Nationalism in Europe

PART 1
A. Depiction of Nationalism: Painting by Frederic Sorrieu: He made a painting showing his dream of
democratic and social republics. (Pg 3)

1. It shows people of Europe and America marching in a long train and offering respect to the Statue of
Liberty.

2. The Statue of Liberty is carrying the torch of Enlightenment on one hand and the Charter of the Rights of
Man in the other.

3. On the ground, the broken images of monarchy like the crown and lying shattered.

4. In Sorrieu’s utopian vision, all people of the world are grouped into different nationalities with their own
costume and flag.

5. Switzerland and America lead the procession since they were already Nation States. France(with tricolour
flag) and Germany (red, black and gold flag) and other people follow them.

Some Meanings:
Absolutist: A government which has no restrictions on the amount of power that can be exercised by
them. In history, this is used for monarchies that were centralised, had a very powerful military and were
repressive, giving no rights to the subjects.
Utopian: A vision of a society that is so ideal that it is unlikely to actually exist.
Plebiscite: A direct vote in which all members are asked to either accept or reject a proposal.
Suffrage: Right to vote.
B. What is a Modern State?

1. There is a centralised power.

2. This power has sovereign control over a clearly defined territory.

3. This idea was being discussed in Europe for a long time.

C. What is a Nation State?

1. Majority of its citizens and not just the rulers develop a sense of common identity or shared history.

2. This commonness was achieved through struggles, actions of leaders and common people.

3. Nation states started forming in Europe in 19th century.

Making of Nationalism in Europe

D. Political Condition of Europe in the mid eighteenth century:

1. Present day countries like Germany, Italy, Switzerland were divided into kingdoms whose rulers had their
own territories.

2. Eastern and Central Europe had autocratic monarchies and diverse people lived there. They did not share
a common identity or a common culture and spoke different languages. For example: the Hapsburg Empire
that ruled over Austria-Hungary was a patchwork of many different regions and people like Tyrol, Austria,
Bohemia etc and people speaking Austrian, German, Italian, Magyar and Polish.

3. Such differences did not promote political unity and the only time binding these regions and people was a
common allegiance or loyalty to the emperor.

E. Social Conditions: Europe: 19th Century/Aristocracy and the New Middle Class:

1. Aristocrats:

a. They were the dominant class but numerically a small group.

b. They had a common way of life that cut across regional divisions.
c. They owned estates and town houses in the countryside.
d. They spoke French for diplomacy.
e. Their families had ties of marriage with each other.

2. Peasantry:

a. Majority of the population was peasantry.

b. In the West, land was cultivated by tenants and small owners.
c. In East and Central Europe, there were vast estates cultivated by serfs.

3. Middle Class:

a. In Western and Central Europe, industries and trade led to towns and the emergence of middle class.
Their existence was based on production for the market.
b. A new working class population consisting of businessmen, professionals and industrialists emerged.
c. It was among these educated, liberal middle classes that the ideas of national unity, abolishing
aristocratic privileges became popular.
F. What is Liberal Nationalism?/Meaning of Liberalism?

All ideas of Nationalism are closely linked to ideas of liberalism.

1. Original meaning: Liberalism comes from the word, liber, meaning free.

2. Middle Class: Liberalism meant freedom for the individual and equality for all before law.

3. Political Sense: Liberalism laid importance on government by consent.

4. French Revolution: During the Revolution, it stood for an end of autocracy and clerical privileges, need
of a Constitution and a representative government.

5. Nineteenth Century: Liberals in the 19th century stressed on importance of private property.

G. Liberalism in France:

1. Suffrage: Equality before law did not mean universal adult suffrage. In Revolutionary France, the right to
vote was granted only to property owning men.

2. Who could vote: All men without property and all women were excluded from political rights.

3. Jacobin rule: For a brief period under Jacobins, all adult males enjoyed suffrage. (Suffrage means right to
vote).

4. Napoleonic Code: But Napoleonic Code went back to limited suffrage and reduced women to the status
of minors who had to be under the authority of fathers and husbands.

