The rise of nationalism in europe, Class - x (Martand Classes)

Martand classes
Class – X
Chapter – 1 (History)
The Rise of Nationalism in Europe
Prepared by
Aditya Mishra
TGT- Social Science

THE DREAM OF WORLDWIDE DEMOCRATIC AND SOCIAL REPUBLIC

Emergence of Nationalism in Europe
 During the nineteenth century, nationalism brought about sweeping
changes in the political and mental world of Europe.
 Nation states emerged in place of the multinational dynastic empires
of Europe.
 The concept of a modern state had been developing over a long
period of time in Europe.
 Nation state is one in which the majority of its citizens, and not only
its rulers come to develop a sense of common identity and shared
history or descent which were forged through struggles, actions of
leaders and the common people.

The French Revolution in
1789
• The first clear expression of nationalism came with the French Revolution in 1789.
• France was a full-fledged territorial state in 1789 under the rule of an absolute
monarch.
• The political and constitutional changes that came in the wake of the French
Revolution led
to the transfer of sovereignty from the monarchy to a body of French citizens. • The
French Revolutionaries introduced various measures and practices that could create a
sense of collective identity amongst the French people like the ideas of la patrie(the
fatherland) and le
citoyen(the citizen).

• A new French flag, the tricolour, was chosen to replace 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, all in the name
of the nation.
• A centralised administrative system formulated uniform laws for all citizens within its
territory.
• Internal customs duties and dues were abolished.
• A uniform system of weights and measures was adopted.
• French, as it was spoken and written in Paris, became the common language of the
nation by discouraging regional dialects.

The Napoleonic Code
vThe Civil code of 1804 – usually known as the Napoloenic Code – did away with
all the privileges based on birth, established equality before the law and secured
the right to property
vThis code was exported to the regions under French control.
vIn the Dutch Republic, in Switzerland, in Italy and Germany, Napoleon simplified
administrative divisions, abolished the feudal system and freed peasants from
serfdom and manorial dues.
vTransport and communication systems were improved.
vIn the towns too, guild restrictions were removed.
vPeasants , artisans, workers and new businessmen enjoyed a new found freedom.

Spread of Nationalism to other Parts of Europe
• When the news of the events in France reached
the different cities of Europe, students and other
members of educated middle classes began setting
up Jacobin clubs.
• The French armies moved into Holland, Belgium,
Switzerland and much of Italy in the 1790s.
With the outbreak of the revolutionary wars, the ideas of
nationalism spread abroad.

Congress of Vienna in 1815
In 1815,representatives of the European powers – Britain,
Russia, Prussia and Austria – who had collectively defeated
Napoleon, met at Vienna to draw up a settlement for Europe.
The Congress was hosted by the Austrian Chancellor Duke
Metternich.
The delegates drew up the Treaty of Vienna of 1815.

OBJECTIVE OF VIENNA CONGRESS
Their objective was to undo most of the
changes that had come about in Europe
during the Napoleonic Code. The main
intention was to restore the monarchies
that had been overthrown by Napoleon,
and create a new conservative order in
Europe.

6.Conservatism Vs Nationalism
• Conservatism:
i. Conservative regimes set up in 1815 were autocratic.
ii. They did not tolerate criticism and dissent, and sought to
curb activities that questioned the legitimacy of
autocratic governments.
iii.They imposed censorship laws to control what was said
in newspapers, books, plays and songs and reflected the
ideas of liberty and freedom.

• Liberalism
The memory of the French Revolution
nonetheless continued to inspire liberals.
II. One of the major issues taken up by the
liberal-Nationalists was freedom of the press.
III. They criticized the new conservative
orders.

Age of Revolutionaries
vAs conservative regimes tried to consolidate their power,
liberalism and nationalism came up to be increasingly
associated with revolution in many regions of Europe.
vThese revolutions were led by the liberalnationalists
belonging to the educated middle-class elite among whom
were professors, school-teachers, clerks and members of
the commercial middle classes.

Revolution in 1830 and 1848
v REVOLUTION IN 1830:
• The first upheaval took place in France in July 1830.
• The Bourbon kings who had been restored to power during
the conservative reaction after 1815, were now overthrown by
liberal revolutionaries.
• They installed a constitutional monarchy with Louis Philippe at
its head.
• The July revolution sparked an uprising in Brussels which led
to Belgium breaking away from the United Kingdom of the
Netherlands.

vREVOLUTION IN 1848:
• Parallel to the revolts of the poor, unemployed and starving peasants and
workers in many European countries in the year 1848, a revolution led by the
educated middle class was under way.
• It brought about the abdication of the monarch and a republic based on
universal male suffrage had been proclaimed.
• In other parts of Europe where independent nation-states did not yet exist –
such as Germany, Italy, Poland, the Austro Hungarian Empire – men and
women of the liberal middle classes combined their demands for
constitutionalism with national unification.
• They took advantage of the growing popular unrest to push their demands for
the creation of a nation-state on parliamentary principles.

