The Invention of International Order: Remaking Europe after Napoleon

After Napoleon's defeat, an alliance of European empires established the Concert of Europe, which planted the seeds for today's international order. Glenda Sluga's book explores how aristocratic and bourgeois men and women, along with European statesmen, shaped the post-Napoleonic global order, highlighting the role of women in politics and economics.

Format: Hardback
Length: 392 pages
Publication date: 07 December 2021
Publisher: Princeton University Press

After decades of continental conflict, an alliance of European empires captured Paris in 1814, exiling Napoleon Bonaparte and defeating French military expansionism. This event marked the establishment of the Concert of Europe, a new coalition that laid the foundation for today's international order. The Concert of Europe combined the idea of a durable peace with multilateralism, diplomacy, philanthropy, and rights, making Europe its central hub. Glenda Sluga's book explores how the end of the Napoleonic wars saw the emergence of new conceptions of state politics, influenced not only by European statesmen but also by politically ambitious aristocratic and bourgeois men and women who capitalized on a moment of extraordinary historical crossroads.

In this comprehensive book, Sluga challenges the traditional study of international politics and its limitations. She presents multifaceted portraits of key statesmen of the age, including Tsar Alexander, Count Metternich, and Viscount Castlereagh, highlighting how they operated within social networks often presided over by influential women. At the same time, these figures worked to reinforce the notion of politics as a masculine endeavor.

The book also sheds light on the roles of European women and men who embraced the promise of a new kind of politics in the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars. Figures such as Madame de Staël and Countess Dorothea Lieven played pivotal roles in shaping political transformations, while bankers influenced economic developments and their families advocated for Jewish rights.

Monumental in scope, this groundbreaking book chronicles the European women and men who contributed to modern diplomacy and international politics during this period. Their often paradoxical contributions continue to resonate today, highlighting the complex and multifaceted nature of the post-Napoleonic global order.

Weight: 794g
Dimension: 165 x 243 x 36 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780691208213