Chapter 1 –The Rise of Nationalism in Europe REFERENCE MATERIAL

Nationalism:

It is a belief which instills a sense of common identity among the members of a nation.

National flag, National symbol, National anthem, etc. play an important role in developing and
strengthening the idea of nationalism.

Rise of Nationalism in Europe:

Different regions in Europe were ruled by various multi-national dynastic empires. These were
monarchies which enjoyed absolute power over their subjects.

Modern day Germany, Italy and Switzerland were divided into kingdoms, duchies and cantons.
Their rulers had their own independent territories.

People lived under autocratic monarchies of Eastern and Central Europe.

The people did not share a collective identity. The region was full of people from different ethnic
groups who spoke different languages.

The only binding factor among the people was their loyalty to a common emperor.

The process of creation of nation- states began in 1789 with the French Revolution.

The trend was followed in other parts of the Europe and led to the establishment of the modern
democratic systems in most parts of the world at the beginning of 20th century.

French Revolution

First Expression of Nationalism: French Revolution led to a change in politics and constitution of
France. In 1789 the power was transferred from monarchy to a body of citizens. It was said that
henceforth the French people would shape the destiny of their country.

CREATING A SENSE OF NATIONHOOD:

Various steps were taken by the revolutionaries to create a sense of common identity among people.
Some of these steps are given below:

The idea of the fatherland and citizen was created to emphasize a community which enjoyed equal
rights under the constitution.

The royal standard was replaced with a new French flag; the tricolor.

The Estates General was elected by the body of active citizens and it was renamed as the National
Assembly.

In the name of nation; new hymns were composed and oaths were taken, Martyrs were
commemorated.

A centralized administrative system was created which formulated uniform laws for all citizens.

Internal custom duties were abolished.

A uniform system of weights and measures was adopted.

 Regional dialects were discouraged and French language was promoted as the common language
of the nation.

The revolutionaries also declared that it was the mission and destiny of French people to liberate the
people of Europe from despotism and help other regions of Europe in becoming nations.

Effect of French Revolution on other parts of Europe:

In different cities of Europe, people became motivated from the events in France.

As a result, students and other people from the educated middle classes started setting up Jacobin
clubs. Their activities made a ground for further intrusion by the French armies.

The French army moved into Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and a large part of Italy in the 1790s to
carry the idea of nationalism to foreign lands.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon was the Emperor of France from 1804 to 1815. He destroyed democracy in France by
reintroducing monarchy in France; but he made revolutionary changes in the field of administration.
His idea was to make the system more rational and efficient.

Work done by Napolean:

The Civil Code of 1804; known as the Napoleonic Code. The code-

abolished all privileges based on birth.

It also established equality before the law and

secured the right to property.

In those territories which came under his control; Napoleon simplified the administrative divisions
in the Dutch Republic, Switzerland, Italy and Germany.

He abolished the feudal system and made peasants free from serfdom and manorial dues.

Guild restrictions were removed in towns.

Transport and communication systems were improved.

He introduced standard system of weights and measures and a common currency.

Reaction of People:

People showed mixed reactions to the reforms introduced by Napolean.

Peasants, artisans, workers and new businessmen welcomed the reforms. They could realize that
uniform laws and standard system of weights and measures and a common currency would be more
helpful in movement and exchange of goods and capital across various regions.

Initially, the French armies were seen as the messengers of liberty in Holland, Switzerland and
Brussels, But very soon people could realize that the new administrative system was not going to
guarantee political freedom.

People reacted against increase in taxes and censorship.

 People were unhappy as the Local people had to serve in French army to conquer other parts of
Europe which was not liked by many.

Causes and Process of Emergence of Nation -States

1. Aristocracy

Aristocracy was the dominant class on the continent. They owned estates in the countryside and
also town-houses. They spoke French for purposes of diplomacy and in high society. Their families
were connected by ties of marriage. This powerful aristocracy was small in number.

The majority of the population was made up of the peasantry. The west Europe was occupied by
tenants and small owners who farmed land, while in Eastern and Central Europe the pattern of
landholding was characterized by vast estates which were cultivated by serfs.

2. New Middle Class

In Western and parts of Central Europe industrial production and trade grew. This led to the growth
of towns and emergence of new commercial classes who produced for market.

New social groups came into existence. A working class population and a middle class (composed
of industrialists, businessmen and professionals) made the new social groups. It was this class which
shaped the ideas of national unity.

3. Idea of Liberal Nationalism

In early-nineteenth-century, Europe was closely linked to the ideology of liberalism.

For the new middle classes; liberalism meant freedom for the individual and equality of all before
the law.

From the political perspective, the idea of liberalism emphasized the concept of government by
consent.

Liberalism also meant an end of autocracy and clerical privileges.

Further, it meant the need of a constitution and a representative government.

4. Suffrage:

Everyone in Europe did not have a right to vote.

During the earlier period of revolution, only property-owning men had the right to vote. For a brief
period during the Jacobins, all adult males got the voting right.