5. Suffrage Movements: Throughout 19th and 20th centuries, women and non propertied men organised
opposition movements demanding equal political rights.

H. Liberalism in the Economic Sense:

1. Markets: Liberalism stood for freedom of markets and the abolition of state imposed restrictions on the
movement of goods and capital.

2. Example of Nuremberg: earlier, a merchant traveling from Hamburg to Nuremberg would have had to
pass through 11 custom barriers, since each region had its own system of weights and measures.

3. Duties: Duties were often levied according to the weight or measurement of the goods.

4. Own system of weights and measures: Each region had its own system of weights and measures and this
involved time consuming calculation.

5. Elle: Elle was a measure of cloth, which is each region stood for a different length.

I. Steps for Economic Reform

1. State imposed market restrictions were seen as obstacles to economic exchange by the new commercial
class.

2. They wanted a unified economic territory allowing easy movement of good, people and money.
3. In 1834, Zollverein, a customs union, was formed at the initiative of Prussia and joined by most of the
states.

4. The Union abolished trade barriers and reduced currencies from thirty to just two.

5. A creation of railway networks further stimulated mobility, helping the development of economics and
national unification. A wave of economic nationalism strengthened wider national sentiments growing at
that time.

J. Who were Liberal Nationalists?

1. They belonged to educated middle classes and included professors, school teachers and members of the
commercial class (traders).

2. They led revolutions in many regions of Europe like Germany, Italy etc.

3. They wanted to establish nation-states.

K. Impact of liberal movements on Women:

1. Controversial Issue: The issue of giving women political rights was a controversial one. Women had
formed their own political associations, started newspapers and taken part in political movements.

2. Rights Denied: Yet they were denied rights during the election of the Assembly.

3. Women stand as observers: When the Frankfurt Parliament was held in the Church of St. Paul, women
were allowed only as observers to stand in the visitor’s gallery.

L. A New Conservatism

When?

After the defeat of Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, Europe’s governments were influenced by
Conservatism.

What is Conservatism?/Meaning of Conservatism/ Definition of Conservatism:

A political philosophy that stressed on the importance of tradition, established institutions and customs
and preferred gradual development to quick change.

M. Features/Beliefs of Conservatives

1. Traditional Institutions: Traditional institutions like monarchy, Church, social hierarchy, property and
the family need to be preserved.

2. Pre Revolution Days: They did not want to return to the Pre French Revolution days.

3. Modernisation: Instead, after the changes introduced by Napoleon, they realised that modernisation could
strengthen monarchy.

4. Strong State Power: It could make state power more effective and strong.

5. Effective Monarchy: A modern army, an efficient bureaucracy, a dynamic economy, the abolition of
feudalism and serfdom could actually help monarchy and make them stronger.
N. Congress of Vienna

When: 1815

Participants: Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria, the powers which had collectively defeated Napoleon

Hosted by: Duke Metternich, Chancellor of Austria.

Objectives: The participants drafted the Treaty of Vienna of 1815 which had three objectives:

1. Undoing the changes that had come up in Europe during the Napoleonic wars.
2. Restore the monarchies which has been overthrown by Napoleon.
3. Create a new Conservative Order in Europe.

Provisions of Treaty of Vienna:

1. Bourbon Dynasty Restored: The Bourbon dynasty which was overthrown during the French Revolution
was restored to power in France.
2. France Lost Territories: France lost the territories that Napoleon had conquered. Prussia was given
important new territories in the Western Frontier and Austria was given control of Northern Italy.
3. States on French border: A series of states were set up on the borders of French expansion in future. For
example: the Kingdom of Netherland, including Belgium, was set up in the North and Genoa was added to
Piedmont in the South.
4. German Confederation: The German confederation of 39 states set up by Napoleon was left untouched.
5. Russia and Prussia: In the East, Russia was given part of Poland while Prussia was given a part of
Saxony.

