A comparative historiography of the French and German revolutions of 1848 : an historical analysis of ideology
Date
1985
Authors
Barker, Richard William
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Abstract
To the majority of German historians of the Nineteenth Century 1848 was a back-drop to unification in 1871. To the French historians, 1848 was but another in the series of revolutions following the major revolution of 1789. To explain why 1848 was viewed differently in France and Germany, one must look not only at the socio-economic structures of the two countries but also at their different ideological superstructures. One must ask how the differing conceptions of nationalism, liberalism, conservatism, and socialism among historians were related to or affected by the historical attributes of the two countries. It is my thesis that, in the Franco-German historiography of 1848, politics has been the dominant and determining element, and that the historiography produced has therefore always been expressive of ideology. Chapter One examines the particular role and presuppositions of the various schools of Franco-German historiography in order to show how historians have been, still are, and perhaps always will be, prone to reproduce the dominant ideology of an existing social order. Chapters Two and Three, on France and Germany respectively, deal with concrete historical examples of historiography: how theoretical presuppositions and political realities manifested themselves in particular historians' explanation of the origins and causes of the 1848 Revolutions. Since this thesis is concerned with the relationship between ideology and history, it will off er an historical account of the manifested themselves in particular historians' explanation of the origins and causes of the 1848 Revolutions . Since this thesis is concerned with the relationship between ideology and history I will point to the underlying presuppositions and antecedants that have resulted in the present lack of concern for the relationship between ideology, politics, and history in Franco-German historiography. It is argued that this lack of concern is present in French historians' search for the perfect synthesis of social variables (as in the Annales tradition). Since perfection denotes completion, this is actually a search for an end-goal. I claim that such an end-goal can only result in historical abstraction from political reality. Recent Western German historiography on 1848 will be viewed from a perspective of its unsuccessful integration of Marxism into the traditional historical community and the political and ideological problems that have resulted.