However, Napoleonic Code moved back to the earlier system of limited suffrage. Under his rule,
women were given the status of minor; subject to authority of father and husband.

The struggle for voting rights for women and non-propertied men continued throughout the
nineteenth and early twentieth century.

5. Liberalisation in Economic Sphere:

Economic liberalization was another characteristic of the Napoleonic Code. The emerging middle
class was also in favour of economic liberalization.
 Each principality had its own currency and its own units of measurement. A merchant had to pass
through many customs barriers and pay a custom duty at each barrier. Custom duty had to be paid
according to weight and measure. Wide difference in units of weight and measurement created
confusions. The conditions were not at all business friendly.

The new commercial class was demanding a unified economic territory so that there could be
unhindered movement of goods, people and capital.

In 1834, a customs union or zollverein was formed; at the initiative of Prussia and was joined by
most of the German states.

Tariff barriers were abolished and the number of currencies was reduced from thirty to two.

Development of a railways network further enhanced mobility. This created some sort of economic
nationalism which helped in strengthening the national sentiments which were growing at that time.

A New Conservatism After 1815

Napoleon was defeated in 1815 in the battle of waterloo by the combined power of Britain, Russia,
Prussia and Austria.

After the defeat of Napoleon, European governments wanted to follow conservatism. Their beliefs
were:

The conservatives believed that established, traditional institutions of state and society should be
preserved.

They believed in preserving the monarchy, the Church, social hierarchies, property.

But most of them also wanted to retain the modernization which Napoleon carried out in the
spheres of administration. They believed that modernization would strengthen traditional
institutions.

It was believed that a modern army, an efficient bureaucracy, a dynamic economy, the abolition of
feudalism and serfdom could strengthen the monarchies of Europe.

The Treaty of Vienna:

The representatives of the European powers (Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria) met at Vienna in
1815 to draw up a settlement of Europe. The Austrian Chancellor Duke Metternich was the host of
the Congress.

The Treaty of Vienna of 1815 was drawn up at this meeting. Its objective was to undo most of the
changes which had come in Europe during the Napoleonic wars.

Some of the steps taken according to the Treaty of Vienna are follows:

The Bourbon dynasty, which had been deposed during the French Revolution, was restored to
power.

A series of states were set up on the boundaries of France to prevent French expansion in future.
For example; the kingdom of the Netherlands was set up in the north. Similarly, Genoa was added to
Piedmont in the south. Prussia got some important territories on its western frontiers and Austria
got control of northern Italy.

German confederation of 39 states which had been set up by Napoleon was left untouched.
 In the east, Russia was given part of Poland, while Prussia was given a portion of Saxony.

1. Giuseppe Mazzini was an Italian revolutionary. He became a member of the secret society of the
Carbonari. He founded two more underground societies; first Young Italy in Marseilles and then
Young Europe in Berne. Mazzini believed that God had intended nations to be the natural units of
mankind. So Italy had to be forged into a single unified republic instead of being a divided into small
state kingdoms. Following him, many secret societies were set up in Germany, France, Switzerland
and Poland. The Conservatives feared Mazzini.

2. The liberals and nationalists continued to spread the idea of revolution. These people belonged to
the educated middle-class elite; like professors, school teachers, clerks and members of the
commercial middle classes.

3. The first disturbance took place in France in July 1830. The Bourbon kings were overthrown by
liberal revolutionaries. A constitutional monarchy was installed with Louis Philippe at its head.

4. The French Revolution causes an uprising in Brussels which resulted in Belgium breaking away
from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The Revolutionaries

After the events of 1815, many liberal nationalists went underground due to the fear of repression.

Role of Mazzini and other revolutionaries/nationalists:

5. Greece too started demanding independence from Muslim empire.

The Greek war of independence mobilized the nationalist feelings among the educated elite across
Europe. Poets and artists mobilized public opinion to support this struggle against the Muslim
empire. Finally, the Treaty of Constantinople of 1832 recognized Greece as an independent nation.

Role of Culture in developing nationalism

The Romantic Imagination and National Feeling

Romanticism was a cultural movement which was started to develop nationalist sentiment.

Romantic artists criticized the glorification of reason and science. They focused on emotions,
intuition and mystical feelings. They tried to create a sense of collective heritage and a common
cultural past

Romantics; like the German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder (1744 – 1803); claimed that the
true German culture could be discovered among the common people; das volk.

folk songs, folk poetry and folk dances were used to popularize the true spirit of the nation. Folk
dances; like polonaise and mazurka into nationalist symbols.

The emphasis on vernacular language was also important to take the nationalist message to a large
number of people who were mostly illiterate.

operas and music, like that of Karol Kurpinski, kept the national spirit alive.

Language too boosted nationalism. Many members of the clergy in Poland began to use language
as a weapon of national resistance. Polish was used in all Church gatherings and inall religious
instructions instead of Russian. The use of Polish thus became a symbol of the struggle against
Russian dominance.
Hunger, Hardship and Popular Revolt

The 1830s were years of great economic hardship in Europe.