O. Features of the Conservative Regimes that came up in Europe:

1. Autocratic: Conservative regimes set up in 1815 were autocratic.

2. Not tolerant: They did not tolerate criticism and dissent.
3. Restrictions: The wanted to restrict anyone who questioned the legitimacy of the autocratic government.
4. Followed Censorship: Most of the governments imposed censorship laws to control the ideas of
liberalism expressed in newspapers, books, songs etc and remind people of the French Revolution.
5. Inspiration of the French Revolution: But the memory of the Revolution still inspired liberals. The
liberal nationalists criticised the conservative regimes and demanded freedom of press.

P. Impact of Conservative Regimes over revolutionaries:

1. The fear of repression forced many liberal nationalist leaders to work underground, that is, secretly.

2. Secret societies came up in many European states to train revolutionaries and spread their ideas.

3. A revolutionary at that time was a person who:

a. Opposed the monarchies established after the Vienna Congress.
b. Fight for liberty and freedom
c. Considered nation states an essential part of the freedom struggle.

Q. The Romantic Imagination and National Feeling

What is Romanticism?
1. Culture: The feeling of nationalism did not come about only through wars. Culture played an important
role in creating the idea of a nation through songs, art, stories, poetry, music etc.
2. Criticised Glorification of Science: They criticised the glorification of science and reason and focused on
emotions, intuitions and mystic feelings.
3. Shared Heritage: They wanted to create a sense of shared collective heritage, a common cultural past as
the basis of a nation.

Examples of Romantics:

1. German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder:

a. He said that the true German culture was to be found among common people (Das volk).
b. It was through folk songs, folk poetry and folk dances that the true spirit of nation was made popular.
c. Collecting these forms of folk culture was important to nation building.

2. Karol Kurpinski: Vernacular language

a. The emphasis on vernacular language was also to carry the nationalist message to illiterate masses.
b. Example: Poland was partitioned in the end of the 18th century by the great powers: Austria, Russia and
Prussia. Although Poland no longer existed as a free country, feelings of being Polish were kept alive
through music and language.
c. Karol Kurpinsky celebrated the national struggle trough operas and music, turning their folk dances like
polanaise and mazurka into nationalist symbols.

3. Clergy and Polish Language

a. After Russian occupation, the Polish language was not to be used in schools and Russian language was
imposed everywhere.
b. In 1831, an armed rebellion against Russian rule took place which was crushed. After this, many members
of the clergy in Poland began to use language as a weapon in the national struggle. Polish was used for
Church gatherings and all religious instructions.
c. As a result, a large number of priests and bishops were out in jail or sent to Siberia by the Russian
authorities for refusing to preach in Russian and for using Polish

R. Visualising the Nation

1. Personification of Nation: Artists in the 18th and 19th centuries found a way of personifying the nation.
That is, they represented the country as if the country were a person.

2. Female Form: The female form that was chosen to represent a nation did not stand for any particular
woman in real life. Instead, it was trying to give the abstract idea of a nation a concrete form by making the
female figure an allegory of the nation.
(Allegory: When an abstract idea, like greed, envy, freedom, liberty, is expressed through a person or a
thing. An allegorical story has two meanings: one literal and the other symbolic).

3. French Revolution: During the French Revolution, artists used the female allegory to show ideas like
liberty, justice and the republic. For example, the red cap or broken chain symbolised liberty, Justice was
shown as a blindfolded woman carrying a pair of weighing scales etc.

4. Marianne: In the 19th century, a female allegory called Marianne was invented by artists in France to
symbolise the French nation. She had the features of liberty and the republic: the red cap, the tricolour and
the cockade. Statues of Marianne were erected in public squares to remind people of the national symbol of
unity. Her images were marked on coins and stamps.