Frankfurt Parliament
In the German regions a large number of political associations whose members
were middle-class professionals, businessmen and prosperous artisans came
together in the city of Frankfurt and decided to vote for an all-German National
Assembly.
On 18th May 1848, 831 elected representatives marched in a festive procession to
take their places in the Frankfurt parliament convened in the Church of St Paul.
They drafted a constitution for a German nation to be headed by a monarchy
subject to a parliament.
When the deputies offered the crown on these terms to Friedrich Wilhelm IV,
King of Prussia, he rejected it and joined other monarchs to oppose the elected
assembly.

 While the opposition of the aristocracy and military
became stronger, the social basis of parliament eroded.
 The parliament was dominated by the middle classes who
resisted the demands of workers and artisans and
consequently lost their support.
 In the end troops were called in and the assembly was
forced to disband.
 Women 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 to stand in
the visitors’ gallery.

Emergency of UK
. The model of the nation or the nation-state, some scholars have
argued, is Great Britain.
. In Britain the formation of the nation-state was not the result of a
sudden upheavel or revolution.
. The primary identities of the people who inhabited the British Isles
were ethnic ones – such as English, Welsh, Scot or Irish. All of these
ethnic groups had their own cultural and political traditions.

Emergency of UK
1. The model of the nation or the nation-state, some scholars have
argued, is Great Britain.
2. In Britain the formation of the nation-state was not the result of a
sudden upheavel or revolution.
3. The primary identities of the people who inhabited the British Isles
were ethnic ones – such as English, Welsh, Scot or Irish. All of these
ethnic groups had their own cultural and political traditions.

4.But as the English nation steadily grew in wealth, importance and power, it was
able to extend its influence over the other nations of the islands.
5.The English parliament, which had seized power from the monarchy in 1688 at
the end of a protracted conflict, was the instrument through which a nation-
state, with England at its centre, came to be forged.
6.The Act of Union (1707) between England and
Scotland that resulted in the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
meant, in effect that England was able to impose its influence on Scotland. The
British parliament was henceforth dominated by its English members.

7. The growth of a British identity meant that Scotland’s distinctive culture and
political institutions were systematically suppressed.
8.The Catholic clans that inhabited the Scottish Highlands suffered terrible
repression whenever they attempted to assert their independence.
9.The Scottish Highlanders were forbidden to speak their Gaelic language or
wear their national dress, and large numbers were forcibly driven out of their
homeland.
10.Ireland suffered a similar fate. It was a country deeply divided between
Catholics and Protestants.
11.The English helped the Protestants of Ireland to establish their dominance
over a largely Catholic country.
12.Catholic revolts against British dominance were suppressed.

13.After a failed revolt led by Wolfe Tone and his United Irishmen
(1798) Ireland was forcibly incorporated into the United Kingdom
in (1801).
14.A new ‘British nation’ was forged through the propagation of a
dominant English culture.
15.The symbols of the new Britain – The British flag (Union Jack),
the national anthem (God Save Our Noble King), the English
language – were actively promoted and the older nations
survived only as subordinate partners in this union.

Unification of Germany and Italy
a) GERMANY:
• Nationalist feelings were widespread among middle-class Germans, who in 1849 tried to unite the different
regions of the German confederation into a nation-building was, however, repressed by the large
landowners (called Junkers) of Prussia.
• From then on, Prussia took on the leadership of the movement for national unification
• Its Chief Minister, Otto von Bismarch, was the architect of this process carried out with the help of the
Prussian army and bureaucracy.
• Three wars over seven years – with Austria, Denmark ad France – ended in Prussian victory and completed
the process of unification.
• In January 1871, the Prussian king ,William I, was proclaimed German emperor in a ceremony held at
Versailles.
• On the bitterly cold morning of 18 January 1871, an assembly comprising the princes of the German states,
representatives of the army, important Prussian ministers including the chief minister Otto von Bismarch gathered in
the unheated Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles to proclaim the new German Empire headed by Kaiser William
I of Prussia.
• The nation building process in Germany had demonstrated the dominance of Prussian state power.
Prussian measures and practices often became a model for the rest of Germany.

