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Against war and empire: Geneva, Britain and France in the eighteenth century

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posted on 2023-06-08, 11:37 authored by Richard Whatmore
As Britain and France became more powerful during the eighteenth century, small states such as Geneva could no longer stand militarily against these commercial monarchies. Furthermore, many Genevans felt that they were being drawn into a corrupt commercial world dominated by amoral aristocrats dedicated to the unprincipled pursuit of wealth. In this book Richard Whatmore presents an intellectual history of republicans who strove to ensure Geneva's survival as an independent state. Whatmore shows how the Genevan republicans grappled with the ideas of Rousseau, Voltaire, Bentham, and others in seeking to make modern Europe safe for small states, by vanquishing the threats presented by war and empire. The Genevan attempt to moralize the commercial world, and align national self-interest with perpetual peace and the abandonment of empire, had implications for the French Revolution, the British Empire, and the identity of modern Europe.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Publisher

Yale University Press

Pages

448.0

Place of publication

New Haven

ISBN

9780300175578

Series

Lewis Walpole series in eighteenth-century culture and history

Department affiliated with

  • History Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-05-16

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    University of Sussex (Publications)

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