D.A.V PUBLIC SCHOOL, THANE.

STD. X (NOTES)
HISTORY: - RISE OF NATIONALISM IN EUROPE
FRENCH REVOULTION AND THE IDEA OF THE NATION(1789)
 It marks the beginning of nationalism. Salient features of the French Revolution were:
 France was under absolute monarchy in 1789.
 The Revolution transferred the sovereignty from the monarch to the French people.
 Ideas of La patrie (the fatherhood) and Le citoyen (the citizen) adopted.
 New French Flag, the tricolour, adopted replacing the royal standard.
 Estates General elected by citizens and renamed the National Assembly.
 A centralized political system established.
 Internal custom dues abolished. Uniform weights and measures adopted.
 French became the language of the nation.
 French armies moved into Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy in the 1790s with a promise of
liberating the people from their despotic rulers.
 Civil Code/Napoleonic Code (1804)
 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.
THE MAKING OF NATIONALISM IN EUROPE
 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.
 Aristocracy : The land owning class. Numerically small, but dominated Europe, both socially and
politically. Spoke French which was considered the language of the high society. 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:
 Universal Adult Suffrage was not granted to the people by the Napoleonic Code. Men without property
and women were denied the right to vote.
 Women were made subject to the authority of men.
 Markets were not free as the 39 confederacies of France had their own laws which posed problems for
the free movement of goods.
 There were no standard weights and measures and no fixed rates of custom duties, which greatly
affected the trade
 End of autocracy and clerical privileges
 Introduction of a constitution and representative government
 Inviolability of private property
 Removal of trade restrictions and freedom of market
 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 were autocratic, intolerant to criticism and dissent.
 They adopted the censorship of press for curbing the liberal ideals and 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:
 The Bourbon dynasty restored to power in France. France was disposed of its conquered territories.
 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.
 Prussia was given new territories, including a portion of Saxony, Austria got control over Northern
Italy and Russia got Poland. German 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:
 Training the revolutionaries and spreading their ideas throughout Europe.
 Opposing monarchical governments established after the Vienna Congress of 1815.
 Fighting for liberty and freedom from autocratic rule.
 Emphasizing the idea of creation of nation states.
 Giuseppe Mazzini
 He was an Italian revolutionary, born in 1807. He became a member of the secret society of the
Carbonari.
 1831: Sent into exile for attempting an upsurge in Liguria.
 Founder of Young Italy at Marseilles and Young Europe at Berne, the two secret societies.
 Believed in the unification of Italy into a republic.
 Most vociferous enemy of monarchical form of government and conservative regimes. Metternich
described him as “The most dangerous enemy of our social order”.
The Age of Revolutions (1830-1848)
 The consolidation of power by the conservative regime made liberalism and nationalism associated
with revolution in many regions of Europe.
 Italian and German states, the provinces of the Ottoman Empire, Ireland and Poland experienced such
revolutions.
 The revolutionaries comprised professors, school teachers, clerks and members of the commercial
middle class.
 July Revolution, France (1830)
 The Bourbon Kings, restored after the Vienna Congress of 1815 were overthrown by liberal
revolutionaries. Louis Philippe was installed as a constitutional monarch. Belgium broke away from the
United Kingdom of Netherlands.
 Greek War of Independence(1830)
 Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire since 15th century. Growth of nationalism in Europe started the
Greek’s struggle for independence from the Ottoman rule in 1821.
 Support from West European countries. 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.
 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.
 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. 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
 Great economic hardships were experienced in Europe. The ratio of the rise of population was larger
than that of employment generation. Migration of rural population to cities led to overcrowded slums.
 Small producers in towns (especially textile producing industries) were often ousted by the import of
cheap machine-made goods from England. Peasants still suffered under the burden of feudal dues and
obligations in some regions of Europe. Rise in food prices or a year of bad harvest left the country
poorer.
 1848, France
 Widespread food shortages and widespread unemployment experienced in Paris. Barricades were made
and Louis Philippe was forced to flee. National Assembly proclaimed a Republic. Suffrage to all males
above 21 was granted. The right to work was guaranteed. National workshops for providing employment
were set up.
