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Adam Zamoyski

Phantom Terror: Political Paranoia and the Creation of the Modern State, 1789-1848 Hardcover – February 10, 2015

by Adam Zamoyski (Author)

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For the ruling and propertied classes of the late eighteenth century, the years following the French Revolution were characterized by intense anxiety. Monarchs and their courtiers lived in constant fear of rebellion, convinced that their power-and their heads-were at risk. Driven by paranoia, they chose to fight back against every threat and insurgency, whether real or merely perceived, repressing their populaces through surveillance networks and violent, secretive police action. Europe, and the world, had entered a new era.

In Phantom Terror, award-winning historian Adam Zamoyski argues that the stringent measures designed to prevent unrest had disastrous and far-reaching consequences, inciting the very rebellions they had hoped to quash. The newly established culture of state control halted economic development in Austria and birthed a rebellious youth culture in Russia that would require even harsher methods to suppress. By the end of the era, the first stirrings of terrorist movements had become evident across the continent, making the previously unfounded fears of European monarchs a reality.

Phantom Terror explores this troubled, fascinating period, when politicians and cultural leaders from Edmund Burke to Mary Shelley were forced to choose sides and either support or resist the counterrevolutionary spirit embodied in the newly-omnipotent central states. The turbulent political situation that coalesced during this era would lead directly to the revolutions of 1848 and to the collapse of order in World War I. We still live with the legacy of this era of paranoia, which prefigured not only the modern totalitarian state but also the now preeminent contest between society's haves and have nots.

These tempestuous years of suspicion and suppression were the crux upon which the rest of European history would turn. In this magisterial history, Zamoyski chronicles the moment when desperate monarchs took the world down the path of revolution, terror, and world war.

Print length

592 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Basic Books
Publication date

February 10, 2015
Dimensions

6.25 x 1.75 x 9.5 inches
ISBN-10

0465039898
ISBN-13

978-0465039890
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Scintillating and original."

―Economist

"Zamoyski, who writes with flair and an eye for amusing detail, is particularly good on things Russian."

―Atlantic

"Zamoyski's excellent eye for examples of inane censorship and particularly absurd displays of police incompetence will keep readers turning the pages."

―Journalof Modern History

Zamoyski tells us how tyranny was felt on the ground. What results is something vivid, terrifying, and often quite funny.... A superbly drawn story."

―Times, UK

Splendidly provocative...full of arresting details and sharp asides. Adam Zamoyski writes like a dancer at a court ball: gracious, patrician, masterful, sure-footed."

―Spectator, UK

"This diligently researched, beautifully written, and passionately argued work of scholarship completely convinces. Adam Zamoyski conclusively proves his case against the reactionary European Legitimist monarchy-dictatorships, and he does so with appropriately aristocratic panache. In so doing he leads an entire herd of sacred cows to the abattoir of history. This is revisionist history at its absolute best."

―Andrew Roberts, authorof The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War

"With characteristic flair and elegance, Adam Zamoyski dissects the paranoia, suspicion, and conspiracy theories which followed in the wake of the French Revolution.... Phantom Terror is a timely and original history book, a brilliant guide to the past which will inspire reflections about the present as well."―Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of, Gulag: A History

"A sweeping history of the rise of state control in Europe from 1789 to 1848... Mr. Zamoyski demonstrates an impressive command of political history and international relations as he chronicles the practices of state-sponsored censorship, surveillance and brutality that, in his view, ultimately prompted the revolutions they were intended to prevent."

―WallStreet Journal

About the Author

Adam Zamoyski is the author of numerous books about Polish and European history, and has written for publications including the Times (London), the Times Literary Supplement, and the Guardian. He lives in London and Poland.

