In the Beginning: The Advent of the Modern Age Europe in the 1840's

by Jerome Blum

"The most amazing epoch the world has yet seen": So Jerome Blum characterizes the 1840s, the decade when the modern era began. It was the fruit of the creative endeavors of a unique generation of geniuses then reaching maturity. In 1840, Dickens was 28, Marx 22, Engels 20, Bismarck 25, Turgenev 22, Dostoyevsky 29, Darwin 31, Helmholtz 19, Thackeray 29, Courbet 21 & Cavour 30. Filled with youthful self-confidence, this generation sought change in every sphere of life. Revolution occurred throughout society--in communications & transportation via the telegraph, railways, steamships, photography, global mail; in social relations with the dawning of social consciousness among the upper classes & the emergence of radical social movements; in science with the unprecedented discoveries of the physical world; in the arts with the new Realism. Blum focuses on the five dominant European powers, Great Britain, France, Austria, Germany & Russia. Each in its own way underwent immense political change as autocratic absolutism began to give way & early steps were taken toward the modern welfare state. Besides its intellectual rigor, what makes In the Beginning engrossing is his skill in portraying key individuals responsible for the changes & those who opposed them--colorful figures like Michael Faraday, Auguste Comte, Robert Peel, Tsar Nicholas I, Giuseppe Mazzini, Friedrich List, Lord Ashley, George Hudson, Etienne Cabet, Pierre Proudhon, Rowland Hill, Vissarion Belinsky etc. In the Beginning is a triumph of perceptive scholarship by a leading historian.
Introduction
Revolution in communications
Reformers & radicals
Romanticism, nationalism, realism
World of learning
Great Britain: a new era
France comes full circle
Austria: empire of silence & stagnation
Germany on the threshold of greatness
Russia: autocracy % intelligentsia
Epilogue
Notes
List of Works Cited
Index

Genres: History, European History

429 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1994

About the author

Jerome Blum (1913-1993) was an american economic historian specialising in the history of agriculture. Blum served in the field artillery of the US army during WWII leaving the service with the rank of Captain receiving his PhD in 1947 from Johns Hopkins University. Taught history at Princeton University from 1947 until his retirement as Professor Emeritus.

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

It might be fun and it certainly would be instructive to commission a series of history books, each covering a different decade and each required to demonstrate their decade the most significant in history. That is what Blum's In the Beginning does for the 1840s.

One can forgive the hype as having some heuristic value as, indeed, the hypothetical commission of a series of such books would, for this is actually a fine history. Blum knows his material well enough to generalize and the changes he details were important ones.

Inarguably, 1848 was a milestone of European history. Although most of the bourgeois "revolutions" throughout much of Europe ultimately failed in their ostensible aims in the face of reaction, such eruptions foreshadowed changing power relations and the peasant emancipations which did occur were certainly of enduring importance.

Most interesting to me in this book were Blum's descriptions of the technological developments of the decade such as telegraphy, photography and steam railroads.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly excellent social history of Western and Central Europe in the early 19th century. Introduces the concept that new technologies in communications, and agriculture helped foster and expand the social milieu of the middle class, proletariate, peasants and even the aristocracy to the point where absolute monarchy would no longer be acceptable. The rise of the Romantic Movement along with its corresponding nationalism and the resulting backlash of Realism and their influence upon the revolutions of the 1840's is also discussed. Extensive examination of the social forces at play in the 19th Century in Great Britain, France, Austria, Germany and Russia illustrate key concepts in influencing revolution, or avoiding it.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blum talks about different areas of change such as the growth of the railroad and the revolution in communications before devoting the second half to an analysis of different countries and the changes they faced--Great Britain, France, Austria, Germany and Russia. It was an interesting look at the changes that came and how they affected different areas differently.