5. Germania: Similarly, Germania was the allegory of the German nation. She wears a crown of oak leaves
as German oak stands for heroism.
S. Various symbols and meanings:

SYMBOLS MEANING
Broken Chains Being freed
Breastplate with eagle Symbol of the German empire showing strength
Crown of Oak Leaves Herosim
Sword Readiness to fight
Olive branch around the sword Willingness to make peace
Black, red and gold tricolour Flag of the Liberal Nationalists in 1848, banned by
the Dukes of the German states
Rays of the Rising Sun Beginning of a new era

PART 2
A. FRANCE:
I. French Revolution and the Idea of a Nation

1. First clear expression of nationalism. Till 1789, France was an absolutist state
2. After the French Revolution, the sovereignty to take decisions transferred from monarchy to French
citizens
3. People were shaping destiny of the Nation

II. Measures by French Revolutionaries to foster a sense of collective belonging:

1. The idea of fatherland and Citizenship: gave the idea of a united community enjoying equal rights
under a Constitution

2. New flag: The Tricolour replaces the royal standard.

3. National Assembly: Estate General was elected by a group of active citizens and renames as National
Assembly.

4. Hymns: New hymns an songs were written, martyrs were commemorated and oaths were taken in the
name of the nation.

5. Administrative System: Centralised administrative system was in place which had uniform laws for all
territories in France.

6. Economic sense: Internal customs and duties were abolished and uniform weights and measures were
adopted.

7. Language: Regional dialects were discouraged and French as spoken in Paris became the language of the
nation.

Revolutionaries declared that it was their mission of the French nation to liberate all people of Europe
from despotism and become Nations.

III. Effect of French Revolution on other parts of Europe:

1. Clubs: Students and middle class set up Jacobin clubs.

2. French army: The activities of these clubs helped the French army capture Holland,Belgium,
Switzerland.

3. Outbreak of Wars: With re outbreak of wars, the French army began to carry the idea of Nationalism
abroad.

IV. Role of Napoleon/Civil Code of 1804:

Napoleon had destroyed democracy in France since he became a monarch, but he made many administrative
changes to make the entire system more rational and efficient.

1. Civil Code of 1804 or Napoleonic Code:

abolished all privileges by birth
established equality before law
gave the right to property

2. Exported to other countries: This Code was followed in other regions under French control. For
example:
In Dutch Republic, Switzerland, Germany and Italy: it made administrative divisions simple, avoided
feudalism and freed peasants from serfdom.

3. In Towns:
Guild restrictions were removed
Transport and communication services were improved.

4. Peasants, Artists,Workers, Businessmen: began to enjoy the new found freedom

5. Benefit to Businessmen: Businessmen realised that a national currency, standard weights and measures
and uniform laws would help movement and exchange of goods and capital.

V. Reaction to Napoleon:

1. Local population: Reactions of local population in areas conquered by Napoleon were mixed.

2. Initial Reaction: Initially, in places like Holland and Switzerland, the French army was welcomed as
messengers of liberty

3. Later reactions: Later, the enthusiasm turned to hostility.

There was no political freedom for people.
The increased taxes, conscription and censorship caused difficulties to the people.

VI. France: July 1830 Revolution OR

Who said: ‘When France sneezes, the rest of Europe catches cold’ and why?

1. Overthrow of Bourbon Monarchy: The Bourbon Kings who had been restored to power after 1815,
were now overthrown by liberal revolutionaries.

2. Constitutional Monarchy: They installed a Constitutional Monarchy with Louis Philippe at its head.

3. Impact in Brussels: This led to an uprising in Brussels which led to Belgium breaking away from
Netherlands. Metternich has said that ‘When France sneezes, the rest of Europe catches cold.’

VII. Revolution of 1848: France

1. 1848 was a year of food shortages in France. Food shortages and unemployment led to protests in
Paris.

2. Barricades were erected and Louis Philippe was forced to flee (run away).

3. A National Assembly declared that France was a Republic, granted suffrage (right to vote) to all adult
males above 21 years of age and guaranteed the right to work. National workshops to give employment were
set up.

B. GERMANY
I. Why was Frankfurt Parliament called? Why was it disbanded?

Why Called/Convened:
1. German National Assembly: In the German regions, a large number is 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.

2. Frankfurt Parliament Convened: On 18 May 1848, 831 elected representatives marched in a

procession and took their seats in the Frankfurt Parliament that was called in the Church of St. Paul.

