Writing National Histories: Western Europe Since 1800

by Berger,Stefan; Berger,Stefan

• ISBN13: 9780415164276
• ISBN10: 0415164273
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1999-01-07
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This book examines comparatively how the writing of history by individuals and groups, historians, politicians and journalists has been used to "legitimate" the nation-state agianst socialist, communist and catholic internationalism in the modern era. Covering the whole of Western Europe, the book includes discussion of:* history as legitimation in post-revolutionary France* unity and confederation in the Italian Risorgimento* German historians as critics of Prussian conservatism* right-wing history writing in France between the wars* British historiography from Macauley to Trevelyan* the search for national identity in the reunified Germany.

Author Biography

Patrick Bahners is a journalist with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and is currently completing a Ph.D. Stefan Berger, is Senior Lecturer in German History at the University of Wales, Cardiff Martin Clark is Reader in the Department of Politics, University of Edinburgh Ceri Crossley is Professor of Nineteenth-Century French Studies at the University of Birmingham Mark Donovan is Lecturer in the School of European Studies at the University of Wales, Cardiff Hugo Frey is Associate Lecturer in European Studies and a Ph.D. research student at the University of Surrey Mary Fulbrook is Professor of History at University College London Bertram M. Gordon is the Frederick A. Rice Professor of History at Mills College in Oakland, California Georg Iggers has recently retired as Professor of History at the State University of New York at Buffalo Julian Jackson is Reader in Modern History at University College, Swansea Stuart Jones is Lecturer in History at the University of Manchester Peter Lambert is Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth Carl Levy lectures in European Politics at Goldsmiths College, London Mauro Moretti is a researcher in contemporary history at the Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa Philip Morgan is Head of the Department of European Studies in the School of European Languages and Cultures at the University of Hull Kevin Passmore is Lecturer in History at the University of Wales, Cardiff Hans Schleier, recently retired as Professor of History at the University of Halle Peter Schottler is Directeur de Recherche at the CNRS, Paris Benedikt Stuchtey is Research Fellow at the German Historical Institute in London Martin Thom is a freelance translator and author based in Cambridge Alastair Thompson is Lecturer in Twentieth-Century European History at the University of Durham Roberto Vivarelli is Professor of Contemporary History at the Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa

Table of Contents

Notes on contributors	p. xi
Preface	p. xv
Comparative perspectives	p. 1
Apologias for the nation-state in Western Europe since 1800	p. 3
Nationalism and historiography, 1789-1996: the German example in historical perspective	p. 15
Literature, liberty and life of the nation: British historiography from Macaulay to Trevelyan	p. 30
The age of bourgeois revolution	p. 47
History as a principle of legitimation in France (1820-48)	p. 49
National unification and narrative unity: the case of Ranke's German History	p. 57
Unity and confederation in the Italian Risorgimento: the case of Carlo Cattaneo	p. 69
The age of the masses	p. 83
Taine and the nation-state	p. 85
'Prussians in a good sense': German historians as critics of Prussian conservatism, 1890-1920	p. 97
The search for a 'national' history: Italian historiographical trends following unification	p. 111
Liberal democracy and antifascism (1918-45)	p. 123
Marc Bloch as a critic of historiographical nationalism in the interwar years	p. 125
From antifascist to Volkshistoriker: demos and ethnos in the political thought of Fritz Rorig, 1921-45	p. 137
Reclaiming Italy? Antifascist historians and history in Justice and Liberty	p. 150
Fascist historiography and the nation-state	p. 161
Right-wing historiographical models in France, 1918-45	p. 163
German historiography under National Socialism: dreams of a powerful nation-state and German Volkstum come true	p. 176
Gioacchino Volpe and fascist historiography in Italy	p. 189
The Cold War years	p. 203
Rebuilding France: Gaullist historiography, the rise--fall myth and French identity (1945-58)	p. 205
Dividing the past, defining the present: historians and national identity in the two Germanies	p. 217
A neglected question: Historians and the Italian national state (1945-95)	p. 230
Contemporary trends	p. 237
Historians and the nation in contemporary France	p. 239
Historians and the search for national identity in the reunified Germany	p. 252
Historians and the 'First Republic'	p. 265
Conclusion	p. 279
Historians and the nation-state: some conclusions	p. 281
Index	p. 305
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