The Rise of Nationalism in Europe

What is Nationalism?
 Nationalism is an ideology that states a nation is formed by a group of people with a common identity,
language culture
 Nationalism is a feeling of belongingness to one’s nation. It is a feeling of oneness or togetherness,
characterized by common culture, land or history.

During the 19th Century, the idea of nationalism made changes in political and mental world of
Europe. There was the emergence of nation-states in place of multi-states and multi-national
dynastic empires in Europe and in these nation-states the citizens and the rulers developed a sense of
common identity and shared history. Nationalism is a feeling of belongingness to one nation. It is a
feeling of oneness or togetherness, characterized by common culture, land or history.

Nationalism and Imperialism

 Nationalism, aligned with imperialism, led Europe to disaster in 1914 (World War 1)
 Imperialism is a political system in which a rich and powerful country controls other
countries (colonies) which are not as rich and powerful as itself
 Many countries in the world which had been colonized by the European powers in the 19 th century
began to oppose imperial domination.
 The anti-imperial movements that developed everywhere were nationalist, in the sense that they
all struggled to form independent nation-states, and were inspired by a sense of collective
national unity, forged in confrontation with imperialism.
 European ideas of nationalism were nowhere replicated but 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.

 Frédéric Sorrieu, a French artist, prepared a series of four prints visualizing his dream of a world made
up of ‘democratic and social Republics’, as he called them in 1848.
 The first print which is shown above is said to be his Utopian Vision (A vision of a society that is so
ideal that it is unlikely to actually exist) where peoples of the peoples of the world are grouped as
distinct nations, identified through their flags and national costume.

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 The Dream of Worldwide Democratic and Social Republics – The Pact between Nations, a print
prepared by French Artist Frédéric Sorrieu, 1848.
 During French Revolution Liberty was personified as a female figure – she holds the torch of
Enlightenment in one hand and the Charter of the Rights of Man in the other.
 On the earth in the foreground of the image lies the shattered remains of the symbols of absolutist
institutions i.e. the form of monarchical government that was centralised, militarized and repressive
 In the image men and women of all ages and social classes of Europe and America are seen marching
in a long train, and offering homage to the statue of Liberty as they pass by it.
 Leading the procession, way past the statue of Liberty, are the United States and Switzerland, which
by this time were already nation-states.
 France which can be identified by the revolutionary tricolor flag has just reached the statue.
 France is followed by the peoples of Germany, bearing the black, red and gold flag - at the time when
this image was created, Germany did not yet exist as a united nation – the flag they carry is an
expression of liberal hopes in 1848 to unify the numerous German-speaking principalities into a
nation-state under a democratic constitution.
 Following the German peoples are the peoples of
 Austria,  England,
 the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies,  Ireland,
 Lombardy,  Hungary and
 Poland,  Russia.

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 From the heavens above, Christ, saints and angels gaze upon the scene. They have been used by
Sorrieu to symbolize fraternity among the nations of the world.

The Making of Nationalism in Europe

 In mid-eighteenth-century Europe there were no ‘nation-states’ as we know them today.
 The French Revolution of 1789 was the first clear expression of Nationalism.
 It was difficult to promote a sense of political unity as the people of different regions even under a
single ruler spoke different languages and belonged to different ethnic groups.
 Present Day Germany, Italy and Switzerland were divided into kingdoms, duchies and cantons whose
rulers had their autonomous territories.
Kingdoms: a politically organized community or major territorial unit having a monarchical form of
government headed by a king or queen
Duchies: also called a dukedom, is a territory or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler
hierarchically second to the king or queen in Western European tradition.
Cantons: a small territorial division of a country: such as one of the states of the Swiss confederation
 Eastern and Central Europe were under autocratic monarchies within the territories of which lived
diverse peoples.
 The Habsburg Empire that ruled over Austria-Hungary was a patchwork of many different regions
and peoples. It included the
 Alpine regions the Tyrol, Austria and the Sudetenland
 Bohemia, where the aristocracy was predominantly German-speaking.
 The Italian-speaking provinces of Lombardy and Venetia.
 Hungary where half of the population spoke Magyar while the other half spoke a variety of
dialects.
 In Galicia, the aristocracy spoke Polish.
 Besides these three dominant groups, there also lived within the boundaries of the empire, a
mass of subject peasant peoples – Bohemians and Slovaks to the north, Slovenes in Carniola,
Croats to the south, and Romans to the east in Transylvania.