Product details

Publisher : Basic Books (February 10, 2015)
Language : English
Hardcover : 592 pages
ISBN-10 : 0465039898
ISBN-13 : 978-0465039890
Item Weight : 1.85 pounds
Dimensions : 6.25 x 1.75 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #267,198 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #627 in French History (Books)
- #640 in European Politics Books
- #1,877 in History & Theory of Politics

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Dean S. Maclaughlin

Historic account with a message for today

Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2015

Verified Purchase

Wonderful account of the period between 1815 and 1848, when the absolute monarchies (Austria and Russia) were sure that all political discontent emanated from a cabal in Paris. Metternich and those who followed him were continually obsessed about plots that just didn't exist. All would be funny except that both nations attempted to seal themselves off from all outside influences which contributed to their backwardness, significantly in the case of Russia. Largely unspoken but implied is the message for contemporary security mania.

12 people found this helpful

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Superb history

Reviewed in the United States on July 27, 2016

Verified Purchase

The title of Adam Zamoyski's "Phantom Terror" derives from a comment to Louis Philippe about "the phantom of the Terror and scaffolds which clouded the natural wisdom" of the post Revolution European monarchy, and state elites, causing "his precipitate flight" from France in February 1848.

For thirty five years after the fall of Napoleon and before that from the French Revolution, European capitals were roiled by the fear of les Jacobins and the perceived threat of the rabble. Zamoyski's book is a detailed, deeply researched examination, country by country, of this political phenomenon imposing the politics of the police state. Palmerston, in snubbing Metternich, accused his "politics of oppression, which tolerates no resistance, is a fatal one and leads as surely to an explosion as a hermetically sealed cauldron which has no safety valve." Thus, the revolution of 1848 and its aftermath.

This is as much a history of rebellious nineteenth century political thought as the history of its events. Overly long in parts, it is a unique contribution to the seeds of historical change, upheaval and revolution in the second half of the nineteenth century.

3 people found this helpful

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Claude Roessiger

The author is a good historian, solid and true

Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2015

Zamoyski doesn't go heavy on it, but the parallel between the police states and the authoritarianism that followed in the wake of the French Revolution most certainly resembles what we are living post 9/11. The author is a good historian, solid and true, writing well. The lessons will prove salutary to anyone with an interest in the aftermath of the events of 1789 in France, or who cares whither we go now, trailing the ill begotten legacy of our panicked overreaction to 9/11.

11 people found this helpful

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The Peripatetic Reader

A Lesson for These Times

Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2015

History books are delicate creatures. Reading a history in a stodgy, hyper-academic style can be a laborious, painful, experience. On the other hand, a history written in crisp, lively prose literally brings long-past events to life. Phantom Terror, triumphantly, is the latter type.

The setting for this book is Europe following the French Revolution and describes the reaction (or, over-reaction) of European governments to this momentous event. Zamoyski's thesis is that the Modern Security State was born as the response to the French Revolution. Not only is this a great read, but it is historiography in the highest order. While he downplays any conscious attempt to draw an analogy between the two time period and leaves any conclusion to the reader, the similarities are inescapable.

The saga begins with the conclusion of the French Revolution and ends with the revolts of 1848. Those revolts were very much the response to the oppressive government intrusion described in this book into the private lives of the general population, beginning in Milan, jumping to Paris, then, Berlin, then spreading everywhere in Europe.

The French Revolution rattled the European establishment to its core. The concern of the Ruling Class was, "If it can happen there, will it happen here?" Given this concern those governments could have instituted political or social reforms to prevent a similar uprising. Instead, these governments (over-) reacted out of fear and irrationality, and tightened its grip on the general populations. These measures were counterproductive. Zamoyski alludes to -- but describes more fully in his other works -- the popular response to these institutional clamp-downs, namely, the revolts of 1848 and others.

Following the French Revolution, the European powers transformed existing social institutions into instruments of political and social control. "Law and Order," maintained by a dedicated police force; treason, high or otherwise; the central state; State surveillance; central State control. These are all concepts created for the first time, as a reaction against the FR, and they are the necessary precursors to the modern Surveillance state.

