Farewell to History: Autopsy of a Europeless Europe (2)

This article constitutes the second part of our reflection on Europe’s destiny, initiated with Europe or the Chronicle of a Voluntary Servitude: (1) The Finding. After diagnosing a consented submission, we explore here, in the light of the theses of Emmanuel Todd and Régis Debray, the deep mechanisms of this erasure in the face of the new global disorder.

If we left Europe, in our previous chronicle, frozen in the posture of « voluntary servitude, » the brutal acceleration of History forces us today to go beyond a simple moral observation and dare a clinical autopsy. For what is at stake in the spectacular rapprochement between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin is not a simple diplomatic setback; it is the blinding revelation of our non-existence.

Trump_Poutine Nuages — Illustration © European-Security — **Illustration © European-Security**

The shock striking European chancelleries today does not come from the betrayal of the American ally, but from the destruction of our own illusions.

History's Graveyard — Illustration © European-Security — **Europeans, mesmerized by a nihilistic American jester, prefer the precipice to the leap forward © E-S**

We thought we were the camp of Good, backed by power; we discover that we are alone, naked, and perhaps already dead.[01][02]

Le Point — Une du 2.03.2025 — Le Point — (2 March 2025)

2025-1212_Spiegel_Der Verrat — Le Point — (2 March 2025)

by Joël-François Dumont — Paris, 14 December 2025

I. Introduction

To understand how we went from being actors to spectators, or even mere scenery, we must summon two lucid minds who, each in their own way, had prophesied this erasure. Emmanuel Todd, by diagnosing the nihilism of a West emptied of its substance, and Régis Debray, by recording our exit from « Civilization » to enter the museum of « Culture, » offer us the keys to this disaster. Here is, through their crossed works, the story of our exit from History.[03][04]

II. Critique and comparative analysis of the books by Emmanuel Todd and Régis Debray

1. Emmanuel Todd: The Autopsy of a Western Suicide

In The Defeat of the West (2024), Emmanuel Todd does not merely analyze the war in Ukraine; he draws up the death certificate of the West as we knew it. For our analysis, Todd’s crucial contribution is the reversal of the moral perspective. Europe thinks it is allying itself with the « Camp of Good » (America) against « Evil » (Putin). Todd demonstrates that Europe has actually chained itself to a machine gone mad, driven by nihilism, while Russia, paradoxically, embodies a form of classical stability (the sovereign nation-state).[05][06][07]

La défaite de l'Occident — Emmanuel Todd — **La défaite de l’Occident — Gallimard Editions (2024)**

The Diagnosis of Nothingness (State Zero): Todd explains that the West has reached « state zero » of its religious matrix (Protestantism). This void has not given way to reason, but to nihilism. The United States is no longer a nation guided by ethics (work, duty), but a predatory oligarchy that needs war and disorder to mask its own social and industrial decomposition. The Impact for Europe: By following Washington, Europe is not following a strategy, it is following a death drive. It is committing economic suicide (sanctions) and political suicide to please a master who has lost his mind.

Face aux contrats juteux, les valeurs ont peu de poids... — **When faced with lucrative contracts, values carry little weight…**

The Illusion of Power: The other strong point is the deconstruction of the economy. Europe believes it is rich and powerful allied with the US. Todd shows that Western GDP is « fictitious » (services, lawyers, finance), while the Russian economy is « real » (wheat, gas, factories). Faced with a Trump who could ally with Putin, Europe discovers that it has neither the weapons, nor the energy, nor the industry to carry weight. It is naked.[08][09][10]|11]
The Solitude of the West: Todd highlights that the « Rest of the World » (the Global South) has chosen Russia. Why? Because the world prefers a conservative and sovereignist power (Moscow) to a nihilistic and interventionist power (Washington) that wants to impose its new mores universally. Europe, by aligning itself with the US, has isolated itself from the real world.[12][13][14]

A few quotes from The Defeat of the West (Gallimard, 2024)

On American Nihilism and the Drive for War: « Nihilism, as I understand it, comprises two fundamental dimensions. The most visible is the physical dimension: a drive to destroy things and men […]. The second dimension is conceptual […]: nihilism irresistibly tends to destroy the very notion of truth, to forbid any reasonable description of the world.« [15]

