The Age Of Revolution: Europe 1789-1848

The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789-1848 by British historian Eric Hobsbawm looks at the effects of the French and Industrial Revolutions. He coined the term “Twin Revolution” to emphasize how the ideological changes of the French Revolution (1789-1799) synergized with the technological advancements of the Industrial Revolution (1780 to 1840). Published in 1962, the first part focuses on what contributed to each revolution; the second part adumbrates what the effects were: the victory of liberal, bourgeois society, including imperialism and capitalism. The book remains a popular text for survey courses in history and business. Its themes include the interconnectedness of historical development, human ingenuity, and the political fate of nations.

In the introduction, Hobsbawm looks into the various words that contemporary life owes to developments between 1789 and 1848, including industry, middle class, scientist, engineer, journalism, ideology, and proletariat.

In part one, Hobsbawm looks at the social reactions to the industrial revolution, focusing on Britain (the contemporary UK) and France (formerly “The Kingdom of France”). These societal reactions include the rise of the department store and gossip-focused newspapers in Paris, as well as “land enclosures” in England (a situation where wealthy individuals secured previously public lands for their own profit). Hobsbawm shows that no facet of civilization was left untouched by these two revolutions.



Hobsbawm looks into Western Europe in the decade leading to the French Revolution of 1789. During this period, not all regions of the world had been explored, and maps of Latin America and the world’s oceans were often incorrect or incomplete. There were far fewer people living on the planet—about 30 percent of the number of people living on earth in the 1960s. The vast majority of people spent their entire life in the same region of their birth; travel, except for military campaigns or for the very wealthy, was exceedingly rare.

In England, new factories were popping up all over the country. By the turn of the eighteenth century, Britain had earned the nickname “The Workshop of the World” and was producing fine, inexpensive clothing at an unprecedented rate. England was primed to become the epicenter of the industrial revolution for several reasons: the country, surrounded by water, had developed a strong naval fleet and could deliver goods around the world at minimal cost; the country had reliable water transfer models that could assist with the operation of complex machinery essential for the Industrial Revolution; England had one of the largest populations for work in Europe; due to the nation’s laws, wealthy individuals could seize previously public land to develop their own operations; as a country, due in part to imperialism, England was wealthy and could invest in heavy machinery; the British public believed in a socially mobile society and poorer individuals were willing to work hard in the hope that one day they would become one of the wealthy. Hobsbawm explores this final point in the chapters “The Labouring Poor” and “The Career Open to Talent.”

The origins of modern capitalism are easily seen in this period: private owners could set their own prices for their goods, pay their workers what they wished, and often profited to a gross extreme in comparison to their employees.



Meanwhile, in The Kingdom of France—the most populous state in Europe at the time—social consciousness groups were gaining prominence, and the public at large was questioning the social order where the king lived in fabulous wealth while the majority of people were, most days, lucky to have bread to eat.

The French Revolution began in earnest on July 14, 1789. Great crowds raided the notorious Bastille prison. They freed all the prisoners, and within two years, France had a new constitution that rejected the concept of a monarchy. France continues to celebrate this independence date with Bastille Day, July 14.

At the same time as the French Revolution, there was a social revolt that aimed to improve working conditions for millions of people. In 1838, nearly 75 percent of the workforce was women and children as young as six.



From 1792 to 1815, most states in Europe were in some kind of Europe. In 1815, with the defeat of Napoleon, France depleted much of its wealth, and Europe’s economic and military leader became Britain. The map of Europe was rearranged so that each country would have relatively the same amount of resources and be less likely to go to war with each other.

In the second part of the book, the author looks into artistic and scientific changes from this period. Hobsbawm looks into the rise of nationalism. Inspired by the French example of equality for all humans, the people of several other European countries began to petition for greater civil rights. This included Turkey, Poland, Greece, and several others.

Peoples around Europe reevaluated their relationship to the soil on which they lived. Citizens questioned whether the church should own sectors of land when other businesspeople might be more adept at managing it and bringing forth a profit, i.e., those individuals who could best capitalize on the land.



As a whole, England ended up being the first country to totally industrialize; most other countries continued to rely on traditional agriculture for success. Because of its economic positioning, Britain would end up governing nearly 20 percent of the world by 1900.

As a result of the Twin Revolution, the arts flourished. With a larger, more educated middle-class, the demand for painting, music, and literature vastly increased. Household names such as Dickens, Mozart, and Delacroix appeared. Investments and general interest in science also increased. Karl Marx is a product of the Twin Revolution, and several great mathematicians worked in the immediate aftermath of these two revolutions.

Hobsbawm concludes The Age of Revolution by saying that the Twin Revolution was an era of superlatives: populations have never grown faster; science has never seen more advancements; livelihoods have never been so greatly rewritten.