What do you think?
Rate this book
Europa: privilegio y protesta
En los cincuenta años que preceden a la Revolución francesa, Europa se ve desgarrada por conflictos de todo tipo. Las tensiones sociales y económicas aumentan bajó la presión, de una población creciente para la cual el suministro de alimentos resulta permanentemente insuficiente. Las rivalidades imperialistas en América y Asia, y las políticas expansionistas de Prusia y Rusia vienen a añadir nuevas dimensiones a las guerras europeas. Pero, por encima de todo, la nueva dinámica de esta época va a ser la surgida del desafío al tradicional monopolio del poder político ejercido por los monarcas y las élites privilegiadas. Desde la perspectiva del autor, sin embargo, el privilegio no es una mera prerrogativa de los ricos y los poderosos, sino que impregna el tejido social a todos sus niveles. Al atacar los privilegios, la Ilustración va a golpear las mismas raíces del orden social aceptado, crecientemente inestable ya a causa de su onerosa superestructura de burocracias y ejércitos permanentes.
- GenresHistoryEuropean History
384 pages, Paperback
First published February 15, 1980
3 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
About the author
Olwen H. Hufton
17 books5 followersOlwen Hufton DBE is one of the foremost historians of early modern Europe and a pioneer of social history and of women's history. She is an expert on Early Modern, western European comparative socio-cultural history with special emphasis on gender, poverty, social relations, religion and work. In 2006 she joined Royal Holloway as a part-time Professorial Research Fellow in the History Department.
Olwen Hufton is a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Olwen Hufton is a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 13, 2016
A “text” book I suppose; but one that is surprisingly readable and very well written. I particularly enjoyed chapters on the Habsburg Lands, Prussia and Russia. Prof Hufton taught me years ago and her style of writing helped me recall her lectures: very articulate.
This period saw struggle between the centralization of the state (for 'state' usually read 'monarchy') versus noble/other privilege.
Centralization was perhaps most successful in Prussia, owing to the shrewdness of Frederick II (the Great) and his father Frederick Wm I. Frederick the Great inherited a royal domain largely intact and managed efficiently and the King therefore had more independence from the constitutional checks imposed on his fellow European monarchs. They needed to get taxes granted by their assemblies. Fred the Great was able to balance bureaucracy and nobility and cross pollenate both which lead to the aggrandisement of the state and the monarchy– and the birth of Prussianism?
Habsburgs were weak to begin with. Difficulty raising money to pay for the monarchy. Joseph II, a text book enlightened despot was an interesting character but an unlucky one. His tomb bears the inscription he chose: “Here lies the man who failed in everything he did”.
Russia with its bureaucratic military nobility dependent on the monarchy which in turn was dependant upon it. Its ruler, Catherine the Great (German) had many of her nobles educated in the west and they returned to Russia critical of her autocracy and increasingly repressive regime.
Spain and Portugal conformed less to the pattern of Enlightened Despotism, apart from a bit of window dressing.
The Chapter on The United Provinces (modern day Netherlands and Belgium) was heavy going – Town v Country, Orangeist v Patriot.
France – OH's specialism. The centralisation of the monarchy faced great opposition from the nobility and privilege and the parlements. A crisis of credit resulted from the need to finance vast monarchical expenditure. The Revolution did what the monarchy would have liked to do – abolish a vast amount of privilege, especially clerical exemption from taxation. Unfortunately for Louts XVI and Marie Antoinette they lost their heads, literally, in the process.
Only the USA – outside Europe – could point to advancement of democracy. Otherwise power was in the hands of people with wealth, however little. Great Britain was governed jointly by the aristocracy and gentry (Houses of Commons and Lords).
Sweden would fluctuate between a growing centralisation of the monarchy and an increasingly strengthened nobility, leading to the “noble” assassination of Gustav III.
Plenty to think about!
This period saw struggle between the centralization of the state (for 'state' usually read 'monarchy') versus noble/other privilege.
Centralization was perhaps most successful in Prussia, owing to the shrewdness of Frederick II (the Great) and his father Frederick Wm I. Frederick the Great inherited a royal domain largely intact and managed efficiently and the King therefore had more independence from the constitutional checks imposed on his fellow European monarchs. They needed to get taxes granted by their assemblies. Fred the Great was able to balance bureaucracy and nobility and cross pollenate both which lead to the aggrandisement of the state and the monarchy– and the birth of Prussianism?
Habsburgs were weak to begin with. Difficulty raising money to pay for the monarchy. Joseph II, a text book enlightened despot was an interesting character but an unlucky one. His tomb bears the inscription he chose: “Here lies the man who failed in everything he did”.
Russia with its bureaucratic military nobility dependent on the monarchy which in turn was dependant upon it. Its ruler, Catherine the Great (German) had many of her nobles educated in the west and they returned to Russia critical of her autocracy and increasingly repressive regime.
Spain and Portugal conformed less to the pattern of Enlightened Despotism, apart from a bit of window dressing.
The Chapter on The United Provinces (modern day Netherlands and Belgium) was heavy going – Town v Country, Orangeist v Patriot.
France – OH's specialism. The centralisation of the monarchy faced great opposition from the nobility and privilege and the parlements. A crisis of credit resulted from the need to finance vast monarchical expenditure. The Revolution did what the monarchy would have liked to do – abolish a vast amount of privilege, especially clerical exemption from taxation. Unfortunately for Louts XVI and Marie Antoinette they lost their heads, literally, in the process.
Only the USA – outside Europe – could point to advancement of democracy. Otherwise power was in the hands of people with wealth, however little. Great Britain was governed jointly by the aristocracy and gentry (Houses of Commons and Lords).
Sweden would fluctuate between a growing centralisation of the monarchy and an increasingly strengthened nobility, leading to the “noble” assassination of Gustav III.
Plenty to think about!
April 25, 2023
Uno de los volúmenes menos atractivos de la serie que trata la historia de Europa y donde contrata con los volúmenes firmados por Parker o Elliot. El texto está escrito casi como si de un libro de texto se tratara y en muchos casos en el peor de los sentidos. Se hace pesado por momentos y se termina más por inercia que por interés.
February 16, 2022
A very readable summary of the state of power politics in eighteenth century Europe once you get past the introductory chapters which employ a peppershot delivery of extremely extensive references with little in the way of context or narrative flow. The accounts of the politics of individual states or groups of states are well worth the effort involved in getting there.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews