Nationalism In Europe
In 1848, Frédéric Sorrieu, a French artist - The Dream of Worldwide Democratic and Social
Republics
Visualised the emergence of the nation-state instead of the multi-national dynastic empires
A nation-state - majority of citizens as well as rulers develop a sense of common identity
The French Revolution and the Idea of the Nation
France - transfer of sovereignty from the monarchy to a body of French citizens (the people
constitute the nation)
Sense of collective identity
The ideas of la patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen) - united community enjoying
equal rights under a constitution
A new French flag, the tricolour replaced the former royal standard
The Estates General was elected by the body of active citizens and renamed the National
Assembly
New hymns were composed, oaths taken and martyrs commemorated in the name of the nation
A centralised administrative system formulated uniform laws for all citizens
Internal customs duties and dues were abolished
A uniform system of weights and measures was adopted
Regional dialects were discouraged and French became the common language
Civil Code
Napoleon destroyed democracy in France, but in the administrative field he had incorporated
revolutionary principles
Advantages
The Civil Code of 1804 (the Napoleonic Code)
Did away with all privileges based on birth
Established equality before the law
Secured the right to property
In the Dutch Republic, in Switzerland, in Italy and Germany Napoleon
Simplified administrative divisions
Abolished the feudal system
Freed peasants from serfdom and manorial dues
In the towns too, guild restrictions were removed
Transport and communication systems were improved
Businessmen and small-scale producers of goods, - uniform laws, standardised weights and
measures, and a common national currency - facilitate the movement and exchange of goods
and capital from one region to another
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Nationalism In Europe
Disadvantages
The new administrative arrangements did not go hand in hand with political freedom
Increased taxation & censorship
Forced conscription into the French armies to capture rest of Europe
The Aristocracy and the New Middle Class
Socially and politically, a landed aristocracy though small in number was the dominant class
Owned estates in the countryside and also town-houses
Spoke French for purposes of diplomacy and in high society
Families were often connected by ties of marriage
Industrialisation in Europe
A working-class population and middle classes made (industrialists, businessmen, professionals)
Educated, liberal middle classes - ideas of national unity, abolition of aristocratic privileges
What did Liberal Nationalism Stand for?
Freedom for the individual and equality of all before the law
Politically, government by consent
In France, the right to vote and to get elected was granted exclusively to property-owning men
Women and non-propertied men organised opposition movements demanding equal political
rights
Economically, freedom of markets and the abolition of state-imposed restrictions
Eg: Germany - multiple measurements for the same unit
In 1834, a customs union or zollverein
Initiative of Prussia
Joined by most of the German states
Abolished tariff barriers and reduced the number of currencies from over thirty to two
Railways - harnessing economic interests to national unification
A New Conservatism after 1815
Defeat of Napoleon in 1815 - Conservatism
Conservatives - the monarchy, the Church, social hierarchies, property and the family –
preserved
Modernisation could strengthen traditional institutions like the monarchy
A modern army, an efficient bureaucracy, a dynamic economy, the abolition of feudalism and
serfdom
Treaty of Vienna
1815 - Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria
Hosted by the Austrian Chancellor Duke Metternich
The Bourbon dynasty was restored to power
A series of states were set up on the boundaries of France to prevent French expansion
Netherlands, which included Belgium, was set up in the north
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Nationalism In Europe
Genoa was added to Piedmont in the south
Prussia was given new territories on its western frontiers
Austria was given control of northern Italy
The German confederation of 39 states - untouched - under the church
East, Russia was given part of Poland
Prussia was given a portion of Saxony
The main intention - restore the monarchies overthrown by Napoleon and create a new
conservative order in Europe
Conservative - autocratic
Did not tolerate criticism and dissent
Imposed censorship laws to control what was said in newspapers, books, plays and songs
The Revolutionaries
Secret societies - European states to train revolutionaries
Revolutionary - a commitment to oppose monarchical forms, fight for liberty and freedom
Revolutionaries saw the creation of nation-states - necessary
Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Mazzini
Born in Genoa in 1807 - member of the secret society of the Carbonari
At 24, sent into exile in 1831 for attempting a revolution in Liguria
Two secret societies - Young Italy in Marseilles, Young Europe in Berne
Mazzini believed that God had intended nations to be the natural units of mankind
Following his model, secret societies were set up in Germany, France, Switzerland and Poland
Mazzini’s relentless opposition to monarchy and his vision of democratic republics frightened
the conservatives
Metternich described him as ‘the most dangerous enemy of our social order’.
The Age of Revolutions: 1830-1848
France in July 1830
The Bourbon kings overthrown by liberal revolutionaries - installed a constitutional monarchy -
Louis Philippe (head)
Metternich: When France sneezes, the rest of Europe catches cold.
