First published in 1994 by
FRANK CASS & CO. LTD.
Published 2013 by Routledge
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Copyright 1994 A. Tchoubarian
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Tchoubarian, Alexander
The European Idea in History in the
Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: View
from Moscow
I. Title
940.28
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tchoubarian, Alexander.
The European idea in history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries : a view from Moscow / Alexander Tchoubarian.
p. cm.
1. EuropeHistory17891900. 2. EuropeHistory20th century. 3. EuropeRelationsRussia. 4. RussiaRelationsEurope.
I. Title.
D359.T36 1994
940.28dc20
92-41954
CIP
ISBN 13: 978-0-714-64503-2 (hbk)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Typeset by Vitaset, Paddock Wood, Kent
WHAT IS EUROPE IDEA, SPIRIT, REALITY?
The problem of how the notion of Europe should be defined, its geographical boundaries and its political and cultural-historical meaning, has been an object of heated debate and lively discussion for many decades. Currently we have what may be described as a mythology of Europe, a European way of thinking, a European tradition and a European syndrome. The aim of this book is to present a view of the European idea, its sources and evolution, as seen from Moscow and to determine, probably for the first time in Russian historiography, the way a Russian historiographer sees the problem of European unity.
Should we define Europe by adopting the notion of European civilization, or is it a broader or more formal phenomenon? Is the term civilization to be identified with culture, or should civilization include many other factors and phenomena?
Man, his material life and spiritual principles, his passions and everyday reality form the nucleus of civilization (including European civilization). However, apart from the type of culture, the notion of civilization presupposes a certain stage in industrial development. In this sense European civilization has its own standards and special features and has developed according to its own logic.
The concept of Europe and Europeans, of their mentality and appearance has been formed over a long period, so that gradually, and especially in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the conclusion was drawn that the notion of Europeans presupposes not only people residing in a certain geographical region but also a certain way of thinking, mentality, lifestyle and type of culture. One may object that there are elements of something mystical and irrational in such an approach a European mythology. That may well be so. However, at the same time, Europe and Europeans are an obvious reality, a specific geographical space, comprising scores of states; Europe is a conglomeration of various social and political systems, as well as dozens of nationalities and ethnic groups; it has its own historical traditions, cultural heritage and complex economic contacts.
If we take this approach, the European idea will be seen as a complicated and conditional notion; that is why we have a wide range of definitions of the European idea, from very broad, including almost all aspects of the European reality and its residents, to purely specific projects of Europes unification. In its broadest sense the European idea or the idea of Europe means the attitude to Europe as a certain community, as well as its analysis from the viewpoint of internal unity and as something different from other parts of the world.
A number of studies on the history of the European idea associate it exclusively with the history of various projects of unification either of Europe as a whole or some of its parts. Many attempts have been made to take a broader approach to this problem. There is a desire to see in the European idea various aspects of the European community, including mutual economic contacts, the common cultural-historical heritage and factors of political development on the international scene. Such an approach also naturally presupposes an analysis of a great number of versions of the unification of Europe, as well as specific plans for setting up various pan-European bodies and alliances.
The history of the European idea is the history of the formation of European theories and views, but it is also a history of attempts at practical realization of those theories. This interpretation of the European idea inevitably involves various aspects of the specific European history in the sphere of research. On the one hand, this history serves as a permanent background of studies into all-European theories and reality and, on the other, makes it possible for us to analyse the struggle of various classes and political forces on the issues of unity and variety of European development.
The European idea is neither an eternal and invariable notion nor an abstract logical or psychological category. Ideas of European identity, and ways to realize it, changed at various stages of world and European history.
The purpose of this present study is to analyse the history of the European idea in so far as it concerns issues of war and peace. In doing this, it cannot help but touch on general aspects of interpretation and assessment of the European idea. Nevertheless, many important elements of this idea, relating to historico-cultural processes or economic factors, for instance, are not dealt with here. The main stress is on the issues of war and peace, which reflect our belief that the European idea has always included, as an important component, the notion of European responsibility for the continents destiny and for the preservation of peace in Europe.
Europeanism as a trend of political thought and as an objective reality was multifaceted and heterogeneous, remaining a field of permanent and sharp struggle of conservative, bourgeois-liberal and revolutionary-democratic ideas and views.
Numerous plans for permanent peace, put forward by European thinkers in past centuries, which reflected clashing humanistic and reactionary views, are evidence of this. Of equal importance were those international systems that emerged in Europe in the seventeenthtwentieth centuries, the so-called European equilibrium as a pan-European institution and phenomenon.
RUSSIA AND EUROPE
To what extent Russia belongs to Europe (in geographical, political, cultural and historical aspects) is a problem that has for many decades served as a subject of controversy in Russian society and provoked numerous discussions in Europe.
Special importance is attached to the way European states have developed in different ways and at different times, on the one hand, and, on the other, how this development has enriched European civilization as a whole.
The indisputable fact that Russia belongs to Europe, but at the same time not only to Europe, underlies numerous discussions. In this case it is not even so important that vast areas of Russia are situated in Asia. By virtue of its civilization, social structure, political organization and spiritual values Russia represents a special, unique community. It is an original alloy of two great civilizations, Europe and Asia, an inimitable type of culture, which is a kind of synthesis of Western and Eastern values. In turning to the specific history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, we shall again discuss the so-called Eurasian idea whose advocates put forward the idea of Russia as a specific Eurasian civilization and community.
