SUMMARY NOTES RISE OF NATIONALISM IN EUROPE

Department of Social Science

HISTORY

THE RISE OF NATIONALISM IN EUROPE

CHAPTER 01

KEY CONCEPTS

Frederic Sorrieu

He was a French artist famous for prints prepared in 1848 that visualized the dream of a world consisting of Democratic and Social Republics.

 Nineteenth Century

Associated with the rise of nationalism and nation states.

 Nationalism

A feeling of oneness with the society or the state, love and devotion for the motherland and belief in the political identity of one’s country are the basic attributes of nationalism.

 Nation State

A state that establishes itself as a separate political and geographical entity and functions as a complete and sovereign territorial unit. This concept emerged in 19th century Europe as a result of the growth of nationalism.

 Modern State

A state in which sovereignty is exercised by a centralized power over a specific territory and population.

 Absolutist Government

A system of government wherein limitless powers are vested in a single person or body. It is a monarchical form of government in which the ruler is the absolute authority and is not answerable to anybody.

FRENCH REVOLUTION (1789)

It marks the beginning of nationalism. Salient features of the French Revolution were:

v  France was under absolute monarchy in 1789.

v  The Revolution transferred the sovereignty from the monarch to the French people.

v  Ideas of La patrie (the fatherhood) and Le citoyen (the citizen) adopted.

v  New French Flag, the tricolour, adopted replacing the royal standard.

v  Estates General elected by citizens and renamed the National Assembly.

v  A centralized political system established.

v  Internal custom dues abolished.

v  Uniform weights and measures adopted.

v  French became the language of the nation.

v  French armies moved into Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy in the 1790s with a promise of liberating the people from their despotic rulers.

    NAPOLEON (1769-1821)

v  Ruled France from 1799 to 1815.

v  Assumed absolute powers in 1799 by becoming the First Consul.

 CIVIL CODE/NAPOLEONIC CODE (1804)

Features of Napoleonic Code

§  Established equality before law.

§  Abolished all privileges based on birth.

§  Granted the right to property to French citizens.

§  Simplified administrative divisions.

§  Abolished feudal system and freed peasants from serfdom.

§  Removed restrictions on guilds in towns.

§  Improved transport and communication.

Militarily, Napoleon proved to be an oppressor for the people of the conquered territories. Taxation and censorship were imposed and military services were made mandatory.

EUROPE IN THE MID-18TH CENTURY

v  No nation states because Europeans never saw themselves as sharing a common identity or culture. E.g., The Habsburg Empire of Austria–Hungary comprised French, Italian and German-speaking people.

v  Europe was broadly divided into two classes during this period namely:

Aristocracy

Ø   The land owning class.

Ø   Numerically small, but dominated Europe, both socially and politically.

Ø   Spoke French which was considered the language of the high society.

Ø   Families were connected through marriage.

Peasantry

§  Tenants and small land owners who worked as serfs.

§  Cultivated the lands of the aristocratic lords.

§  The growth of trade and industrial production facilitated the growth of towns and rise of a commercial      class of traders. Consequently, the new conscious, educated, liberal middle class emerged and popularized nationalism and stood for the abolition of aristocracy.

LIBERAL NATIONALISM

Means:

§  Individual freedom

§  Equality before law

§  Government by consent

§  Freedom of markets

§  Abolition of state-imposed restrictions on the movement of goods and capital

 Liberalism became the main concern in Europe after the French Revolution because:

Ø   Universal Adult Suffrage was not granted to the people by the Napoleonic Code. Men without property and women were denied the right to vote.

Ø  Women were made subject to the authority of men.

Ø   Markets were not free as the 39 confederacies of France had their own laws which posed problems for the free movement of goods.

Ø  There were no standard weights and measures and no fixed rates of custom duties, which greatly affected the trade.

 Liberalism fused with the French Revolution envisaged the

Ø  End of autocracy and clerical privileges

Ø  Introduction of a constitution and representative government

Ø   Inviolability of private property

Ø   Removal of trade restrictions

Ø   Freedom of markets

ZOLLVEREIN

A customs union formed in 1834 at the initiative of Prussia. It abolished tariff barriers and reduced the number of currencies to two from over thirty.

CONSERVATISM

Stands for the preservation of the traditional institutions of state and society such as the monarchy, the church, social hierarchies and family along with the modern changes introduced by Napoleon. Conservatism as a political ideology arose after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo. The conservative regimes

v  Were autocratic

v  Were intolerant to criticism and dissent

v  Adopted the censorship of press for curbing the liberal ideals

v  Discouraged any questions that challenged their legitimacy

CONGRESS OF VIENNA (1815)

For drawing a new settlement for Europe and restoring the monarchies that were overthrown by Napoleon for creation of a new conservative order. The salient features of the treaty were as follows:

o   The Bourbon dynasty restored to power in France.

o   France was disposed of its conquered territories.

o   Kingdom of Netherlands, which included Belgium, was set up in the North and Genoa was set up in the South for preventing French expansion in future.

o   Prussia was given new territories, including a portion of Saxony.

o   Austria got control over Northern Italy.

o   Russia got Poland.

o   Napoleon’s confederation of 39 states was not changed.

