The panel would examine the close relationship between the writing of histories of Europe and the construction of a new European political order. After 1815, 1945 and 1989 the old European international system (partially) broke down and a new order had to be established. An important aspect of this process of political reconstruction was also conscious as well unconscious ‘construction’ of a new European historical regime. For instance, after 1795/1815 many (liberal as well as conservative) histories of Europe were written by for instance diverse authors as Joseph de Maistre, François Guizot and many other authors (perhaps also Ranke) supporting a liberal as well conservative view of the idea of Europe. A European past was invented to legitimize a political vision for the future. Tony Judt has famously explained how after 1945 a historical narrative was developed to support the process of European Integration. Closer European integration was described as the inevitable end of a long history of violence between the European nations. At the same time many histories of Europe were written that more or less described a direct line between Ancient democratic Greece and Rome through Charlemagne ending up in the democratic post-war settlement in Western Europe. Also 1989 and the following years saw a flood of new ‘histories of Europe’ (for instance by Norman Davies) that emphasised the essential unity of East and Western Europe through the ages.