The July Revolution - uprising in Brussels - Belgium breaking away from the United Kingdom of
the Netherlands
The Greek war of independence
Greece - part of the Ottoman Empire since the fifteenth century
The struggle for independence began in 1821
Supported by other Greeks living in exile, West Europeans
Greece - the cradle of European civilisation
The English poet Lord Byron organised funds and later went to fight in the war, where he died of
fever in 1824
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Nationalism In Europe
The Treaty of Constantinople of 1832 - Greece - independent
The Romantic Imagination and National Feeling
Culture played an important role in creating the idea of the nation
Art and poetry, stories and music helped express and shape nationalist feelings
Romanticism: criticism of reason and science and focused on emotions, intuition and mystical
feelings
German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803)
True German culture was to be discovered among the common people
Collecting and recording these forms of folk culture was essential
Poland
Karol Kurpinski celebrated the national struggle through his operas and music, turning folk
dances like the polonaise and mazurka into nationalist symbols
After Russian occupation, the Polish language was forced out of schools
In 1831, an armed rebellion - crushed
Polish - banned - still used for Church gatherings and all religious instruction
A large number of priests and bishops were put in jail or sent to Siberia
Hunger, Hardship and Popular Revolt
The 1830s - great economic hardship in Europe
Enormous increase in population
More seekers of jobs than employment
Population from rural areas migrated to the cities
Small producers in towns faced with stiff competition from imports of cheap machine-made
goods from England
In those regions where the aristocracy enjoyed power, peasants - burden of feudal dues and
obligations
The rise of food prices or a year of bad harvest led to widespread pauperism
1848 - Food shortages and widespread unemployment
Louis Philippe was forced to flee
National Assembly proclaimed a Republic
Granted suffrage to all adult males above 21
Guaranteed the right to work
National workshops to provide employment were set up.
1845, Silesia
Weavers in Silesia - revolt against contractors - supplied them raw material and gave them
orders - reduced payments
On 4 June at 2 p.m. a large crowd of weavers marched to the mansion of their contractor
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Nationalism In Europe
Demand of higher wages
They were treated with scorn and threats
A group forced their way into the house, smashed its elegant window- panes, furniture,
porcelain
Another group broke into the storehouse and plundered it of supplies of cloth - tore to shreds
The contractor fled with his family
He returned 24 hours later with the army
Eleven weavers were shot
1848: The Revolution of the Liberals
February 1848 in France - abdication of the monarch and a republic with universal male suffrage
Germany, Italy, Poland, the Austro-Hungarian Empire – men and women - constitutionalism with
national unification
Demands for the creation of a nation-state based on a constitution, freedom of the press and
freedom of association
German regions - middle-class professionals, businessmen and prosperous artisans - vote for an
all-German National Assembly
On 18 May 1848, 831 elected representatives - Frankfurt parliament - Church of St Paul
German nation to be headed by a monarchy subject to a parliament
Offered the crown - Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia rejected - oppose the elected assembly
Middle classes resisted the demands of workers and artisans - lost their support
Troops were called - assembly was forced to disband
Political rights to women - controversial issue
Women - formed their own political associations, founded newspapers and taken part in political
meetings and demonstrations
Yet, they were denied suffrage rights during the election of the Assembly
When the Frankfurt parliament convened in the Church of St Paul, women were admitted only
as observers
Conservatives - suppressed liberal movements in 1848
They could not restore the old order
Monarchs - realise - revolution and repression - ended by granting concessions
Autocratic monarchies of Central and Eastern Europe
Serfdom and bonded labour were abolished both in the Habsburg dominions and in Russia
The Habsburg rulers granted more autonomy to the Hungarians in 1867
Unification of Germany
After 1848, nationalism - promoting state power and achieving political domination over Europe
Prussia - leadership of national unification
Chief minister, Otto von Bismarck unified Germany with the help of the Prussian army and
bureaucracy
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Nationalism In Europe
Three wars over seven years – with Austria, Denmark and France – ended in Prussian victory
18 January 1871, the Prussian king (Kaiser), William I, was proclaimed German Emperor at
Versailles
The new state - modernising the currency, banking, legal and judicial systems in Germany
Unification of Italy
Italy - political fragmentation
Italy was divided into seven states, of which only one, Sardinia-Piedmont, was ruled by an Italian
princely house
Italian language had many regional and local variations
1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini - revolution - failed
Responsibility of unification now on Sardinia-Piedmont under King Victor Emmanuel II
Chief Minister Cavour - tactful diplomatic alliance with France - defeated the Austrian forces in
1859
Giuseppe Garibaldi - 1860 - marched into South Italy, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies - winning
the support of the local peasants
In 1861 Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of united Italy
Unification of Great Britain (The strange case)
English nation steadily grew in wealth, importance and power
The Act of Union (1707) between England and Scotland
Formation of the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain’
Scottish Highlanders - forbidden to speak their Gaelic language or wear their national dress
Large numbers were forcibly driven out of their homeland
Ireland- divided between Catholics and Protestants
The English helped the Protestants - establish their dominance
Catholic revolts - were suppressed
A failed revolt led by Wolfe Tone and his United Irishmen (1798)
Ireland - forcibly incorporated into the United Kingdom in 1801
The British flag (Union Jack), the national anthem (God Save Our Noble King), the English
language – were actively promoted
Visualising the Nation
How does one go about giving a face to a nation? - Personifying a nation
Nations were then portrayed as female figures - allegory
Portray ideas such as Liberty, Justice and the Republic
Attributes of Liberty - red cap, or the broken chain
Justice - blindfolded woman carrying a pair of weighing scales
France - christened Marianne
Liberty and the Republic – the red cap, the tricolour, the cockade
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Nationalism In Europe
Statues of Marianne were erected in public squares
Marianne images were marked on coins and stamps
Germania - German nation
Germania wears a crown of oak leaves, as the German oak stands for heroism
Nationalism and Imperialism
Last quarter of the nineteenth century, nationalist groups became increasingly intolerant of each
other and ever ready to go to war
After 1871 - Balkans
Comprising modern-day Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-
Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro (Slavs) A large part under the control of the
Ottoman Empire
All through the nineteenth century the Ottoman Empire had sought to strengthen itself but with
very little success
European subject nationalities broke away from its control and declared independence
The Balkan states were jealous of each other
Hoped to gain more territory
Intense rivalry among the European powers and colonies over trade, naval and military might
Russia, Germany, England, Austro-Hungary – hold over the Balkans
Finally the First World War
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