ABSTRACT
The years of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic conquest of Europe revealed an undeniable conjunction between international war and internal revolution, a combination which both repelled and attracted contemporary and successive generations. Saint-Simon’s project for a total reorganization of the European state system linked international peace with social justice and economic expansion. To the modern ear, the mechanics and specific institutional recommendations he made for the new order among European states might sound awkward or embarrassing but a second look brings the shock of recognition. While an Anglo-French axis formed the core of Saint-Simon’s projected European parliament, the solid cooperation of Austria and Prussia was pronounced the sine qua non of European peace by Friedrich von Gentz. Victor Hugo’s canvas depicting a landscape of Europe at peace provided an answer to the causes of revolution for once the national riches were deployed in useful projects, social misery would decline.