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 Structure of European Society

Aristocracy Peasantry Middle Class

Aristocracy
 Dominant class
 Members were united by a common way of life that cut across regional divisions.
 Owned estates in the countryside and also town-houses.
 Spoke French for purposes of diplomacy and in high society.
 Their families were often connected by ties of marriage.
 Small group

Peasantry
 Majority of the population
 Poor People of the society
 Didn’t have much land, and some were even landless
 Not very powerful

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Middle Class
 New Social Class emerged with the growth of towns and emergence of commercial classes whose
existence was based on production for the market.
 Working-class population made up of industrialists, businessmen, professionals.
 Till late 19th century In Central and Eastern Europe these groups were smaller in number.
 Educated Class where ideas of national unity following the abolition of aristocratic privileges
gained popularity

FRANCE
 French Revolution happened in 1789 which led to the transfer of sovereignty from the
monarchy to a body of French citizens.
 The French revolutionaries introduced various measures and practices that created a sense of
collective identity amongst the French people.
 Ideas of la patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen)
 New French flag, the tricolor, was chosen to replace the former royal standard.
 Estates General was elected by the body of active citizens and renamed the
National Assembly.
 New hymns composed, oaths taken and martyrs were commemorated
 Centralised administrative system was put in place and it formulated uniform laws
for all citizens within its territory.
 Internal customs duties and dues were abolished
 Uniform system of weights and measures was adopted.
 French became the common language of the nation.

 Students and other members of educated middle classes began setting up Jacobin clubs. Their
activities and campaigns prepared the way for the French armies which moved into Holland,
Belgium, Switzerland and much of Italy in the 1790s.
 With the outbreak of the revolutionary wars, the French armies began to carry the idea of
nationalism abroad.

Napoleon Bonaparte
 During the French Revolution (1789-1799) Napoleon rapidly rose through the ranks of the military
 1797 - Napoleon invades Italy; Napoleonic wars begin.
 Napoleon gained absolute powers from 1799 to 1804 by becoming the first Consul or leader of
France after the Directory(the then government) was overthrown
 After the fall of the Directory, Napoleon ruled France from 1799 to 1815
 In the administrative field Napoleon had incorporated revolutionary principles in order to make
the whole system more rational and efficient.

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 1804 - Napoleon’s numerous reforms in government include the Napoleonic Code, the French civil
code enacted on March 21 that clarifies and makes uniform the laws of France. He also
reconstructed the French education system. Napoleon declared France a hereditary empire and
crowns himself emperor under the name Napoleon I.
 1813–14 - The Battle of Leipzig (October 1813) results in the destruction of what was left of French
power in Germany and Poland. Napoleon was forced to withdraw west of the Rhine River. Allied
forces invaded France, capturing Paris on March 30, 1814. Napoleon was forced to abdicate on
April 6 and was forced into exile

 1815 - Napoleon managed to return to France to reestablish himself as emperor for the Hundred
Days, but he was decisively defeated at the Battle of Waterloo on June 18.
 Within the territories that came under Napoleon’s control, he introduced many of the reforms that
he had already introduced in France including the Napoleonic Code. In some areas French rule
was welcomed as introduction of Liberty, whereas in some areas it was not accepted
 In the first half of the 19th Century Napoleon's administrative measures had created a
confederation of 39 states of the German-speaking regions. Each of these regions had its own
currencies, and weights and measures which involved time-consuming calculations

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 *serfdom - The system under which peasants were forced to live and work under feudal lords
*manorial dues - the fees that peasants or serfs owe to the nobles, who is their landlord
*guild - an association of artisans/merchants whoever looks after the practice of their craft/ trade
in a particular area

 Peasants, artisans, workers and new businessmen enjoyed a new-found freedom.

 Businessmen and small-scale producers of goods, in particular, began to realize that uniform laws,
standardized weights and measures, and a common national currency would facilitate the movement
and exchange of goods and capital from one region to another.

