland than on Bulgaria, and more on Latin America than on Africa. Naturally, this does not mean that the countries and people ignored in this book have histories less inferior or less important than those discussed. The reason this book focuses on Europe, more precisely on France and Britain, is that the fundamental changes in the world—or at least in most parts of it—during this period occurred in Europe, more precisely in France and Britain. However, some topics worth detailed discussion are also set aside, not only due to space constraints but also because these themes will be fully covered in other volumes of this series (such as the history of the United States). The purpose of this book is not detailed narration but rather explanation and achieving the French concept of "haute vulgarisation" (high popularization). The ideal readers are educated citizens with a certain theoretical background, who are curious about the past and wish to understand how and why the world has become what it is today and where it is headed. Therefore, adding numerous academic footnotes seems pretentious and unnecessary; these notes are intended for the learned. Thus, the footnotes in this book are almost entirely about actual citations and numerical sources, sometimes involving the basis of particularly controversial or striking statements. However, for such a comprehensive work, it is entirely necessary to briefly mention the materials it is based on. All historians are experts in certain aspects (or, to put it another way, more ignorant in some areas). Except for a very narrow field, they basically rely on the work of other historians. For the period of 1789–1848, second-hand literature is so abundant that no individual, even if they could read materials written in various languages (of course, all historians practically only master a few languages), could exhaust it. Therefore, most of the material in this book is second-hand or even third-hand, and shortcomings are inevitable. Similarly, the book inevitably leaves out many details, and experts in related fields will share the same sense of regret as the author. However, only by breaking the net of history can individual threads be extracted. For practical reasons, we had to divide this topic into a certain number of subtopics. I have tried very roughly to divide this book into two parts. The first part is largely about some major developments during this period, while the second part provides a summary of the society created by the dual revolution. If such a division makes some content in the book seem repetitive, it is not due to theoretical issues but purely for convenience. Many people have discussed certain aspects of this book with me, and some have read drafts or proofs of certain chapters. I am grateful to them, and the errors in the book are not their fault. I am particularly grateful to Bernard (J.D. Bernal), Douglas Dakin, Ernst Fischer, Francis Haskell, H.G. Koenigsberger, and R.F. Leslie. Fischer's ideas were especially helpful for Chapter 14. Miss P.R. Ralph, as secretary and research assistant, provided great help. Miss E. Mason compiled the index for this book. I am also grateful to them.