The Long Nineteenth Century: A History of Europe from 1789 to 1918

by Charles Downer Hazen

To all thoughtful people World War I has brought to intention the importance of a knowledge of 19th Century European history. For without such knowledge no one can understand, or begin to understand, the significance of the forces that have made it, the vastness of the issues involved, the nature of what is indisputably one of the gravest crises in the history of mankind. No citizen of a free country who takes his citizenship seriously, who considers himself responsible, to the full extent of his personal influence, for the character and conduct of his government, can, without the crudest self-stultification, admit that he knows nothing and cares nothing about the history of Europe. The Old Regime in Europe The Old Regime in France Beginnings of the Revolution The Making of the Constitution The Legislative Assembly The Convention The Directory The Consulate The Early Years of the Empire The Empire at Its Height The Decline and Fall of Napoleon The Congresses France Under the Restoration Revolutions Beyond France The Reign of Louis Philippe Central Europe in Revolt The Second French Republic and the Founding of the Second Empire The Making of the Kingdom of Italy The Unification of Germany The Second Empire and the Franco-Prussian War The German Empire France Under the Third Republic The Kingdom of Italy Since 1870 Austria-Hungary Since 1848 England From 1815 to 1868 England Since 1868 The British Empire The Partition of Africa Spain and Portugal Holland and Belgium Since 1830 Switzerland The Scandinavian States The Disruption of the Ottoman Empire and the Rise of the Balkan States Russia to the War With Japan The Far East Russia Since the 1905 War With Japan The Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913 The European War Making the Peace

Genres: History, Nonfiction

374 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 2, 2019

Reviews

[Necot · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book, written by the american historian Charles Downer Hazen, is a detailed account of the history of Europe from the French revolution to the end of the first world war. The authors puts particular focus on the decription of the struggle of libertarian and democratic ideals to emerge and prevail among the autocratic and despotic regimes distinctive of the time.

The first third of the book is mostly concerned with France and covers the events from the french revolution to the fall of the Napoleonic empire.

The rest of the book deals with Europe after the congress of Vienna. It describes the revolutionary movements and social changes that have characterizes Europe at that time.
The account comprises all region of Europe: from Portugal to the Balkans but most of the attention is given to the central powers, Russia and England. Some chapters deal also with extra-European nations, such as China, Japan, the remnants of the Ottoman empire, Africa and the states of the British empire. Many details are given and sometimes the amount of information becomes a bit overwhelming.

The last fifth or the book or so is finally concerned with the Great War and the establishment of peace.

Overall the book is very well written and the style is very clear and enjoyable, notwithstanding the fact that the book has been written more than one hundread years ago.
The only problem with the electronic version of the book is the presence of several scanning errors, which, albeit do not hamper excessively the reading, are quite annoying.

As a final note, as it is almost impossible to detach historical accounts from the author's political views and from the the social customs of the time, it is surprising how the point of view of an author born more thatn 150 years ago can be very refreshing.

[Donna Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contemporary History of 19th Century Europe

This work was written in 1919 by Charles Hazen, an American historian from Vermont.

He reviews European history from 1789 to 1919, the "Long Nineteenth Century." An interesting interpretation of the time period that contained three centuries, but the argument is that all of the events, from the French Revolution to Waterloo to the rise of Prussia, the decline of France and the rise of entangled alliances that ended in World War I.

His interpretations of the results, especially of WWI are both fascinating and ironically tragic. His hopes about a vanquished Germany would be dashed by the results of a worldwide economic depression that led to Fascism, Nazism and a reckless charge for world
domination in the 1930s.

The seeds of the conflagarations of WWI and WWII were planted all over Europe in the Nineteenth Century.

It is a long work, but he provides the history of every European countries. I highly recommend it.