On the Unconsciousness and Suicide of Europe: « The European project is dead. […] The Union is a gas factory, unmanageable and, literally, irreparable. […] Its reaction to the ‘Putin threat’ […] might express the unavowable hope that this endless war will, in the end, blow everything up. »[16]

On the Real Nature of America (Oligarchy vs. Democracy): « What is quite singular in Western oligarchies is that their institutions and laws have not changed. Formally, we are still dealing with liberal democracies […]. Democratic mores, on the other hand, have disappeared. »[17]

On Economic Reality (Fictitious GDP vs. Real Economy): « The war, that great revealer, showed the gap that had widened between the perception we have of America (and that America has of itself) and the reality of its power. […] How, despite this imbalance in their favor [of GDP], did the United States end up unable to manufacture enough shells for Ukraine? »[18]

On the Ideological Solitude of the West: « The West discovered that it is not loved. A terrible narcissistic wound. […] The West did not recognize that by offshoring its factories, it was proposing to live as a sort of planetary bourgeoisie, exploiting the underpaid labor of the Rest of the World. »[19]

On the End of the Nation-State in the West: « What Putin, a practitioner of international relations, senses with his expression ’empire of lies’ […] is a very simple truth: in the West, the nation-state no longer exists. »[20]

2. Régis Debray: Chronicle of a Voluntary Servitude

Europe: museum or actor in history?

Civilisation - Régis Debray — **Régis Debray — Photo Librairie Nollat**

If Todd is the coroner, Debray is the philosopher of our lost soul. His book Civilization (2017) is indispensable for understanding how we accepted this servitude. It is not about military coercion, but internal colonization.

**Europe is no longer an active power (Civilization), but a place of tourist memory — Illustration © Grok**

Culture vs. Civilization: This is the major distinction. Europe has become a « Culture » (a place of memory, gastronomy, tourism, a « theme park »), while America is the only « Civilization » (the one that projects its power, its currency, its technique). The Drama Facing Trump: Europe is terrified of Trump not because he is an enemy, but because he is a vulgar boss threatening to close the branch. We have delegated our « being » (defense, strategy, future) to America.[21][22][23][24]
The Herodian and the Zealot: Debray uses this fascinating biblical metaphor. Facing the Empire (Rome yesterday, USA today), one can be a « Zealot » (the suicidal resister, the terrorist, or the radical sovereignist) or a « Herodian » (the one who collaborates, imitates the victor, and manages the province for him). The European elite has chosen to be Herodian. It manages Europe like an American province. A Trump-Putin alliance is the Herodian’s nightmare: if the Emperor (Trump) comes to an understanding directly with the Barbarian (Putin), the local manager (Europe) is no longer useful. He is fired.[25][26][27]

A few quotes from Civilisation (Gallimard, 2017)

On Voluntary Servitude and Europe’s American Unconscious: « It is no longer a matter, he [American strategist Thomas Barnett] hammers, of America leading the world, but of the world becoming America. »[28]

On the Distinction between Civilization (Power) and Culture (Memory): « There is no civilization that is not rooted in a culture, but the latter does not become a civilization without a fleet and an ambition, a great dream and a mobile force. […] A civilization acts, it is offensive. A culture reacts, it is defensive. »[29]

On Europe as a mere backdrop or theme park: “The president and his aides describe the old continent as either ‘dysfunctional,’ in ‘total decline,’ or already ‘dead.’ At best, it is a pretty open-air museum that serves as a backdrop for super-rich Americans’ wedding photos in Venice[…].”[30]

On the Shift of the Center of Gravity (from Europe to America): « When did Europe cease to make civilization? In the short period that can be seen symbolically starting in 1919 and ending in 1996 […] The planet and the sun, between these two dates, swapped places. »[31]

On the « Herodian » Attitude (Imitation of the Victor): « The ‘Herodian’ […] acts according to the following principle: the best way to defend oneself against the unknown is to master its secret. […] He retaliates by learning to fight with the weapons of his enemy. […] He becomes a mime of the living civilization to which he assimilates. »[32]

On the Loss of History and the Tragic: « Not knowing how to rid ourselves of our own history, we will be relieved of it by happy peoples who have none or almost none. It is happy peoples who will impose their happiness upon us. »[33]

Conclusion: Freedom is a Risk to Run

It would be unfair to suggest that Todd and Debray are preaching alone in the desert; they are part of a long line of lucid minds who, from La Boétie to General de Gaulle, warned us that sovereignty cannot be delegated without being lost. Régis Debray’s diagnosis remains the most scathing: Europe’s paralysis does not come from the master’s strength, but from the psychology of the slave who, for comfort, refuses to be free.