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 Treaty of Vienna - 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 of Vienna was hosted by the Austrian Chancellor Duke Metternich who said “When
France sneezes, the rest of Europe catches cold”
 The delegates drew up the Treaty of Vienna of 1815 with the object of undoing most of the changes
that had come about in Europe during the Napoleonic wars.
 The Bourbon dynasty of France was restored to power
 France lost the territories it had annexed under Napoleon.
 A series of states were set up on the boundaries of France to prevent French expansion
in future.
 The kingdom of the Netherlands, which included Belgium, was set up in the north and
Genoa was added to Piedmont in the south. .
 Prussia was given important new territories on its western frontiers and a portion of
Saxony
 Austria was given control of northern Italy.
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  The German confederation of 39 states that had been set up by Napoleon was left
untouched because the confederation aimed to replace the old Holy Roman Empire,
which had been destroyed during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
 Russia was given part of Poland
What happens in France after 1815?
1815 - Bourbon Dynasty was restored to power
1830 - July - The first uprising took place in France in July 1830. The Bourbon kings who had been
restored to power were now overthrown by liberal revolutionaries who installed a
constitutional monarchy with Louis Philippe at its head. This was referred to as the July

Revolution.
1848 - February - Food shortages and widespread unemployment brought the population of Paris out
on the roads.
The poor, unemployed and starving peasants and workers revolted
Barricades were erected and Louis Philippe was forced to flee.
A National Assembly proclaimed France a Republic, granted suffrage to all adult
males above 21, and guaranteed the right to work - National workshops to provide
employment were set up

Age of Conservatism - after 1815

 Following the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, European governments were driven by a spirit of
conservatism.
 Monarchy was restored
 The powers of Church, social hierarchies that existed in pre-revolutionary Europe were restored
 Conservatives did not tolerate criticism and dissent, and restricted activities that questioned the
legitimacy of autocratic governments.
 Imposed censorship laws to control what was said in newspapers, books, plays and songs which
reflected the ideas of liberty and freedom associated with the French Revolution.
 Many conservatives believed that established institutions of state & society should be preserved
with the changes initiated by Napoleon
 Some even believed that modernization could in fact strengthen traditional institutions like the
monarchy -a modern army, an efficient bureaucracy, a dynamic economy, the abolition of
feudalism and serfdom

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Liberal Nationalism
 The term ‘Liberalism’ derives from the Latin root ‘liber’ meaning free.
 The end of autocracy and clerical privileges
 A constitutional and representative government through parliament
 Emphasized the concept of government by consent.
 For the new middle classes liberalism stood for freedom for the individual and equality of all before
the law.
 Yet, equality before the law did not necessarily stand for universal suffrage - In
France men without property and all women were excluded from political rights.
However only for a brief period under the Jacobins all adult males enjoyed
suffrage. Therefore men without property and women later joined the
revolutionaries
 Liberals also stressed the inviolability of private property which means that they were not against
the existence of private property.
 The French Revolution inspired liberals. One of the major issues taken up by the liberal-nationalists
was freedom of the press.
 In the economic sphere, liberalism stood for the freedom of markets and the abolition of state
imposed restrictions on the movement of goods and capital.

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 The new commercial classes argued for the creation of a unified economic territory allowing the
unhindered movement of goods, people and capital.
 Though conservative forces were able to suppress liberal movements in 1848, they could not
restore the old order. Monarchs began to realize that the cycles of revolution and repression could
only be ended by granting concessions to the liberal-nationalist revolutionaries.
 Hence, in the years after 1848, the autocratic monarchies of Central and Eastern Europe began to
introduce the changes that had already taken place in Western Europe before 1815.Thus 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.

Revolutions and Revolutionaries

 During the years following 1815, the fear of repression drove many liberal-nationalists
underground.
 To be revolutionary at this time meant a commitment to oppose monarchical forms that had been
established after the Vienna Congress, and to fight for liberty and freedom.
 Secret societies were formed up in many European states to train revolutionaries and spread their
ideas.
 Most of these revolutionaries saw the creation of nation-states as a necessary part of this struggle
for freedom - to name Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Mazzini. Austrian Chancellor Duke Metternich
described him as ‘the most dangerous enemy of our social order’.
 As conservative regimes tried to consolidate their power, liberalism and nationalism came to be
increasingly associated with revolution in many regions of Europe such as the Italian and German
states, the provinces of the Ottoman Empire, Ireland and Poland.
 These revolutions were led by the liberal-nationalists belonging to the educated middle-class elite,
among whom were professors, schoolteachers, clerks and members of the commercial middle
classes.