3. Constitutional Monarchy: They drafted a Constitution for a German nation to be headed by a monarchy
subject to a parliament.

Why Disbanded:

1. Opposition by Monarch: The representatives of the Frankfurt Parliament decided to make Germany a
Constitutional Monarchy with an elected parliament. They offered the crown of Germany to Friedrich
Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia. He rejected it and joined other monarchs to oppose the elected assembly.

2. Social Basis eroded: As the monarchs, aristocrats and military strongly opposed the idea, the social basis
of the Parliament eroded. The Parliament was dominated by the middle class who ignored the demands of
the workers and artisans and therefore lost their support.

3. Troops called in: Finally troops were called in and the assembly was forced to disband.

II. Making of Germany/German Unification/Can Army be the Architect of a Nation

1. Middle Class: Nationalist feelings were there among the middle class Germans who tried to set up a
nation-state with an elected parliament in Germany.

2. Junkers and Military: This initiative was suppressed by military and the monarchy, who were supported
by Junkers of Prussia (Junkers meat large landowners)

3. Role of Otto Von Bismarck of Prussia and the army: Prussia took upon the charge of German
unification. Prussia’s Chief Minister - Otto Von Bismarck carried out the process of unification with the help
of the army and bureaucracy.

4. Wars: Three wars in seven years - with Austria, Denmark and France - ended in Prussian victory and
completed the process of unification. In January 1871, the Prussian King, William I was proclaimed the
German Emperor in a ceremony held at Versailles in the unheard Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles.

5. Effects of German Unification: The new State started:

a. Modernising the currency
b. Gave importance to the banking, judicial and legal systems in Germany
c. Prussian models of development became an example for Germany.

C. ITALY
I. Role of Giuseppe Mazzini:

Mazzini was an Italian revolutionary who wanted opposed monarchies set up after the Vienna Congress,
fought for liberty and freedom and wanted the creation of an Italian nation-State.

1. Carbonari: He was born in Genoa is 1807 and became a member of the secret society of Carbonari.

2. Set up Underground Societies: He was sent to exile for attempting a revolution. After this he set up two
more secret societies: Young Italy (Marseilles) and Young Europe (Berne). All members were like minded
young men from France, Poland, Italy, Germany etc.

3. Unified Republic: He believed that God wanted human beings to live in nations. So Italy had to become a
united republic with several nations within it, so that Italy could be liberated.

4. Inspiration: Many secret societies followed his model and were set up in Germany, France, Switzerland
and Poland.

5. Reaction of Conservatives: Mazzini’s continuous opposition to monarchy and his idea of democratic
republics frightened the Conservatives. Metternich called Mazzini as ‘the most dangerous enemy of our
social order’.

Italy Unified
II. Condition of Italy before Unification

1. Fragmented Italy: Italy had a long history of political divisions. Italians were scattered through dynastic
states and multi national states.

2. Sardinia-Piedmont: During the middle of the 19th century, Italy was divided into seven states, of which
only Sardinia-Piedmont, was ruled by an Italian royal house.

3. Control over Italy: Northern Italy was under the Hapsburg Empire of Austria, Central Italy was ruled by
the Pope and Southern Italy was dominated by the Bourbon Kings of Spain.

4. Italian Language: Even the Italian language had many local dialects and did not have one common
form.

5. Victor Emmanuel II: Mazzini had tried to create an Italian Republic but since he failed, the
responsibility on the Italian King of Sardinia-Piedmont: Victor Emanuel II to unify the Italian states through
war. The rulers wanted a unified Italy because it could help in them becoming more powerful and in
economic development.

III. Role of Cavour and Italian Unification:

1. The responsibility on the Italian King of Sardinia-Piedmont: Victor Emanuel II to unify the Italian
states through war. The rulers wanted a unified Italy because it could help in them becoming more powerful
and in economic development.

2. Role of Cavour: Prime Minister Cavour led this Movement. He was neither a revolutionary nor a
democrat. Like most of the Italian elite, he spoke French better than he spoke Italian.
3. Defeat of Austrians: With the helpful of an alliance he made with France, Sardinia-Piedmont defeated
the Austrian army.

