About this Book

This work tackles a complex but vital period of European history. The book seeks to unravel the different strands of modern European political culture at a crucial but neglected stage of their development. The study approaches the period not through a narrative history, but by analyzing and comparing the major political ideologies it produced including: conservatism; liberalism; reaction; radicalism; socialism; and nationalism, and sets them in their relationship to each other, and within the context of their times. The book opens with an analysis of the congress of Vienna, which created the political world of the Restoration, and each chapter deals with an explanation of political ideologies "in action" during the revolutions of these years.