 1845, Silesia Weavers revolted against contractors for the drastic reduction in their payments. This
revolution received scorns and threats alternately and resulted in the death of eleven weavers
THE MAKING OF GERMANY AND ITALY
 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.
 Their demands were rejected by the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV as he opposed the elected
assembly along with the other monarchs.
 The parliament functioned to evade the larger interests of the workers and artisans as it was largely
dominated by middle class members. Ultimately, troops forcibly disbanded the assembly.
 Liberal Movement and Women Rights
 In spite of all these efforts by the women, they still were only allowed to observe the functioning of the
Frankfurt parliament. Women opposed this by founding newspapers, forming political associations and
organizing public meetings and organizations. They were denied the right to vote.
 Consequences of Liberal Movement
 Liberal movements were crushed by the powerful conservative forces. However, old order could not be
restored.
 Monarchs realized the importance of granting concessions to the liberal nationalist revolutionaries for
preventing unrest in the society.
 Serfdom and bonded labour were abolished both in Habsburg dominions and in Russia. Hungarians
were granted more autonomy in 1867.
 Unification of Germany (1866-1871)
 In 1848, middle-class Germans tried to unite the different regions of the German confederation into a
nation state under an elected parliament.
 In Prussia, nation building acts were repressed by the combined forces of the monarchy and the military
and were supported by the landowners -Junkers.
 Prussia took over the leadership of the movement for national unification.
 Otto Von Bismark, chief minister of Prussia, was the architect of the leading role of Prussia in the
process of nation-building.
 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.
 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.
 The unification of Germany established Prussian dominance in Europe. 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 was divided into seven states.
 Only Sardinia-Piedmont was ruled by an Italian princely house. The North was under Austrian
Habsburgs and the centre was under Pope. 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 Giuseppe Mazzini formed a coherent program for uniting the Italian Republic. He
also formed a secret society called Young Italy.
 Failure of the 1831 and 1848 revolutionary uprisings prompted King Victor Emmanuel II from
Sardinia-Piedmont to unify the Italian states.
 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.
 1860: Sardinia-Piedmonts forces marched into south Italy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and
drove out the Spanish rulers.
 1861: Victor Emanuel was declared as the king of united Italy and Rome was declared the capital of
Italy.
 Britain as a Nation
 Britain was not a nation state prior to 18th century. The primary identities were based on ethnicity such
as English, Welsh, Scot or Irish.
 The steady growth of power made the English nation extend its influence over the other nations and
islands.
 1688: England established as a nation state. English parliament seized power from the monarchy.
 1707: The United Kingdom of Great Britain formed with the Act of the Union between England and
Scotland.
 England dominated Scotland and Ireland in all spheres. British Parliament was dominated by English
members.
 1801: Ireland was forcibly taken by the British after the failed revolution led by Wolfe and his United
Irishmen (1798).
 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

 Nation was personified in the female form by the artists of the 19th century.
 Female allegories such as that of liberty, justice and republic were invented.
 In France, the idea of a people’s nation was the christened Marianne. She was characterized by the
ideas of liberty and republic. In Germany, Germania became the allegory of the nation.
Nationalism and Imperialism
 Idealistic liberal democratic sentiments because of a narrow creed with limited, ends. Nationalist
groups became increasingly intolerant of each other and ever ready to go to war.
 After 1871 nationalist tension mounted in Europe in the area called Balkan’s. The Balkans was a region
of geographical and ethnic variations.
 A large part of Balkans was under the control of the Ottoman Empire.
 The spread of the ideas of romantic nationalism in the Balkans and downfall of Ottoman Empire made
this region very explosive.
 As the different Slavic nationalist struggled to define their identity and independence, the Balkans
became an area of conflict.
 There was intense rivalry among the European powers over trade and colonies. This led to a series of
wars in the region and finally the First World War.
 Many countries in the world which had been colonized by the European powers in the 19th century
began to oppose imperial domination. The anti-imperial movements developed nationalism and formed
independent nation states.
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