4. Role of Garibaldi: Apart from the regular army, a number of armed volunteers led by Giuseppe Garibaldi
joined the war. They marched into South Italy and Sicily and won the support of the local peasants for
driving out the Spanish rulers.

5. Victor Emmanuel II proclaimed King: In 1861, Victor Emmanuel II was declared the King of united
Italy. However, most of the Italian population, who were illiterate, were unaware of the nationalist ideology.
They had supported Garibaldi, had never heard of Italia and believed that La Talia was Victor Emmanuel’s
wife!
D. BALKANS
Nationalism and Imperialism
I. How did Nationalism change by the last quarter of the 19th century?

1. Nationalism, by the end of the 19th century did not retain its idealistic, liberal, democratic sentiment.
2. It had become a narrow creed with limited ends. During this period, nationalist groups became very
intolerant of each other and ever ready to go to war.
3. The major European powers started manipulating the nationalist desires of their subject people in Europe
to further their own imperialist ambitions at the cost of the people. For example: The Balkans

II. The Balkan Nationalism

One of the most serious source of nationalist tension in Europe after 1871 was the Balkans.
1. Area of the Balkans: The Balkans was a region comprising of modern day Romania, Bulgaria, Albania,
Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro whose inhabitants were
broadly known as the Slavs.

2. Control of Ottoman Empire:

a. A large part of the Balkans was under the control of the Ottoman Empire. But, the Ottoman Empire was
losing its control because of the spread of romantic nationalism and the disintegration of the Ottoman
Empire.
b. Although the Ottoman Empire tried to strengthen itself through modernisation and internal reforms, it had
very little success. One by one, its European subject nationalities broke away from its control and declared
independence.
3. Claim for Independence:
The Balkan people used history to prove that they had been independent but were later conquered by foreign
powers. This they asked for their long lost independence and political rights to be given back.
4. Balkans: area of intense conflict
a. As the Slavic people struggled to define their identity, the conflict in the area increased.
b. The Balkan states were jealous of each other and wanted to gain more territory at the expense of each
other.
5. Big Power Rivalry:
a. It was also the site of “Big Power Rivalry”: Russia, Germany, England, Austria-Hungary were rivals of
each other because they wanted control over trade and colonies.
b. Each of these powers wanted to become more powerful in the area by reducing the control of the other
powers over the Balkans. This led to a series of wars ultimately leading to the First World War, which led
Europe to disaster in 1914.
III. How did anti imperialist nationalist movements develop?

1. Many countries of the world that had been colonised by European powers began to oppose imperialism.

2. The anti imperialist movements were all nationalist, because they wanted to form independent nation-
states, and were inspired by a sense of collective national unity, strengthened by their opposition to
imperialism.

3. The idea that societies should be organised into nation states came to accepted everywhere, although
people in each region developed their own idea of nationalism

E. GREECE
I. Greek War of Independence

1. Educated elite: The Greek War of Independence mobilised nationalist feelings in the educated elite
across Europe.

2. Ottoman Empire: Greece was a part of the Ottoman Empire since the 15th century. When ideas of
nationalism emerged in Europe, the Greeks were also inspired to start a struggle for freedom in 1821.

3. Supporters: Nationalists in Greece got the support of:

Greeks living in exile
Many Europeans who respected Ancient Greek culture.

4. Support of Poets and Artists: Poets and artists admired Greece as the cradle of European civilisation and
organised public opinion to support its freedom struggle against a Muslim Empire. For example: The
English Poet Lord Bryon organised funds and went to fight in the freedom struggle, where he died.

5. Treaty of Constantinople: The Treaty of Constantinople of 1832 recognised Greece as an independent

nation.

