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Summary Requested Readings for the Seminars Turning Points in Modern European History
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Readings, required for the seminars of Turning Points 2020.
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Readings Turning Points in Modern European HistoryWeek 1: Beginnings, Periodisation and Legacies
History in Practice; Periodisation – Ludmilla Jordanova
Historians, but also politicians, writers, institutions to a large extent, participate in shaping the past
by naming certain periods and the assumptions behind these and the choice for the names is not just
intellectual but depends also on the historians imagination.
Periods are closely related to styles (jewellery, housing) and styles of thinking about the world; all
shape the historical imagination and historians are personally influenced by several factors to tell
their history different historical stories can thus be told.
Several criteria (forms of periodisation) according to which the past can be divided into periods:
1. Rulers and dynasties are among the most obvious and commonly used farms of division,
reflecting long traditions of scholarship that place leadership in government as a key
phenomenon and accord primacy to the political order a ruler, a family of rulers or
politicians can embody a period; it is as if the one who heads the state holds together
disparate historical! phenomena in an extension of that role: Napoleonic (France), Mao’s
China, Stalin’s Russia, Winston Churchill
*dominance of a highly powerful individual/family over the whole society (commonly seen
in authoritarian regimes and absolutism/totalitarianism (Louis XIV))
*events during such period are linked and associated with the rulers/dynasties of that time
2. Key events, such as assassinations, battles, revolutions, and wars BUT one of the most
significant examples of this approach is the birth of Christ as this historical event changed the
world and started the year 0 in humanities’ dating system
*example: the fall of the Bastille on 14 July 1789 formed the key event and starting point of
the turning point (period) of the French Revolution using a key event of this kind as a
periodising device may be misleading as there are many phenomena that showed marked
continuity across the revolutionary divide, despite its tumultuous nature (French revolution)
3. Descriptions of a time period which are less emotionally charged, is more subtle but also
rather slippery and contain hidden agendas as there are a lot of definitions of certain terms,
such as modern, and there is no consensus on what the defining characteristics of modernity
are the opposite of the terms, of what they may stand in contrast to, helps to understand
the term; ‘’modern’’ versus ‘’ancient’’ was the most familiar pairing up to the 19 th century as
‘’modern’’ meant innovation, clean, new etc.
*it is extremely difficult to give overall names to periods with any degree of confidence;
hard to pinpoint when the early-modern period started, when medieval times stopped, and
what modernity is exactly as this depends on whose vantage point is privileged, of the power
of symbolic markers, of the country even, and of the weight given to distinct fields of human
activity (Industrialisation important to economists, Enlightenment and French Revolution to
human rights’ activists)
4. Type of government as the type of regime/government (the ancient regime), precisely
because it can have changed so dramatically (Communist Russia, Tsarist Russia), sums up an
era, although these periods are of varying length and some (Communist Party) are better
identifiable than others (democratic West)
5. Cultural style as style terms are powerful metaphors capable of further extension, we may
yet come to a time when we speak of governments as baroque or rococo, and of factories as
neo-classical
Another way of delineating periods, by themes, also warrants careful reflection. Examples include
‘’the age of anxiety’’, ‘’golden age’’ or the ‘’depression (1930s)." The underlying principle is the desire
to lend unity to a period, in this case via a combination of description and metaphor.
,The Fragmented Continent – Matthijs Lok
European pluralism is the idea that Europe’s essence is the lack of (political, economic, religious, and
cultural) unity. There is a general conception amongst many historians of European history as
essentially fragmentary as there is a lasting diversity in the national states and cultures which persist
within European civilisations as a whole; Europe never had a single government or united, fixed
identity. ‘’Pluralism’’ or ‘’diversity’’ is understood as the idea of political, economic, and cultural
fragmentation as a unique and enduring hallmark of European history. European pluralism was
invented in the 18th century!
The 18th century (Enlightenment) formed the starting point of a comprehensive historical narrative of
European pluralism as Europe was newly invented as a historical continent by a new canon of
historians of Europe, such as Voltaire, Hume, and Montesquieu, in which Europe with its many
small republics and monarchies was viewed as a free and modern state in which several powers
counterbalance each other compared to corruption in empires AND Europe was praised for
development in arts and culture due to its free government (and no central government) and cultural
competition, to name a few. Also, lesser known histories of modern Europe were for the first time
published in the 18th century.
The 19th century gave rise to a diverse group of prominent post-revolutionary European historians
who derived their writings to a large extent from their enlightened predecessors in which liberty,
from the French revolution, was seen as a positive development and the monarchy as negative BUT
most importantly that pluralism was the hallmark of European civilisation. John Stuart Mill took
over this view and enhanced feelings of European superiority during the colonisation period. The
most important historian, Leopold van Ranke, had founded the ideal European model of ‘’unity in
diversity’’.
