OSTERHAMMEL, JÜRGEN, THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE WORLD: A GLOBAL HISTORY OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, PRINCETON 2014, 1192 PAGES

OSTERHAMMEL, JÜRGEN, THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE WORLD: A GLOBAL HISTORY OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, PRINCETON 2014, 1192 PAGES Did you know ha he collapse o he ancien égime in he F ench Re olu ion coin- cided exac ly wi h he u bulen all o he ene able Oyo empi e in Nige ia? O ha he isiona y sec a ian en husiasm o he ea ly Mo mons in Ame ica de i ed om he same Ch is ian sou ces as he Taiping mo emen which simul aneously con- ulsed China? O ha in he 1890s Cuban ebels we e he ded in o campos de concen- ación, sho ly be o e he same b u al me hods we e employed by he B i ish in he Boe wa ? Such jux aposi ions peppe he pages o his wonde ully ambi ious book and con ey a sense o i s pu pose. Os e hammel’s p ojec spans he plane . Once upon a ime he ‘his o y o he wo ld’ was he domain o ama eu s like H.G. Wells and Hend ik Willem an Loon, whose S o y o Mankind emains a classic dis illa ion o child en o all ages, o o massi e un e akings d i en by a wide explana o y agenda, no ably ha o A nold Toynbee. Now a dis inguished Ge man p o essional has en e ed he ield wi h his wo k ha is i sel al eady p o ing ans o ma i e o he way we iew he whole sub- jec : i i s appea ed i e yea s ago in Ge man as Die Ve wandlung de Wel . Immensely lea ned, Os e hammel is also highly judicious, sub le and wi y, and always hough - p o oking. In his ange and boundless cu iosi y he is eminiscen o his nine een h- cen u y compa io , he explo e and na u alis Alexande on Humbold , whose name appea s mo e han mos in hese pages; hough gi en also he acui y o Os e - hammel’s analysis and his pedagogical lai , pe haps he is a he Alexande and he o he amous Humbold b o he Wilhelm olled in o one. Mo eo e , he au ho has been supe bly well se ed by his ansla o , Pa ick Camille , who h oughou he ga gan uan ex is e y a ely a a loss o he mo jus e. Os e hammel seeks o p o ile a single cen u y, albei a decisi e one. Howe e , as he is he i s o allow, i ’s an expansi e iew, mo e o less an enqui y in o he making o he mode n wo ld. Can he pe iod be de ined a all? In ying o es ablish co-o - dina es o ime and space he begins wi h sel -pe cep ions: how con empo a ies saw hei own p esen and pas , as e idenced by some o hei mos cha ac e is ic ma e- ial and in ellec ual c ea ions  encyclopaedias, museums, newspape s and magazines, li e a u e, pho og aphs, geog aphy, ca og aphy and geopoli ical no ions. These ea ly chap e s, wi h hei sligh ly du i ul obeisance o a Teu onic penchan o Pe iodis- ie ung, include some o he only longueu s in an exceedingly long book; bu hey do yield a wo kable scheme: a ans o ma i e en elope which s a s in he 1760s and concludes in he 1920s, wi h a i s cen e he decades om ci ca 1830 o 1890 — Os e - hammel calls hem a ‘Vic o ian’ age, in de e ence o B i ish hegemony a ha ime — when he de elopmen s ha he mos wishes o highligh eached hei zeni h. The e ollow ou exhila a ing chap e s, ull o s imula ing compa isons and con- cu ences ac oss he globe. Alongside b oad ea men o s anda ds o li e — ood and i s p oduc ion, heal h and disease, po e y and weal h, income and consump- ion — his sec ion is mainly abou mobili y, a wo ld in lux, especially as he colonial expansion o Eu ope ook hold. A mas e ly su ey o shi ing popula ions and labou OPEN ACCESS 128 DVACÁTÉ STOLETÍ 1/2015 lows, expulsion and exile, leads o he g ow h o ‘ci ies’: a wo ldwide phenomenon in he