Europe – united and divided

National exceptionalism or European unity? In the 19th and 20th centuries interest in various ethnic groups grew, as well as in a common European identity.

Historian of ideas, Mats Andrén, has written a book about the concept of Europe that originated in the early 1800s.

“Europe” as a concept naturally existed long before.

– But anyone looking through older historical records will find few mentions of Europe. When you do find them, it mostly concerns the Christian world and the threat from Islam, not political or cultural unity. European self-awareness started taking shape during the early modern age and the Enlightenment, says Mats Andrén, Professor of History of Ideas and author of the book, Thinking Europe: A History of the European Idea since 1800.

But it was the upheaval in the wake of the French Revolution in 1789 that kickstarted the idea of a united Europe. The German poet Friedrich Schiller pointed to the importance of peace, as all the wars deflected energy from other meaningful matters, and in the spirit of Immanuel Kant, the philosopher Karl Kraus proposed a European federation of free republics.

One person who more forcibly fought for European unity was Napoleon: the only thing that was required to gather the European population under one nation was a strong unifying force, which was France, he argued.

– The Vienna Congress in 1814–1815 signified Napoleon’s final defeat, but not the end of the concept of Europe. On the contrary, it was now time to engender ever-lasting peace and solidarity between the nations of Europe On that theme, Beethoven wrote a cantata, Der glorreiche Augenblick, which premièred at the opening of the congress itself.

However, some countries were considered more European than others. France was the leading European nation, according to some, while others argued that the very heart of Europe was to be found in Germany. A more unusual perspective was put forward by the Sicilian historian Michele Amari who felt that the European civilisation had originated in Sicily, where Muslims, long before the French revolution, had introduced ideas such as freedom, solidarity and equality.

– Being European came to be about other things than politics and forms of government, Mats Andrén explains. The Europeans started to see themselves as culturally superior to other peoples, simply more civilised. This is a word that started being used during the second half of the 18th century and which became so popular that a daughter of a member of the French National Assembly was given the name, Civilisation. But which countries should be part of the European civilisation? That was also something that was debated, what about Russia or Turkey, for example?

The 19th century also brought about a nationalist awakening with a new interest in ethnic identity, language and traditions, which were now being recorded, Mats Andrén points out.

– You might think that the focus on ethnic identity would be in opposition to the European idea. But this was not the case, on the contrary, many argued that the different cultures enriched Europe.

The notion of a European civilisation suffered a severe setback during the First World War with its trenches, poison gas, aerial bombardments and the death of 17 million people. The Austrian-Hungarian dual monarchy dissolved, there was a revolution in Russia, and Germany suffered from hyperinflation. At the same time, Yugoslavia was formed, and the Baltic states, as well as Poland, became independent, says Mats Andrén.

– The Europe of old was broken up, but new ideas about a European identity were born. One example is the philosopher José Ortega y Gasset who argued that Spaniards, Germans and Englishmen were all still 80% European.

The even more horrific Second World War, where European ideas led to concentration camps and atomic bombs, the subsequent division of Europe and the fight for independence in the colonies, made it even more difficult to argue in favour of Europe’s cultural or moral superiority. Europe was in crisis, but the Treaty of Rome in 1957 created new opportunities for economic cooperation between the countries in the west.

Inclusion and exclusion, supranationalism and the role of the regions, these are issues that are still being debated in relation the European Union. Regardless of ideology, conservatives, liberals, socialists and anarchists all have their reasons for being for or against cooperation. The interplay between unity and diversity is typical of Europe, concluded the Spanish diplomat Salvador de Madariaga.

– Up until the First World War people thought that Europe was moving towards fewer and fewer states where the smaller nations would merge with the larger ones, says Mats Andrén. Instead, from 1914 to 2014, there has been an opposite trend; on average, Europe has gained a new state every five years. The political and cultural differences, both between and within countries, are considera- ble, and several regions highlight their independence from the central power in a variety of ways. This trend is noticeable not least within the European Union, where a third of member states were not independent when the union was founded in 1957. Despite their many differences, there is also great unity, which is strengthened in times of major crises. Whether this consensus will be enough, such as the concerning support for Ukraine, remains to be seen, but there is a lot to indicate that European integration continues to develop.

The book now published by Mats Andrén was a project he started in 2013. – Over the past two decades, much material from the 19th and first half of the 20th century that was previously unknown to me has been digitalized and made available to the public. This means that I have been able to present many more perspectives on Europe than solely a British, French or German one, which is normally the case. Writers, philosophers, researchers and other contributors from small or medium-sized countries in central, southern or northern Europe are given a voice, and can thus highlight the many interesting differences or similarities in culture and mindset around Europe.■

The book Thinking Europe: A History of the European Idea since 1800 is centred around three themes: unification and borders, crisis and decline, as well as integration and identity. The book was written by Mats Andrén, Professor of History of Ideas, and published by Berghahn Books. It is available through open access by clicking the link below: https://doi.org/10.3167/978180 0735699.