The Romantic Imagination and National Feeling

 Romanticism is a cultural movement which sought to develop a particular form of nationalist
sentiment, criticized the glorification of reason and science focused instead on emotions, intuition
and mystical feelings.
 German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) claimed that German culture is among
the common people – das volk It was through folk songs, folk poetry and folk dances that the true
spirit of the nation (volksgeist) was popularized

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 Emphasis was given on vernacular language and the collection of local folklore to carry the
nationalist message to large audiences who were mostly illiterate

 Poland - Had been partitioned at the end of the 18th century by Russia, Prussia and

Austria. Even though Poland did not exist as an independent territory, national
feelings were kept alive through music and language.
 Polish Composer 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 and the
Russian language was imposed everywhere.
 In 1831, an armed rebellion against Russian rule took place which was ultimately
crushed. After this, Polish was used for Church gatherings and all religious instruction
as a weapon of national resistance.
 As a result, a large number of priests and bishops were put in jail or sent to Siberia by
the Russian authorities as punishment for their refusal to preach in Russian.
 The use of Polish came to be seen as a symbol of the struggle against Russian
dominance.

Hunger, Hardship and Popular Revolt

 The 1830s were years of great economic hardship in Europe.
 In Europe’s most countries there were more seekers of jobs than employment.
 Population from rural areas migrated to the cities to live in overcrowded slums
 Small producers in towns were faced stiff competition from imports of cheap machine-made goods
from England, where industrialization especially for textile production was more advanced than
other countries.
 Peasants struggled under the burden of feudal dues and obligations.
 The rise of food prices or a year of bad harvest led to widespread poverty in town and country.
 1845 - Weavers in Silesia led a revolt against contractors who supplied them raw material and gave
them orders for finished textiles but drastically reduced their payments. 11 weavers were shot in
the conflict
 1848 -Due to food shortages and widespread unemployment, people in Paris protested which led
to the removal of France’s Constitutional Monarch - Louis Philippe

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 Visualising the Nation
 Nations were portrayed as female figures (Allegory).
 The female form that was chosen to personify the nation did not stand for any particular woman in
real life; rather it sought to give the abstract idea of the nation a concrete form.
 Allegory – When an abstract idea (for instance, greed, envy, freedom, liberty) is expressed through
a person or a thing. An allegorical story has two meanings, one literal and one symbolic

 Germania became the allegory of the German nation.

 In visual representations, Germania wears a crown of oak leaves, as the German oak stands for
heroism.

Meaning of the symbols in the allegory of 1836 by Philipp Veit

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 Greece
 Greece had been part of the Ottoman Empire since the 15th century.
 1821 - Struggle for independence amongst the Greeks began
 The Greek war of independence mobilized nationalist feelings among the educated elite across
Europe
 Nationalists in Greece got support from other Greeks living in exile and also from many West
Europeans who had sympathies for ancient Greek culture.
 Poets and artists lauded Greece as the cradle of European civilization and mobilized public
opinion to support its struggle against a Muslim empire.
 Greece was considered the cradle of Western civilization, being the birthplace of
democracy, foundational elements of Western civilization, including philosophy, art,
literature, major scientific and mathematical principles, theatre, and the Olympic
Games.

 1832 - The Treaty of Constantinople recognized Greece as an independent nation.

 Lord Byron - Was an English poet who organized funds and later went to fight in the Greek war of
Independence (1821-1832), where he died of fever in 1824.

*Ottoman Empire - Turkish Empire ruled by the Caliph - the spiritual and temporal head of the Muslims

Belgium
The July Revolution that happened in France in 1830 sparked an uprising in Brussels which led to
Belgium breaking away from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands - independent kingdom was
established - “Kingdom of Belgium”
August - 1830 - July - 1831 - Belgian Revolution

Germany
 Napoleon’s administrative measures had created a confederation of 39 states. Each of these
possessed its own currency, and weights and measures.
 1834 - To have unhindered movement of goods, people and capital, a customs union or

zollverein was formed at the initiative of Prussia and joined by most of the German states.
 The union abolished tariff barriers
 Reduced the number of currencies from over thirty to two
 Creation of a network of railways

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 1848 - 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.
 Large numbers of women had participated actively over the years in the liberal movements. They
had formed their own political associations, founded newspapers and taken part in political
meetings and demonstrations. Despite this they were denied suffrage rights during the election
of the Assembly.
 Middle-class Germans tried to unite the different regions of the German confederation into a
nation-state governed by an elected parliament.
 On 18 May 1848, 831 elected representatives marched 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.
 This liberal initiative to nation-building was repressed by the combined forces of the
monarchy and the military, supported by the large landowners (called Junkers) of
Prussia.