nine een h cen u y, and co espondingly di e se. Ac ually he English e mi- nology he e may o e play hei mode ni y (in Ge man Os e hammel w o e abou S äd e, many o which could mo e s aidly be ende ed as ‘ owns’); ye hei impac was as , no jus as c ucibles o indus ializa ion, bu as capi als, anspo and ad- minis a i e hubs, abo e all — o Os e hammel  as po s. The sec ion culmina es in a i uoso explo a ion o he ‘ on ie ’ in i s Ame ican sense: a mo ing, in eg a ing band o pionee se lemen , examined he e in i s mul i a ious mani es a ions ac oss he ea h, o e land and sea, om he A gen ine pampas o he Sibe ian s eppe, and as colonis s’ engagemen wi h he human al e i y o na i e peoples and he na u al challenges o ( o example) whales and big game. This is heady s u — like a u bulen Mahle ian i s mo emen a e i s slow in oduc ion. The eade may now pause o wonde : a en’ on ie s also bo de s, i.e. ixed lines which sepa a e ou inhabi an s and pe pe ua e and enhance di e en ia- ion om hose on he o he side? And a e we no in dange o losing sigh o he long- es ablished co e poli ies o he old Eu ope, whe e such i m bounda ies we e coming o assume e e g ea e salience? Indeed, ha ’s a heme o Os e hammel’s nex , and cen al, block o chap e s. He e he add esses, in a a he mo e o hodox way, he p ocesses o s a e-building which we e essen ially an achie emen o nine een h- cen u y Eu ope, and he esul an in e ac ions wi hin an in e na ional o de ha hey domina ed. We ollow on he one hand he sp ead o bu eauc acy (in Ge man he had used he mo e neu al e m Ve wal ung), wi h i s con ols and di ec ion o an in- c easingly homogeneous ci izen y  a leas in he eyes o au ho i y; on he o he hand he pa allel sp ead o cons i u ional o ms and ep esen a i e ins i u ions whe eby hose ci izens could seek o hold go e nmen s o accoun . Os e hammel p esen s us wi h a kaleidoscope o ou comes, mainly as adap a ions o s ill os ensibly mona chi- cal s uc u es o powe . And ule s s ill ma e ed: wi ness King Chulalongko n o Siam’s doggedly success ul de iance o colonial h ea s, as agains his close con em- po a y Sul an Abdülhamid II’s equally esolu e bu ul ima ely disas ous de ence o he O oman egime. Whe e change was oo c udely esis ed, e olu iona y s uggles ollowed. Os e - hammel cha s a ‘ ebellious age’: in Eu ope be ween F ench uphea als o he 1790s and Russian ones om 1905; u he a ield be ween insu gencies ac oss he Ame icas a he s a o he pe iod and he implosion o China, I an and Tu key a e 1900. Re olu ions e eal much abou he na u e o in e na ional in e plays, abo e all he elling con as s h own up by he mid-cen u y u moil which c iss-c ossed he globe wi hou es ablishing any common g ound. The Taiping ebellion — a massi e ci il wa ha le many millions dead  ha dly became known beyond he bo de s o China, and India’s g ea uphea al was dismissed as a me e ‘mu iny’, whe eas he e en s o 1848, he only yea o pan-Eu opean e olu ion, made no wide wo ld-his o ical im- pac . Os e hammel shows how homogenizing, cen alizing, and a ionalizing enden- cies could lead o ‘na ion-s a es’, o en — he says — ega ded as he ypical poli ical o ma ion o he nine een h cen u y. Bu ha is a he an ideal ype, a s aw man de- i ed om poli ical science. Few i any coun ies sa is ied i s c i e ion o comp ising OBE T EVANS 129 a single sel -awa e e hnic iden i y, no e en hose ecen ly emancipa ed om wha had come o be pe cei ed as o eign dominance. F om he new epublics o La in Ame ica o he nascen Balkan kingdoms o G eeks and Se bs, much wo k emained o do in c ea ing a sense o na ionhood. Ra he , Os e hammel asse s, he cha ac e - is ic poli y o