F. BRITAIN, SCOTLAND AND IRELAND

I. The Strange Case of Britain
1. Ideal Nation State: According to many scholars, the ideal model of a nation-State came from Britain. In
Britain, the nation state was not formed through any war or revolution.
2. Ethnic Groups in British Isles: The main people who lived in British islands were ethnic groups:
English, Welsh, Scottish or Irish. All these groups had their own cultural and political traditions.
3. Dominance of English nation: But when the English nation became more wealthy, powerful and
important, it started dominating over other nations in the British Isles.
4. Capture of Parliament: The English Parliament had captured power from the monarchy in 1688 at the
end of a long conflict. At the end of the conflict, Britain became a nation-state, with England at its centre.
The Act of Union between England and Scotland resulted in the formation of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and through this Britain was able to extend its influence on Scotland.
5. Dominance over Scotland: The British Parliament was dominated by English members. Because of this,
Scotland’s political and cultural identity was suppressed. Ireland also suffered similarly at the hands of the
British.
II. Impact of English dominance on Scotland and Ireland

Scotland: Ireland

1. Suppression of Political Institutions and
Culture: The Scottish political institutions and
culture was suppressed because the British
parliament was dominated by English members.
1. Protestants and Catholics: Ireland was a country
deeply divided between Catholics and
Protestants. The English helped the Protestants to
dominate over the Catholic country. Catholic
revolutions against British dominance were
suppressed.

2. Catholic Groups: The Catholic groups that lived 2. Wolfe Tone: After a failed revolt by Wolfe Tone
in Scotland suffered harsh repression by the English and his United Irishmen, Ireland was forced to join
wherever they tried to ask for freedom. the United Kingdom.

3. Gaelic Language: The Scottish were not allowed
to speak their Gaelic language or wear their national
dress and many were forcibly driven out of their
homes
British Nation: A new British nation was made and
English culture became dominant. Symbols of new
Britain: The symbols of new Britain: the British
Flag (Union Jack), the national anthem (God Save
our Noble King), the English language, were given
importance and the culture of other ethnic groups
were ignored.

G. 1830: Hunger, Hardship and Popular Revolt

Why was 1830 a year of great economic hardship for Europe?

1. Population Increase: In the beginning of the 19th century, saw an enormous increase in population all
over Europe.

2. Unemployment: In many countries, there was unemployment as job seekers were more than available
jobs.

3. Overcrowding in Cities: People migrated from rural areas migrated to the cities and lived in crowded
slums.

4. Stiff Competition: Small producers in towns faced a lot of competition from cheap machine made
imported goods of England, especially in textile production.

5. Feudal dues: In areas where aristocracy still enjoyed privileged, peasants were burdened by feudal dues
and obligations. Rising food prices and bad harvest led to hardship in the villages and the towns.

H. 1848: REVOLUTION OF LIBERALS

I. Examine the Revolution of the Liberals of 1848. What political, social and economic ideas supported
by them.

1. Educated Middle Class: The 1848 Revolution was led by the educated middle class, along with the poor,
unemployed starving peasants and workers in many European countries for fulfilling their demands of
constitutionalism with national unification.

2. Frankfurt Parliament: In the German regions, large number of political associations, businessmen,
middle class professionals and prosperous artisans came together in the city of Frankfurt and decided to vote
for an All German National Assembly.

3. Women’s Movements: A large number of women had participated actively and formed their own
political associations and struggled for right to vote.

4. Liberal’s Demands: Liberals struggled for abolition of serfdom and bonded labour and wanted freedom
of markets.

5. Political Ideas: Politically, the liberals supported the ideas of government by consent, end of autocracy, a
constitutional and parliamentary form of government.

6. Social Ideas: Socially, it laid stress on the abolition of discrimination based on birth.

7. Economic Ideas: Economically, it laid stress on the inviolability of private property, freedom of markets
and abolition of state imposed restrictions on the movement of goods and capital.

II. Impact of the Liberal Revolution of 1848

1. Conservatives: The conservatives were able to suppress the liberal movements.

2. Rights to Nationalists: But they realised that they need to grant some rights to the nationalists.

3. Serfdom and Bonded Labour abolished: Thus, after 1848, serfdom and bonded labour was abolished in
Russia and Austria and the Hapsburg empire gave more freedom to the Hungarians.