Abstract
Considers the existence of several orders of time and different regimes of historicity in the context of historiography. The author examines the notion of ruptures in the continuity of history such as the fall of communism in Europe in 1989 and World War I, emphasizes how these "gaps" or "crises" in history undermine the modern Western idea of history as a process, and comments on the importance given the concept of memory since the beginning of the 1980's. The article explains the notion of the "regime of historicity," traces the evolution of approaches to the idea of history since the 19th century, and concludes by outlining how the historian can use the concept of "regime of historicity" as a tool for explaining the tension between human experience and expectation that is the basis for historical time.