he age was an empi e. He deploys a sub le ypology, which does jus ice o all shapes and sizes, and illus a es he e y a iable link be ween a co e s a e e i o y and i s ‘colonies’, nea and a . The B i ish Empi e was much he la ges , and also — maybe o ha eason oo — he mos luid and adap able. In he p ocess Os e hammel ui ully con ounds he dis inc ion be ween seabo ne and landwa d empi es, bu also belies his own conclusion ha ‘all nine een h-cen u y empi es we e au oc a ic sys ems om beginning o end’. A e mo e han 600 close-p in ed pages, he e is a g ea deal s ill o come on hese g and global hemes o di e en ial de elopmen , synch onici ies and di e gences, and modali ies o Eu opeaniza ion, which a ely played hemsel es ou in a simple dicho omy o ‘Wes ’ e sus ‘Eas ’. In he las pa o he olume Os e hammel p es- en s se en hema ic ‘essays […] ligh e , mo e play ul, mo e selec i e’. They emb ace he ise o indus ial capi alism amid in ensi ied exploi a ion o he wo ld’s ene gy esou ces; he changing ace o labou , om inc eased eedom on he land o new wo kplaces in ac o y o o ice; he ans o ma ion o ne wo ks and he ad en o mass media in he passage o a i s age o global comme cial communica ion; social hie a chies and he g adual b eakdown o adi ional ankings in ace o he ad ance o a middle class de ined by esh economic and cul u al no ms; he sp ead o li e acy, educa ion and scien i ic knowledge (whose con ibu ion o he empowe men o Eu- opeans leads he au ho o a no ably dispassiona e examina ion o he ‘O ien al- ism’ deba e); he ela ed opic o ci ili y and imp o emen , especially in he con ex o ideas o a ‘ci ilizing mission’ which we e inc easingly dogged by acis ideology; and inally an ana omy o eligion whose compa a i e b e i y may su p ise, ill we con empla e he p oblems — which nine een h-cen u y hinke s i s sough o ad- d ess — o de ining he e m a all, and he pa adoxical impac o Eu opean mission- a ies, p o ound in all so s o ways excep he spi i ual. By he end he inde a igable eade will ha e had much oppo uni y o ponde he book’s my iad in e plays. O en he e is (qui e delibe a ely) no clea ch onological sequence; and he o de ing o chap e s e s on he side o inde e minacy. Os e ham- mel sc upulously a oids di ec epe i ion; bu he does engage in cons uc i e o e lap, whe eby he same key phenomena — say he Meiji Res o a ion which gal anized Japan in o mode ni y, o he h i ing B i ish dominions wi h hei cu ious mix o ad anced libe al democ acy and ace p ejudice — a e epea edly app oached om di e en pe spec i es, as i we we e passenge s on one o hose se pen ine Alpine ail a e ses (ano he iumph o nine een h-cen u y echnology, a e all), whe e he same peak is iewed om se e al di e se poin s o an age. And when he jou ney is o e , wha ha e we lea ned? One impo an message is ce ainly abou emancipa ion (a wo d ha i sel con eys s ong nine een h-cen u y esonances), a once ma e ial, cul u al and psychological. The passage om sla e y and se dom comes close o being a lei mo i ; and he e olu ion on he F ench Ca ib- bean island o Sain -Domingue which c ea ed he independen s a e o Hai i in 1804 Robe E ans 130 DVACÁTÉ STOLETÍ 1/2015 is e iden ly an episode Os e hammel pa icula ly wishes o celeb a e: a i s blow o he igh s o blacks ( hough e en ha came wi h i s own ini ial appings o em- pi e). Ye he e is o e all — pe haps ine i ably — mo e a en ion o exploi e s han exploi ed. We ind plen y on he wo ld o wo k, bu mo e could ha e been said abou wo ke s’ o ganiza ions. By con as , we ind enough on he o ganiza ions which by he 1900s had begun o campaign agains he poli ical subo dina ion o women, bu mo e