There was huge growth in population in the first half of the nineteenth century.

Number of unemployed had increased manifold.

There was large scale migration from rural areas to urban areas. Such migrants lived in
overcrowded slums in the cities.

The cheap machine-made goods from England gave stiff competition to small producers in the
towns of the other European countries.

In some regions of Europe, aristocracy was still powerful and the peasants were under the burden
of feudal dues and obligations.

Bad harvest coupled with price rise in food led to pauperism in towns and country.

(Till page 16 to be covered for weekly I)

1848- A year of Revolt

The year 1848 was one such bad year. Because of shortage of food and high level of unemployment,
the people of Paris came out on the roads. The protest was at such a large scale that Louis Philippe
had to flee. A National Assembly proclaimed a republic. It granted suffrage to all adult males above
21. It guaranteed the right to work. National workshops wereset up to provide employment.

The Revolution of the Liberals

When the revolts of the poor took place in 1848, another revolution was being led bythe educated
middle classes.

In some other parts of Europe, independent nation-states did not yet exist, e.g. Germany, Italy,
Poland. Men and women of the liberal middle classes from these parts raised demands for national
unification and a constitution.

They demanded the creation of a nation-state. They wanted a constitution, freedom of press and
freedom of association.

In Germany, middle class professionals came on to the city of Frankfurt to vote for all German
National Assembly. The Frankfurt assembly was convened and they drafted a Constitution subject to
the crown.

The Making of Germany and Italy

Germany – Can the Army be the Architect of a Nation?

Germany-Nationalism in Europe moved away after 1848 from its association with democracy and
revolution. Germanyand Italy came to be unified as nation-states.

1. The architect of this process was its chief minister, Otto Van Bismarck. With the help of Prussian
army and bureaucracy took on the leadership of the movement for national unification.

2. Three wars over the seven years with Austria, Denmark and France ended in Prussian victory and
completed the process of unification.
3. In January 1871, the Prussian King, William I, was proclaimed German Emperor.

4. An assembly was held to proclaim the new German Empire.

5. The process of nation-building demonstrated the dominance of Prussian state power.

6. The currency, banking, legal and judicial system in Germany were modernised.

Italy Unified

Italy was divided into seven states in the middle of the nineteenth century, and among all the
seven states, of which only Sardinia Piedmont was ruled by an Italian Princely state.

All the regions were dominated by different kings.

In the 1830’s Giuseppe Mazzini formed a secret society called Young Italy.

Initially a unification programme for a unitary Italian republic was initiated by Giuseppe Mazzini,
but it failed.

Chief Minister Cavour led the movement, with the help of Giuseppe Garibaldi.

In 1859, Sardinia-Piedmont defeated Austrian forces. 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 1861, Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of united Italy.

The Strange Case of Britain

Great Britain was the model of the nation and prior to the eighteenth century there was no British
nation.

The nation became powerful as it steadily grew in wealth, importance and power.

In 1688, England established as a nation state.

English parliament seized power from the monarchy.

The Act of Union (1707) between England and Scotland resulted in the formation of the ‘United
Kingdom of Great Britain’ meant, in effect, that England was able to impose its influence on Scotland.

In 1801, Ireland was forcibly taken by the British after the failed revolution.

A new ‘British Nation’ was founded through the propagation of a dominant English culture.

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.

Visualising the Nation

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries artists represented a country as a person and Nations
were portrayedas female figure (Allegory).

During the French Revolution, female figures portray ideas such as Liberty, Justice and the Republic.

Liberty is represented as a red cap, or the broken chain, Justice a blindfolded woman carrying a pair
of weighingscales.
 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.

In France the allegory was christened as Marianne, in Germany – Germania became the allegory.

Nationalism and Imperialism

1. Nationalism no longer retained after the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

2. After 1871, the most tensioned area was called the Balkans comprised modern-day Romania,
Bulgaria, Albania,Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro.

3. Balkans was a region of geographical and ethnic variation was under the control of the Ottoman
Empire.

4. Ottoman Empire made the Balkans region explosive and all through the nineteenth century they
strengthenedthemselves through modernisation and internal reforms.

5. Due to various conflicts the Balkan became an area of intense conflict.

6. The idea of Romantic nationalism made this region very explosive.

7. The Balkan states were fiercely jealous of each other and each hoped to gain more territory at the
expense ofeach other.

8. European powers were also looking for extending their control over the area.

9. During this period, intense rivalry built among the European powers over trade and colonies as
well as navaland military might.

10. This led to a series of wars in the region and finally resulted in the First World War.

11. In 1914, Europe was in disaster because of Nationalism aligned with imperialism.

12. Anti-imperial movements were developed but they all struggled to form independent nation-
states.

13. The idea of ‘nation-states’ was accepted as natural and universal.