The Dawn Of Universal History: Selected Essays From A Witness To The Twentieth Century

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Basic Books, 16.06.2009 - 554 Seiten
In this collection of essays written over a period of almost forty years, Raymond Aron explores the rise of nationalism in Europe through the two world wars and the subsequent disintegration of her empires. With a richness of detail and sweeping breadth of historical examples, he chronicles and analyzes the history of the opposite ideological extremes of Fascism and Marxism and their descent into totalitarianism via secular religiosity. Aron also examines French imperialism through the examples of Algeria and Indochina, as well as America's role as an "imperial republic" during and after World War II. Aron was never orthodox in his ideology; neither his republican political penchants nor his dialectical intellectual orientation ever gained the upper hand over his devotion to empirical reality. The result here is an intellectual history that seems less concerned about where it falls on the political spectrum than about getting it right.

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Inhalt

The Technological Surprise
69
The Dynamic of Total War
91
Democratic and Totalitarian States
163
The Future of Secular Religions
177
From Marxism to Stalinism
203
The Expansion of Stalinism
225
The IslandContinent
245
The United States and the International System
263
What Empires Cost and What Profits They Bring
407
Indochina
419
Algeria and the Republic
453
Endnotes
487
Provenance of the Texts
502
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Seite 252 - In the discussions to which this interest has given rise and in the arrangements by which they may terminate the occasion has been judged proper for asserting, as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers...
Seite 252 - The nation which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest.
Seite 251 - It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world ; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it ; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy.
Seite 251 - I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But in my opinion, it is unnecessary, and would be unwise, to extend them. "Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.
Seite 387 - the only time in the history of the world that we have had any extended periods of peace is when there has been a balance of power. It is when one nation becomes infinitely more powerful in relation to its potential competitor that the danger of war arises. So I believe in a world in which the United States is powerful. I think it would be a safer world and a better world if we have a strong, healthy United States, Europe, Soviet Union, China and Japan, each balancing the other, not playing one against...
Seite 248 - ... days of the war already begun did any state deliberately propose to reconsider its action in the matter. The hand once put to the plough, there was no turning back. As Judge Drayton of South Carolina said from the bench, " A decree is now gone forth not to be recalled, and thus has suddenly risen in the world a new empire, styled the United States of America.
Seite 387 - We must remember the only time in the history of the world that we have had any extended periods of peace is when there has been balance of power. It is when one nation becomes infinitely more powerful in relation to its potential competitor that the danger of war arises.

Autoren-Profil (2009)

One of the most important figures of French sociological commentary, Raymond Aron enjoyed a position of intellectual authority among his country's moderates and conservatives that rivaled Jean Paul Sartre's on the Left. His books include The Opium of the Intellectuals and Clausewitz: Philosopher of War. He died in 1983.

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