could ha e been said abou he place o women in exis ing socie ies. Un ai as i may be o poin o gaps in his mo e han ample ex , ano he kind o subjuga ion also ecei es su p isingly sho sh i : he co e age o en i onmen al issues is explici ly cu ailed. Os e hammel iden i ies ‘ eshaping na u e’ as a concomi an o nine een h- cen u y indus ial capi alism, bu only en passan . I ’s a ela ed ques ion whe he he book a o ds us a dis inc i ely Ge man iew. Ge mans coined he language o Wel poli ik; om He de h ough Hegel o Spengle hey we e a he o e on in e ol ing concep ions o wo ld his o y. Os e hammel d aws on his in ellec ual ances o s, especially he his o ical sociology o Max Webe . He is also eloquen abou music ( a he han o he o ms o cul u al c ea i i y), wi h nume ous elling examples and a ascina ing p elude on ope a ( hough i belonged a he ‘ op o he a is ic hie a chy’ pe haps only in he sense o being mo e globally expo able han he symphony o s ing qua e ). Ye in he main Os e hammel is e icen abou d awing on cen al Eu opean pa adigms — a leas un il, la e in he day, we each he ealms o uni e si ies and Bildung. He could ha e poin ed o he pionee ing e o m p og ammes o some o he egion’s ule s in he age o Enligh - enmen , an icipa ing hose o Napoleon and F ench é a isme; o la e o he case o he Ge man Socialis pa y (SPD), he wo ld’s la ges and mos a icula e ehicle o wo king-class poli ical aspi a ions. E en mo e ele an could ha e been he legacy o he egion’s own e y special impe ial adi ion. Os e hammel e iden ly doesn’ hink much o i : he speaks o nine een h-cen u y Ge man ‘memo ies o a a he unglamo ous eco d o poli ical oge he ness’ Ye he Holy Roman Empi e, he hou- sand-yea Fi s Reich, o med he chie sou ce o ha Eu opean he i age o uni e - salis impe ium which, eb anded by Napoleon, sanc i ied he conques o much o he globe o e he nex hund ed yea s. Al oge he he e is li le in Os e hammel’s wo k o he concep ual sys em-build- ing by his coun ymen o ha age. His supe b piece o hea e delibe a ely lacks a plo . I seems a imes o in ima e his absence — a e all, a me hodical analysis o human ac i i ies which begins wi h con empo a ies’ in ellec ual sel -examina ion and e mina es in he ealms o cul i a ion o he mind and eligion migh easily be mis aken o a de i a i e o Ge man idealis philosophy, sho h ough wi h syn hesis and subla ion. Ye o Os e hammel he global nine een h cen u y clea ly has no such essence. No He de o Hegel o Spengle he e. I ’s o en di icul o desc y la ge pa - e ns in Os e hammel’s o de ing o ma e ials, and he doesn’ encou age us o y. The en e p ise es s on a poin ed con as : i ’s ou spokenly wo ld-his o ical, hus a chal- lenge o hose (such as he p esen e iewe ) who ha e iewed he in e na ional s o y o ha epoch in o e whelmingly Eu opean e ms, wi h a walk-on pa o he USA; ye i acknowledges, and documen s, ha his was uniquely an age o Eu opean powe and dominance. OBE T EVANS 131 The new global his o y is hus s ic ly he sum o i s pa s. I does no — and Os- e hammel insis s on ha — supe sede o he kinds o his o y. I he e is p og ession, i is spasmodic, e en s ochas ic. Wo ld his o y is an ad en u e, a jou ney, maybe e en a pu posi e one, bu wi h many delays and e e sals. One o Os e hammel’s ales con eys his symbolically. In 1882 he Buddhis mas e Xu Yun joined he new age o a el: he se o on a housand-mile walk o a Chinese holy moun ain. Bu , since his ai h s ill equi ed him o ca y incense s icks in bo h hands and p os a e himsel i ually e e y h ee paces, i ook him wo ull yea s o each his goal. Robe E ans | Facul y o His o y Uni esi y o Ox o d | obe .e ans@his o y.ox.ac.uk