Southern Europe in the Age of Revolutions
Published on 17. June 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
704 pages
978-0-691-24618-5 (ISBN)
Description
An examination of revolutions in the Iberian and Italian peninsulas, Sicily and Greece in the 1820s that reveals a popular constitutional culture in the South
After the turbulent years of the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna's attempt to guarantee peace and stability across Europe, a new revolutionary movement emerged in the southern peripheries of the continent. In this groundbreaking study, Maurizio Isabella examines the historical moment in the 1820s when a series of simultaneous uprisings took the quest for constitutional government to Portugal, Spain, the Italian peninsula, Sicily and Greece. Isabella places these events in a broader global revolutionary context and, decentering conventional narratives of the origins of political modernity, reveals the existence of an original popular constitutional culture in southern Europe.
Isabella looks at the role played by secret societies, elections, petitions, protests and the experience of war as well as the circulation of information and individuals across seas and borders in politicising new sectors of society. By studying the mobilisation of the army, the clergy, artisans, rural communities and urban populations in favour of or against the revolutions, he shows that the uprisings in the South-although their ultimate fate was determined by the intervention of more powerful foreign countries-enjoyed considerable popular support in ideologically divided societies and led to the introduction of constitutions. Isabella argues that these movements informed the political life of Portugal and Spain for many decades and helped to forge a long-lasting revolutionary tradition in the Italian peninsula. The liberalism that emerged as a popular political force across southern Europe, he contends, was distinct from French and British varieties.
After the turbulent years of the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna's attempt to guarantee peace and stability across Europe, a new revolutionary movement emerged in the southern peripheries of the continent. In this groundbreaking study, Maurizio Isabella examines the historical moment in the 1820s when a series of simultaneous uprisings took the quest for constitutional government to Portugal, Spain, the Italian peninsula, Sicily and Greece. Isabella places these events in a broader global revolutionary context and, decentering conventional narratives of the origins of political modernity, reveals the existence of an original popular constitutional culture in southern Europe.
Isabella looks at the role played by secret societies, elections, petitions, protests and the experience of war as well as the circulation of information and individuals across seas and borders in politicising new sectors of society. By studying the mobilisation of the army, the clergy, artisans, rural communities and urban populations in favour of or against the revolutions, he shows that the uprisings in the South-although their ultimate fate was determined by the intervention of more powerful foreign countries-enjoyed considerable popular support in ideologically divided societies and led to the introduction of constitutions. Isabella argues that these movements informed the political life of Portugal and Spain for many decades and helped to forge a long-lasting revolutionary tradition in the Italian peninsula. The liberalism that emerged as a popular political force across southern Europe, he contends, was distinct from French and British varieties.
Reviews / Votes
"Winner of the National Risorgimento Prize, Institute of the Risorgimento" "Winner of the Fondazione Roma Sapienza Book Prize" "Longlisted for the Runciman Award, Anglo-Hellenic League" "Shortlisted for the Laura Shannon Prize, Nanovic Institute for European Studies" "Winner of the Giuseppe Galasso History Prize, Neapolitan History Society" "[A] transformational account."---Abigail Green, London Review of Books "Isabella's book resists sub-disciplinary pigeonholing. At a push, it might be described as a peculiarly richly-textured combination of social, political, intellectual, institutional and cultural history. It adds up to a genuinely new history of revolutionary cultures in post-Napoleonic Europe, and it is, in a word, brilliant."---Alex Middleton, The Critic "[A] pathbreaking book."---Andrew Moravcsik, Foreign Affairs "[A] very considerable achievement."---Roger Price, Intelligence and National Security "An impressive book. . . . Exemplary of how revolutions and revolutionary culture should be studied. . . .[The] book will no doubt become a standard work for future research on the age of (counter)revolution."---Matthijs Lok, Austrian History Yearbook "An ambitious, highly analytical study of revolutionary movements in Southern Europe during the early 19th century." * Choice Reviews * "With magisterial fairness, Isabella assesses the ultimate failure and legacy of these revolutions, showing how they were a vital checkpoint on the road to defining representative government and our democratic practices."---Ambrogio A. Caiani, Shepherd.com "[Isabella] deserves praise and recognition for a new standard work in Southern European historiography. Highly readable, well composed and repeatedly describing relatively unknown local case studies, the study proves to be a treasure trove for anyone who wishes to work on the age of revolutions in the Southern European-Mediterranean region in the future. . . .Thanks to Maurizio Isabella's seminal work on the 1820s revolutions, Southern Europe is definitely back on the mental map of 19th-century historians."---Jens Spaeth, H-Soz-Kult "With an elegant narrative, Isabella presents a brilliant and comprehensive lesson in global history, which, through extensive research, combines general frameworks, detailed closeups and biographical profiles and embraces and compares the various contexts that intersect among them. . . .An outstanding fresco of nineteenth-century Mediterranean Europe through the lens of the 1820s revolutions - a transformative political period."---Elena Bacchin, Modern Italy "Southern Europe in the Age of Revolutions makes an important contribution to scholarly understandings of the Age of Revolutions"---Evan Rothera, World History EncyclopediaMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
26 b/w illus. 1 map.
Dimensions
Height: 203 mm
Width: 134 mm
Thickness: 43 mm
Weight
732 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-24618-5 (9780691246185)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Maurizio Isabella
Southern Europe in the Age of Revolutions
E-Book
06/2023
1st Edition
Princeton University Press
€27.49
Available for download
Person
Maurizio Isabella is professor of modern history at Queen Mary University of London. He is the author of Risorgimento in Exile and the coauthor of Mediterranean Diasporas: Politics and Ideas in the Long Nineteenth Century.