The Genesis of German Conservatism

Although Conservative parties did not exist in Germany until after the Napoleonic Wars, there did emerge, around 1770, traceable organized political activity and intellectual currents of a clearly Conservative character. The author argues that this movement developed as a response to the challenge of the Enlightenment in the fields of religion, socioeconomic affairs, and politics- and that this response antedated the impact of the French Revolution. Believing that Conservatism cannot be treated properly as a specialized phenomenon, or simply as an intellectual movement, Professor Epstein correlates it with the political and social forces of the time. Table of Contents Frontmatter, pg. i Preface, pg. vii Acknowledgments, pg. ix Contents, pg. xi Abbreviations, pg. 1 Introduction, pg. 3 Chapter 1. The Enlightenment, the Constellation of Social Forces, and the Rise of Conservatism, pg. 29 Chapter 2. Masons, llluminati, and Rosicrucians, pg. 84 Chapter 3. Religious Controversies, pg. 112 Chapter 4. Social Controversies, pg. 176 Chapter 5. Political Controversies, pg. 237 Chapter 6. Justus Moser: Portrait of a Prerevolutionary Conservative, pg. 297 Chapter 7. Prussia from Frederick the Great to Frederick William III, pg. 341 Chapter 8. The Habsburg Monarchy from Maria Theresia to Francis II, pg. 394 Chapter 9. The Challenge of the French Revolution, pg. 434 Chapter 10. The Conspiracy Theory of the Revolution, pg. 503 Chapter 11. Rehberg and the Hannoverian School, pg. 547 Chapter 12. The Napoleonic Revolution in Germany: The End of the Ecclesiastical States and the Imperial Knights, pg. 595 Chapter 13. The Napoleonic Revolution in Germany: The End of the Imperial Cities and the Final Agony of the Empire, pg. 638 Chapter 14. Conclusion and Prospectus, pg. 672 Bibliographical Essay, pg. 677 Index, pg. 711