Synopses & Reviews
In a series of revolts starting in 1820, four military officers rode forth on horseback from obscure European towns to bring political freedom and a constitution to Spain, Naples, and Russia; and national independence to the Greeks. The men who launched these exploits from Andalusia to the snowy fields of Ukraine--Colonel Rafael del Riego, General Guglielmo Pepe, General Alexandros Ypsilanti, and Colonel Sergei Muraviev-Apostol--all hoped to overturn the old order. Over the next six years, their revolutions ended in failure. The men who led them became martyrs.
In The Four Horsemen, the late, eminent historian Richard Stites offers a compelling narrative history of these four revolutions. Stites sets the stories side by side, allowing him to compare events and movements and so illuminate such topics as the transfer of ideas and peoples across frontiers, the formation of an international community of revolutionaries, and the appropriation of Christian symbols and language for secular purposes. He shows how expressive behavior and artifacts of all kinds--art, popular festivities, propaganda, and religion--worked their way to various degrees into all the revolutionary movements and regimes. And he documents as well the corruption, abandonment of liberal values, and outright betrayal of the revolution that emerged in Spain and Naples; the clash of ambitions and ideas that wracked the unity of the Decembrists' cause; and civil war that erupted in the midst of the Greek struggle for independence.
Richard Stites was one of the most imaginative and broad-ranging historians working in the United States. This book is his last work, a classic example of his dazzling knowledge and idiosyncratic yet accessible writing style. The culmination of an esteemed career, The Four Horsemen promises to enthrall anyone interested in nineteenth-century Europe and the history of revolutions.
Review
"Based on primary sources from all four countries, this deeply researched narrative blossoms into a true transnational history, illustrating the interconnection of these revolts. ...A tour de force that deftly tells an important story in engrossing detail." --CHOICE
"Published posthumously, Stites's final work is both a career-defining accomplishment and something of a departure. The preeminent European historian broadens his focus from Russia and popular culture to encompass the entire continent and the spread of democracy, revolution, and self-determination." --Publishers Weekly
"The Four Horsemen is a highly original and important study of revolutionary movements in early nineteenth century Europe. With a strong cast of extraordinary characters, it is also a tremendous read." --Tim Blanning, University of Cambridge
"This is a beautiful book, covering a period that is chronically understudied, and doing so with great richness and subtlety, in a way that no one to my knowledge has ever done. Stites was a historian primarily of Russia, and yet his knowledge of developments across Europe was impressive. In his deft handling, a line of continuity running from Spain to Italy to Greece to Russia is exposed with incredible clarity, revealing the close connections between the disparate liberal revolutions of the 1820s, and their broader resonance throughout Europe. Stites wrote like the historian of my mind's eye: learned, wise, kindly, and humane, sensitive to life's great openings as well as to its tragic closures." --Darrin M. McMahon, Florida State University
Synopsis
The 1820s marked a revolutionary moment in European history. Uprisings during this decade marked the last horseback-mounted epics where officers led their men from provincial towns in the hopes of reaching the capital and overturning the old order. Scholarly work has also stressed the great powers and their 1820s revolutions, namely, France, Germany, Italy, and Russia. In this book, Richard Stites aims to widen and refocus the lens of Europe by providing a narrative history of revolutions in Spain, Naples, Greece, and Russia and the relationships among them. Generally these uprisings are studied in individual nation-state contexts, and while this book tells the events in their national contexts, it highlights commonalities and divergences by setting them side by side. On the whole, it gives more weight to cross-national elements in the revolutions and the regimes they created or tried to create. Among the topics that emerge from their comparative study are constitutional liberalism in early nineteenth century Europe; the migratory history of the Spanish constitution of 1812; secret societies; military uprisings; the transfer of ideas and peoples across frontiers; the formation of an international community of revolutionaries; guerrilla warfare; and the appropriation of Christian symbols and language for secular purpose.
Richard Stites was one of the most imaginative and broad-ranging Slavicists/Europeanists working in the United States. This book is his last work, and his colleagues John McNeill and Catherine Evtuhov have prepared the text for submission. A classic example of Stites' dazzling knowledge and idiosyncratic yet accessible writing style, this book promises to appeal to those interested in 19th century Europe and the history of revolutions.
About the Author
Richard Stites was Professor of History and International Affairs, Georgetown University.
Table of Contents
Editors' Preface
Preface
I. Before the Barricades Went Up
II. Rafael Del Riego: The Ride through Andalusia
III. Guglielmo Pepe: Marching into Naples
IV. Alexandros Yspilanti: Across the River Pruth
V. Sergei Muraviev-Apostol: Into the Steppe
VI. The Torn Cloth of Memory
Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Index