b) ITALY:
• Italy too had a long history of political fragmentation.
• Italians were scattered over several dynastic states as well as the multi-national Habsburg
Empire.
• During the middle of the 19th century, Italy was divided into seven states, of which only one,
Sardinia-Piedmont, was ruled by an Italian princely house.
• The north was under Austrian Habsburgs, the centre was ruled by the Pope and the southern
regions were under the domination not acquired one common form and still had many regional
and local variations.
• During the 1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini had sought to put together a coherent programme for a
unitary Italian Republic.
• He had also formed a secret society called Young Italy for the dissemination of his goals.
• The failure of the revolutionary uprisings both in 1831 and 1848 meant that the mantle now fell
on
Sardinia-Piedmont under its ruler King Victor Emmanuel II to unify the Italian states through war. In the
eyes of the ruling elites of this region, a unified Italy offered them the possibility of economic
development and political dominance.

• Chief Minister Cavour who led the movement to unify the
regions of Italy was neither a revolutionary nor a democrat. He
spoke French much better than he did Italian.
• Through a tactful diplomatic alliance with France engineered by
Cavour, Sardinia-Piedmont succeeded in defeating the Austrian
forces in 1859.
• A large number of armed volunteers under the leadership of
Giuseppe Garibaldi joined the fray.
• In 1860, they marched into South Italy and the Kingdom of the
Two Sicilies and succeeded in winning the support of the local
peasants in order to drive out the Spanish rulers.

1. In 1861 Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of
united Italy.
2. However much of the Italian population remained
unaware of the liberal- nationalist ideology.
3. The peasant masses who had never heard of
Italia, and believed the ‘La Talia’ was Victor
Emmanuel’s wife!

Visualizing a Nation
QArtists in the 18th and 19th centuries found a way of personifying a nation. In other
words they represented a country as if it were a person.
QNations were then portrayed as female figures. That is, the female figure became an
allegory of the nation.
QDuring the French Revolution artists used the female allegory to portray ideas such as
liberty, Justice and the red cap, or the broken chain, while Justice is generally a
blindfolded woman carrying a pair of weighing scales.
Q Similar female allegories were invented by artists in the 19th century to represent the
nation.
Q In France, she was christened Marianne, a popular Christian name, which underlined
the idea of a people’s nation. Her characteristics were drawn from those of Liberty and
the Republic – the red cap, the tricolour, the cockade.

QStatues of Marianne were erected in public squares to
remind the public of the national symbol of unity and to
persuade them to identify with it.
QMarianne images were marked on coins and stamps.
QSimilarly, Germania became the allegory of the German
nation. Germania wears a crown of oak leaves, as the
German oak stands for heroism.

MARIANNE
Symbolizing the Republic of France

GERMANIA
Symbolizing the German nation

Beginning of Imperialism
o By the last quarter of the 19th century nationalism no
longer retained its idealistic liberal-democratic
sentiment of the first half of the century. o It
became a narrow creed with limited ends.
o During this period nationalist groups became
increasingly intolerant of each other and ever ready
to go to war.
o The major European powers manipulated the nationalist
aspirations of the subject peoples in Europe to
further their own imperialist aims.

Conflicts of the Balkans
. The most serious source of nationalist tension in Europe after 1871 was the area called
the Balkans.
. The Balkans was a region of geographical and ethnic variation comprising modern day
Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Slovenia,
Serbia and Montenegro whose inhabitants were broadly known as the Slavs.
. A large part of the Balkans was under the control of the Ottoman Empire made this region
very explosive. All through the 19th century the Ottoman Empire had sought to strengthen
itself through modernisation and internal reforms but with very little success. One by one,
its European subject nationalities broke away from its control and declared independence.

. The Balkan peoples based their claims for independence or
political rights on nationality. They used history to prove that
they had once been independent but had subsequently been
subjugated by foreign powers.
. Hence the rebellious nationalities in the Balkans thought of
their struggles as attempts to win back their long-lost
independence.
.As the different Slavic nationalities struggled to define their
identity and independence, the Balkan area became an area
of intense conflict.

Emergency of Balkan Nationalism
1. The Balkan states were fiercely jealous of each other and each
hoped to gain more territory at the expense of the others.
2. During this period, there was intense rivalry among the
European powers over trade and colonies as well as naval and
military might. These rivalries were very evident in the way the
Balkan problem unfolded.
3. Each power – Russia, Germany, England, AustroHungary – was
keen on countering the hold of other powers over the Balkans,
and extending its own control over the area.

Conclusion
European ideals of nationalism were
nowhere replicated, for people
everywhere developed their own
specific variety of nationalism. But the
idea that societies should be organized
into ‘nation-states’ came to be
accepted as natural and universal.

The rise of nationalism in europe, Class - x (Martand Classes)

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