THE REVOLUTIONARIES

Upholders of the idea of liberalism and against the conservative regimes of the 19th century. Many secret societies were formed whose main aims were:

o   Training the revolutionaries and spreading their ideas throughout Europe.

o   Opposing monarchical governments established after the Vienna Congress of 1815.

o   Fighting for liberty and freedom from autocratic rule.

o   Emphasizing the idea of creation of nation states.

GIUSEPPE MAZZINI

o   Italian revolutionary

o   Born in 1807.

o   Became a member of the secret society of the Carbonari.

o   1831: Sent into exile for attempting an upsurge in Liguria.

o   Founder of Young Italy at Marseilles and Young Europe at Berne, the two secret societies.

o   Believed in the unification of Italy into a republic.

o   Most vociferous enemy of monarchical form of government and conservative regimes.

o   Metternich described him as “The most dangerous enemy of our social order”.

THE AGE OF REVOLUTIONS (1830-1848)

o   The consolidation of power by the conservative regime made liberalism and nationalism associated with revolution in many regions of Europe.

o   Italian and German states, the provinces of the Ottoman Empire, Ireland and Poland experienced such revolutions.

o   The revolutionaries comprised professors, school teachers, clerks and members of the commercial middle class.

JULY REVOLUTION, FRANCE (1830)

v  The Bourbon Kings, coroneted after the Vienna Congress of 1815 were overthrown by liberal revolutionaries.

v  Louis Philippe was installed as a constitutional monarch.

v  Belgium broke away from the United Kingdom of Netherlands.

GREEK REVOLUTION (1830)

v  Greek War of Independence

v  Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire since 15th century.

v  Growth of nationalism in Europe started Greek‟s struggle for independence from the Ottoman rule in 1821.

v  Support from West European countries.

v  Poets and artists, who were inspired by the ancient Greek culture and literature, also supported the revolution. E.g., Lord Byron, the famous English Poet.

v  1832: The Treaty of Constantinople recognized Greece as an independent nation.

 ROMANTICISM (1830S)

A cultural movement that rejected science and reason and introduced heart and emotions. The concern of the romantics was to create a sense of shared collective heritage and a common cultural past for arousing nationalism.

o   German philosopher and romanticist Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) believed that true German culture can be discovered only among common people (das volk) through their practice of flock traditions.

o   Emphasized on vernacular languages and folklore for conveying their ideas to illiterate masses.

NATIONALISTIC FEELING (1830s)

The sense of recognizing the society and nation as “we” and the sharing of many traits by its members. Culture with art and poetry, stories and music played a major role in the shaping and expression of nationalistic feelings and nation.

ECONOMIC CONDITION OF EUROPE AFTER 1830

ü  Great economic hardships were experienced in Europe.

ü  The ratio of the rise of population was larger than that of employment generation.

ü  Migration of rural population to cities led to overcrowded slums.

ü  Small producers in towns (especially textile producing industries) were often ousted by the import of cheap machine-made goods from England.

ü  Peasants still suffered under the burden of feudal dues and obligations in some regions of Europe.

ü  Rise in food prices or a year of bad harvest left the country poorer.

1848, FRANCE

v  Widespread food shortages and widespread unemployment experienced in Paris.

v  Barricades were made and Louis Philippe was forced to flee.

v  National Assembly proclaimed a Republic.

v  Suffrage to all males above 21 was granted.

v  The right to work was guaranteed.

v  National workshops for providing employment were set up.

1845, Silesia

Ø  Weavers revolted against contractors for the drastic reduction in their payments.

Ø  This revolution received scorns and threats alternately and resulted in the death of eleven weavers.

1848: The Revolution of the Liberals

 A revolution led by the educated middle classes.

 GERMANY, 1848

Large number of political associations whose members were professionals, businessmen and prosperous artisans decided to vote for an all-German National Assembly in Frankfurt.

18th May 1848: 831 elected representatives marched to take their places in the Frankfurt Parliament.

  They drafted a Constitution for a German nation based on constitutional monarchy.

v  Their demands were rejected by the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV as he opposed the elected assembly along with the other monarchs.

v  The parliament functioned to evade the larger interests of the workers and artisans as it was largely dominated by middle class members.

v  Ultimately, troops forcibly disbanded the assembly.

Liberal Movement and Women Rights

Ø   In spite of all these efforts by the women, they still were only allowed to observe the functioning of the Frankfurt parliament.