In the 20th century, after the devastating world wars, the histories of Europe were meant as an
inspiration to rebuild the society and for the future regeneration. European pluralism was revived in
an attempt to reconstruct European identity in which European diversity was contrasted with the
totalitarian Nazi empire and Asian despotism Europe’s diversity seen as positive and
developmental.
The author CONCLUDES that the pluralist narrative of European history has a strong, but often
implicit and overlooked, Eurocentric dimension, and should be examined more critically by
historians of Europe.
Introduction to Medieval Europe – Wim Blockmans and Peter Hoppenbrouwers
The European Middle Ages still show a fundamental connection to the present day, with the
expansion and progress in numerous fields in Europe and the still related culture of the Middle Ages.
BUT the Middle Ages also have shown decline, acceleration and urbanization and colonialism were
founded. The foundation, though, of modern Europe lie in the Middle Ages: the spread of
Christianity, the spread of areas having a common language, the formation of territorial states,
urbanization of regions, renewed development of scientific thought, and political structures.
The term ‘’Middle Ages’’ (in the middle of two ages – Antiquity and Renaissance) is invented by
Italian humanists in the 14th century who considered themselves at the threshold of a new era of
intellectual brilliance that would stand out sharply against the darkness of the barbaric previous
times. The Middle Ages was an uninterested and dark age between the almighty Antiquity and
golden age of the Early Modern Age. The connotations of the Middle Ages are thus always negative.
Humanists studied the classical languages and texts in Latin to great extent and the formation of the
term ‘’Middle Ages’’ is connected to this development. The Middle Ages as a generally accepted
period in history has a West-European basis. From the 19th century, people got a renewed interest in
, the Middle Ages, with the building styles and stories. The term ‘’Renaissance’’ literally means rebirth,
the rebirth of refers to the resurgence of ancient ideas and ideals. The term ‘’humanism’’ refers to
a philological procedure consisting of an attempt to unearth of ancient texts by research and
translation AND of philological efforts to assemble versions of those text that resemble the ancient
texts as closely as possible. This is combined with the interest in mankind and the individual (unlike in
the Middle Ages). BUT these terms are always debatable.
The term Middle Ages is embedded in education and generally accepted and that is why, although
very incorrect as there are many positive developments and continuities from the Roman Empire to
the Middle Ages, we still use the term everywhere and do not have a good alternative for it. There
ARE, however, reasons to demarcate the period between 400 and 1600 (Middle Ages) on other than
humanistic groups, namely: (1) the weakening and disappearance of the Roman Empire, (2) relatively
large-scale migration of multi-ethnic barbarian groups, (3) enlargement of agricultural production
and feudalism as the beginning of the population growth, (4) large-scale urbanization, (5) the virtual
disappearance of slavery and eventual the free man at the end of the Late Middle Ages, (6) the
evolution of barbarian kingdoms into monarchies, (7) rationalisation and secularization of the world
view, (8) development of a new spirituality, and (9) changes in communication methods. There is
no radical break between the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period but gradual processes
such as urbanisation. ALSO, there were great differences within Europe in terms of development
(economic, political) and cultural outlook.
After the decline of the Roman Empire, there was considerably more wealth and potential for
development available in southern Europe than in northern Europe due to the economic and cultural
exchanges between Christianity and the rising religion of Islam. Only in the Late Middle Ages, a drive
for expansion caused people to travel within Europe and abroad.
Europe was a backward continent for a long time as Asian Empires, such as China and the Mongols,
but also the Islamic world was far ahead with military, political, technical developments. BUT
between 1000 and 1800 Europe took the role as the world leader with its strong drive for expansion
among other parts of the world which was possible due to technical developments (compass,
firearms). The difference between Europe and other developed areas was that there was NO unitary
authoritative structure in Europe and thus competition only increased the drive for expansion (to
outdo each other). Authoritarian religious and secular rulers, who often did not want expansion,
decreased in power as European towns and businessmen increased their powers and were thus NOT
restricted by a leader.
The Roman civilisation continued to be the ideal for rulers throughout the Middle Ages and beyond
(both in Western Europe and in the still Eastern Roman Empire). The Roman form of government,
law, architecture, science, and literature, (revival of ancient texts in the Renaissance) continued to
exert a compelling force on the imagination and activities of the upper strata of society in the West
for centuries. What most appealed to the imagination of new rulers (up to the 20 th and 21st century)
was imperial authority itself: sovereign power over an immense area with different ethnic groups.
The Roman state structure was stable, integrated, and formed a unit, something Europe did not
know before. Also, Romans build castles, borders, roads and deployed thousands of military
strategists and soldiers there. After the fall of the Empire, no big undertakings were done and unity
amongst cities and areas was gone. In contrast to the Roman Empire, modern Europe has grown
from below, out of many small and individual units, compared from conceiving it from above. In
Europe, land was own by small individuals whereas in Rome, individuals could gain prestige but not
land as this was part of the entire Empire.
The Catholic church was the most important heir to the Roman Empire. Patriarchs and Christians
received great amounts of power during the rule of the Empire and afterwards were the main part of
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