The End of the Old Regime in Europe 1768-76: The First Crisis

The End of the Old Regime in Europe #1

by Franco Venturi, R. Burr Litchfield (Translator)

Franco Venturi, premier European interpreter of the Enlightenment, is still completing his acclaimed multivolume work Settecento Riformatore, a grand synthesis of Western history before the French Revolution as seen through the perceptive eyes of Italian observers. R. Burr Litchfield now makes available in English translation the third volume of Settecento Riformatore and first part of The End of the Old Regime in Europe. Here the reader will discover the lively world of Italian journalists, polemicists, chroniclers, and commentators, who followed with intelligence and growing awareness the great developments of their age, from the Greek uprising of 1770, the Pugachev revolt in Russia and unrest of peasants in Bohemia, through the first partition of Poland, the reactions of Struensee in Denmark and Gustavus III in Sweden, constitutional troubles in Geneva, the crisis of reform in France with the dismissal of Turgot, and events in England and America at the outbreak of the American Revolution. Thus began the outer circle of revolutions that after another two decades would find their epicenter in Paris in 1789.

Genres: History

512 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[YZK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Venturi's book is fascinating both in scope and argument. By focusing on the Italian reactions to different crises on the fringes on Europe (revolts in Montenegro, Greece and Egypt against the Ottomans; Pugacev rebellion in Russia, problems in Bohemia, the partition of Poland, conflicts in Denmark, Sweden and Geneva), he demonstrates how concepts such as liberty, despotism, reform and toleration were discussed in Italy and beyond. He doesn't limit the discussion to the Italian newspapers but occasionally involves opinions from France and England, constantly referring to the positions taken by the Enlighteners. These crises allowed intellectuals in places as far as the American colonies to formulate their stance on the key concepts of the Enlightenment. This was the foundation of the revolutions to come in the decades to come.

The book also shows how far the discussions of liberty and despotism dominated international affairs. When Russian agents infiltrate the Mediterranean it is in the name of the liberty of peoples: in Corsica, in Montenegro, in Greece. When they get support from some Italian intellectuals it is due to Catherine II's pronounced support for reform in her own country. Even the Ottomans declare war against the Russian Empire, claiming to protect the "liberty" of Poland against Russian meddling.

The last three chapters go back to Italy, France and the British world to demonstrate connections that were established in previous chapters with the crises in these lands so the focus doesn't remain on the "peripheries." All in all, with its scope and arguments, this book is a must read for an understanding of the "age of revolutions."