Tags
1930s, 1950s, Abendland Movement, Carolingian Empire, christendom, Europe, European Union, History, Holy Empire, Holy Roman Empire, Nationalism, Supernationalism, Virgil
The “Abendlanders” proposed the creation of a unified Europe, but they imagined it as an organic unity based on its shared Christian heritage, an association of “fatherlands”, reminiscent of the social order willed by God that was destroyed by the Reformation, the Enlightenment, the emergence of nation-states, and the nationalism that had resulted in the First World War. Their Europe was not merely a political and economic association but rather an ordered society giving way to “eine neue Lebensform des europäischen Menschen” (“a new way of life for European people”) and the restoration, even a genuine rebirth, of Christendom: a deep unity of Empire [Reich] and Church. The “Abendlanders” initially saw the ancient Carolingian empire or the Holy Roman Empire as their model, but they also imagined a connection with Classical Rome (Virgil) and early Christianity.
-John Carter Wood, Christianity and National Identity in Twentieth-Century Europe
The War for Christendom 
Have you ever seen Dante’s (the Divine Comedy one) De Monarchia? It gives the reader a glimpse into the view of an early patriot of the Empire while creating a political philosophy for the establishment of a universal state. (Modern successors, with invariable size, can be found with the UN, NATO, EU, and especially the US). Imperial society has always been an undercurrent in the West.
Virgil
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Yes, Dante’s De Monarchia is the most comprehensive defense of the Reichsidee, the Imperial Idea, and while he fumbles a bit with his definition of the Church’s relation to the state, this does not detract from the brilliance of his work as a whole.
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Maybe I’m missing something, but why was there no attempt to bring back the Holy Roman Empire after after Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo?
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It would have required the cooperation of too many factions which had a vested interest in a new order for Central Europe, most notably the German princes basking in their new Napoleonic royalty, but also others such as the Savoy Monarchy. Then there were legal complications regarding how exactly the Empire could be said to have been dissolved, if at all.
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Thank you for answering my question (rather depressing). My second question is: did you ever make the “Restorationist plans for Europe and the rest of Christendom” map that was mentioned in one of the Random Days posts?
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I have it substantially done, but it’s pending revision, which will probably have to wait a month or two because of my current workload.
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