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 Otto von Bismarck, chief minister of Prussia with the help of the Prussian army and bureaucracy
took on the leadership of the movement for national unification. Hence Otto von Bismarck is

referred to as the architect of the Unification of Germany

 Three wars over seven years – with Austria, Denmark and France – ended in Prussian victory and
completed the process of unification.
 An assembly comprising the princes of the German states, representatives of the army, important
Prussian ministers including the chief minister Otto von Bismarck gathered in the unheated Hall of
Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles on 18 January 1871to proclaim the new German

Emperor Kaiser William I of Prussia.

 The nation-building process in Germany had demonstrated the dominance of Prussian state power.
 The new state placed a strong emphasis on modernizing
 the currency,
 banking,
 legal
 judicial systems

Italy
 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
 The southern regions were under the domination of the Bourbon kings of Spain.

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 Even the Italian language had not acquired one common form and still had many regional and local
variations.

 During the 1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini had sought to put together a clear program for a unitary
Italian Republic.
 Giuseppe Mazzini was an Italian revolutionary born in Genoa in 1807
 He became a member of the secret society of the Carbonari.
 In 1831he was sent into exile in for attempting a revolution in Liguria.
 He founded two more underground societies, first, Young Italy in Marseilles, and
then, Young Europe in Berne, whose members were like-minded young men from
Poland, France, Italy and the German states.
 Mazzini believed that Italy had to be forged into a single unified republic within a
wider alliance of nations.
 Following his model, secret societies were set up in Germany, France, Switzerland and
Poland.

 The failure of revolutionary uprisings both in 1831 and 1848 meant that the task of unification of
Italy was on Sardinia-Piedmont under its ruler King Victor Emmanuel II to unify the Italian states
through war.
 Chief Minister of Sardinia-Piedmont state Count Camillo de Cavour who led the
movement to unify the regions of Italy was neither a revolutionary nor a democrat.
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 1859 - Through alliance with France, Sardinia-Piedmont succeeded in defeating the Austrian forces
 Giuseppe Garibaldi also joined the movement of Unification. Previously In 1833 he met Mazzini,
joined the Young Italy movement and participated in a republican uprising in Piedmont in 1834.
 1860 - Garibaldi led the famous Expedition of the Thousand to South Italy. Fresh volunteers kept
joining through the course of the campaign, till their numbers grew to about 30,000. They were
popularly known as Red Shirts. With the support of local peasants in South Italy and the Kingdom of
the Two Sicilies the Spanish rulers were defeated.

 1861 - Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of united Italy.

Britain
 There was no British nation prior to the 18th century.
 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. 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.
 1688 - The English parliament seized power from the monarchy and with England at its centre a
nation state was established.
 1707 - The Act of Union between England and Scotland resulted in the formation of the ‘United
Kingdom of Great Britain’
 The British parliament was henceforth dominated by its English members.
 The growth of a British identity meant that Scotland’s distinctive culture and political
institutions were systematically suppressed. The Catholic clans that inhabited the
Scottish Highlands suffered terrible repression whenever they attempted to assert

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 their independence. 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.

 Ireland was a country deeply divided between Catholics and Protestants.

 The English helped the Protestants of Ireland to establish their dominance over a
largely Catholic country. Catholic revolts against British dominance were suppressed.
After a failed revolt led by Wolfe Tone and his United Irishmen (1798), Ireland was
forcibly incorporated into the United Kingdom in 1801
 A new ‘British nation’ was forged through the propagation of a dominant English culture.
 The symbols of new Britain were – the British flag (Union Jack), the national anthem (God Save Our
Noble King), the English language

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 out of which a large part was under
the control of the Ottoman Empire.
 The Balkans comprised modern-day Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia,
Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro whose inhabitants
were broadly known as the Slavs

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  The different Slavic nationalities struggled to define their identity and independence; the Balkan
area became an area of intense conflict.
 The Balkan states were fiercely jealous of each other and each hoped to gain more territory at the
expense of the others.
 There was intense rivalry among the European powers over trade and colonies as well as naval and
military might.
 Russia, Germany, England, Austro-Hungary – was keen on countering the hold of other powers over
the Balkans, and extending its own control over the area. This led to a series of wars in the region
and finally the First World War.

Meaning of important words

 Plebiscite – A direct vote by which all the people of a region are asked to accept or reject a proposal
 Ethnic – Relates to a common racial, tribal, or cultural origin or background that a community identifies
with or claims

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Class X _ Phase 1 _ History _ The Rise of Nationalism in Europe _ SDM