Ø   Women opposed this by founding newspapers, forming political associations and organizing public meetings and organizations.

Ø  They were denied the right to vote.

 Consequences of Liberal Movement

v   Liberal movements were crushed by the powerful conservative forces. However, old order could not be restored.

v   Monarchs realized the importance of granting concessions to the liberal nationalist revolutionaries for preventing unrest in the society.

v   Serfdom and bonded labour were abolished both in Habsburg dominions and in Russia.

v   Hungarians were granted more autonomy in 1867.

UNIFICATION OF GERMANY (1866-1871)

Ø  In 1848, middle-class Germans tried to unite the different regions of the German confederation into a nation state under an elected parliament.

Ø  In Prussia, nation building acts were repressed by the combined forces of the monarchy and the military and were supported by the landowners (“Junkers”).

Ø  Prussia took over the leadership of the movement for national unification.

Ø  Otto Von Bismark, chief minister of Prussia, was the architect of the leading role of Prussia in the process of nation-building.

Ø  Prussia emerged victorious after fighting three wars over seven years against the combined forces of Austria, Denmark and France and the process of unification of Germany was completed.

Ø  18th January 1871: The new German empire headed by the German Emperor Kaiser William I was declared in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles.

Ø  The unification of Germany established Prussian dominance in Europe.

Ø  The New German Empire focused on modernizing the currency, banking, legal and judicial systems.

UNIFICATION OF ITALY

 A long history of political fragmentation was experienced in Italy.

Italy during the middle of the nineteenth century

v   Was divided into seven states.

v  Only Sardinia-Piedmont was ruled by an Italian princely house.

v  The North was under Austrian Habsburgs.

v  The centre was under Pope.

v  The South was under the Bourbon Kings of Spain.

      Italian language had varieties of dialects; therefore, it was not stable in its form.

DURING THE 1830S

v  Giuseppe Mazzini formed a coherent program for uniting the Italian Republic.

v   Also, formed a secret society called Young Italy.

v   Failure of the 1831 and 1848 revolutionary uprisings prompted King Victor Emmanuel II from Sardinia-Piedmont to unify the Italian states.

v  Chief Minister of Sardinia-Piedmont, Count Cavour, led the movement for the unification of Italy.

1859: Sardinia-Piedmont with an alliance with France defeated the Austrian forces. Large number of people under the leadership of Giuseppe Garibaldi joined the movement.

o   1860: Sardinia-Piedmont‟s forces marched into south Italy and the Kingdom of the Two Scillies and drove out the Spanish rulers.

o   1861: Victor Emanuel was declared as the king of united Italy and Rome was declared the capital of Italy.

BRITAIN AS A NATION

o   Britain was not a nation state prior to 18th century. The primary identities were based on ethnicity such as English, Welsh, Scot or Irish.

o   The steady growth of power made the English nation extend its influence over the other nations and islands.

o   1688: England established as a nation state. English parliament seized power from the monarchy.

o   1707: The United Kingdom of Great Britain formed with the Act of the Union between England and Scotland.

o   England dominated Scotland and Ireland in all spheres. British Parliament was dominated by English members.

o   1801: Ireland was forcibly taken by the British after the failed revolution led by Wolfe and his United Irishmen (1798).

o   A new „British Nation‟ was formed with her various symbols such as the British flag (Union Jack), the national anthem (“God Save Our Noble King”) and the English language.

 VISUALISING THE NATION

v  Nation was personified in the female form by the artists of the 19th century.

v  Female allegories such as that of liberty, justice and republic were invented.

v  In France, the idea of a people’s nation was the christened Marianne. She was characterized by       the ideas of liberty and republic.

v  In Germany, Germania became the allegory of the nation.

NATIONALISM AND IMPERIALISM

Nationalism culminated into imperialism in the last quarter of the 19th century.

THE BALKANS IN EUROPE AFTER 1871

v  The Balkans comprised modern-day Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro.

v  The disintegration of the ruling Ottoman Empire and the spread of the ideas of romantic nationalism made this area explosive.

v  The European subject nationalities started breaking from its control to declare independence.

v  The Balkan revolutionaries‟ acts were directed to gain back the long-lost independence.

v  The Balkan States were fiercely jealous of each other and wanted to gain more territory at the expense of the other.

v  There was intense rivalry among the European powers over trade, colonies, naval might and military might. European powers such as Russia, Germany, England and Austro-Hungary were keen on opposing the hold of other powers over the Balkans for extending their own area of control.

v  All these events ultimately triggered the First World War (1914).

v  Nationalism stained with imperialism led Europe to disaster.

v  Many colonized countries in the world started to oppose imperial domination.

v  The anti-imperialist movements developed as nationalist movements.