Haunted by the fear of the strategic void, Europe seems ready to accept all humiliations rather than face the vertigo of autonomy. What is sometimes called a « happy vassalization » is in reality only the semantic mask of a historical resignation.

Seeing European leaders today confess their terror in the face of Donald Trump, this uninhibited buffoon devoid of any morality, constitutes the ultimate admission of their bankruptcy. Europe will not die from being attacked, but from being afraid to exist. Freedom is a risk; it is high time to run it again.

Joël-François Dumont

[01] Der Spiegel n°51 du 12.12.2025, « Zwei Schurken, ein Ziel : Wie Trump und Putin Europa angreifen – Der Verrat » p.12. (Betrayal: Two thugs, one goal: How Trump and Putin are attacking Europe – Betrayal. US President Trump makes no secret of his contempt for the old continent and is colluding with Kremlin leader Putin. Europe has no strategy against this alliance of thugs.“)

[02] Der Spiegel n°51 du 12.12.2025, « Zwei Schurken, ein Ziel : Wie Trump und Putin Europa angreifen p.14.

[03] Todd, Emmanuel, La défaite de l’Occident (Gallimard, 2024) p.176

[04] Régis Debray, Civilisation (Gallimard, 2017) p.14

[05] Todd, Emmanuel, La défaite de l’Occident (Gallimard, 2024) p.11

[06] Todd, Emmanuel, La défaite de l’Occident (Gallimard, 2024) p.108

[07] Todd, Emmanuel, La défaite de l’Occident (Gallimard, 2024) p.13

[08] Todd, Emmanuel, La défaite de l’Occident (Gallimard, 2024) p.176

[09] Todd, Emmanuel, La défaite de l’Occident (Gallimard, 2024) p.111

[10] Todd, Emmanuel, La défaite de l’Occident (Gallimard, 2024) p.212

[11] Todd, Emmanuel, La défaite de l’Occident (Gallimard, 2024) p.19

[12] Todd, Emmanuel, La défaite de l’Occident (Gallimard, 2024) p.16

[13] Todd, Emmanuel, La défaite de l’Occident (Gallimard, 2024) p.193

[14] Todd, Emmanuel, La défaite de l’Occident (Gallimard, 2024) p.195

[15] Todd, Emmanuel, La défaite de l’Occident (Gallimard, 2024) p.198

[16] Todd, Emmanuel, La défaite de l’Occident (Gallimard, 2024) p.9

[17] Todd, Emmanuel, La défaite de l’Occident (Gallimard, 2024) p.25

[18] Todd, Emmanuel, La défaite de l’Occident (Gallimard, 2024) p.224

[19] Todd, Emmanuel, La défaite de l’Occident (Gallimard, 2024) p.238

[20] Todd, Emmanuel, La défaite de l’Occident (Gallimard, 2024) p.10

[21] Debray, Régis, Civilisation (Gallimard, 2017) p.20

[22] Debray, Régis, Civilisation (Gallimard, 2017) p.13

[23] Debray, Régis, Civilisation (Gallimard, 2017) p.14

[24] Debray, Régis, Civilisation (Gallimard, 2017) p.18

[25] Debray, Régis, Civilisation (Gallimard, 2017) p.26

[26] Debray, Régis, Civilisation (Gallimard, 2017) p.176

[27] Debray, Régis, Civilisation (Gallimard, 2017) p.177

[28] Debray, Régis, Civilisation (Gallimard, 2017) p.144

[29] Debray, Régis, Civilisation (Gallimard, 2017) p.13

[30] Debray, Régis, Civilisation (Gallimard, 2017) p.4

[31] Debray, Régis, Civilisation (Gallimard, 2017) p.165

[32] Debray, Régis, Civilisation (Gallimard, 2017) p.167

[33] Debray, Régis, Civilisation (Gallimard, 2017) p.4