Zamoyski maintains that the book is not an attempt to draw a direct similarity of past events to the present. This statement is tongue-in-cheek, for it does not take very much imagination to see the similarities. They are inescapable. A pattern emerges from the events of this book, and not surprisingly this pattern can be discerned in the current response of the Western nations to world terrorism:

The first reaction is to find and demonize a scapegoat or person(s) responsible. This usually included a bevy of secret societies and included the Jacobins, Carbonists, Illuminati or the Freemasons. The language the ruling elites used against these groups as "evil" sound suspiciously similar to how the Western powers treat contemporary terrorist groups. Then, as now, ascribing acts of rebellion to perpetrators belonging to radical groups, sects, or cabals, usually indicated a subterfuge to coverup official incompetence or even involvement.

The second reaction was to develop the idea of a central government. This was a big change because prior to the FR the concept of nationhood was nebulous and in its infancy. The very concept of "government" changed. Prior to the FR, the central government was weak to nonexistent. Now, the notion of a central government was created, and social criticism was morphed to (high) treason against the country.

Third, the new nations began using the legal process to further political ends. Not a new phenomenon, but this took a new form of suspending habeas corpus in England, establishing military tribunals to try captured terrorists, or the introduction of new laws such as high treason and sedition laws.

Fourth, the police morphed into an overt instrument of social and political control. Police departments had existed a mere few centuries in England, France and Germany and intended to regulate social activities. They were now employed for the first time as political arms of the central government.

Fifth, states reacted with concerted acts of physical violence in the form of war. Not that war is a new thing, its always been around. However, the justification for war-making then, as now, is that what is needed is a "new" type of war into fight a "new" kind of enemy. When was the last time we heard that?

Sixth, the Continental nation-states created national security apparatuses and networks.

Seventh, there is an injection of Christian, spiritual or religious values into the political structures, giving the nations a "holy" or "divine" purpose to engage in combat.

Eighth, ultra-nationalistic groups or associations were created based on those religious-political national values. Sometimes those groups were difficult to control, such as those Germanic ultra-nationalistic student groups such as the Burschenschaften and Altdeutsch Tracht who were so violently put down in Germany in 1819.

Does any of this sound familiar?

These reactions were not only a response to the French Revolution, but reactions to the Napoleonic Wars, and oddly enough, the social upheavals created by the peacetime that followed.

If there is any lesson to be drawn from Zamoyski's account, it is how counter-productive reactionary measures actually are. For instance, when our Burschenschaften and Altdeutsch Tracht were so violently put down, one diplomat at the time remarked that the reprisals only produced new converts, which led the established powers to institute more repressive measures, which only agitated the populace more, ... and on and on it goes. The oppressive measures of this new surveillance state produced little economic or political benefit; rather, Zamoyski notes that they set the stage for the first World War, nearly completely destroying European civilization.

The name who figures throughout this tale is the ubiquitous, nefarious, and totally paranoid, Metternich. The Dick Cheney of his day, he is forever looking to find conspiracies everywhere, no matter what the cost, even if none existed, and if none existed he was not above inventing conspiracies of his own.

All in all, this is a very illuminating read, and is highly recommended.

37 people found this helpful

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Ian Wellinghurst

By far one of the best histories I have read in a while

Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2016

By far one of the best histories I have read in a while. Zamoyski ties together the after effects of the French Revolution and shows their effect on European policy and international relations for the following decades. A must read for historians.

2 people found this helpful

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there is a plethora of information for those mastering this era but not for general readers like this reviewer

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2015

While on an important topic, the book is for the scholars and experts in the field. The main premise is clear from the backcover - the 1890s' revolution in Paris caused aristocrats and rulers all across Europe to obsess over threats against their own influence. Oftentimes, they were jumping at the shadows. They created institutions and practices that are existent even now.

The subject is fascinating prima facie but the details are absolutely overbearing. As the author goes from one state to the other and one decade to the next, the list of names change along with some variations in their individual storylines but there is almost nothing materially new to the basic themes once outlined in the early pages.

In this work that must have been a result of years of research, there is a plethora of information for those mastering this era but not for general readers like this reviewer.

7 people found this helpful

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Peter

Too much useless information. Hard to read

Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2015

Interesting but very technical and wordy. Too much useless information. Hard to read.

One person found this helpful

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