The Rise of Nationalism in Europe

French Revolution → Idea of A NATION → Feeling of Unity

Spread all across Europe ← Jacobin Clubs were setup all across Europe
Napoleon: Vast Reach → Reforms
Rational and Efficient System

📄 Civil Code of 1804

- No Birth Privilages
- Equality before Law
- Right to Property

Abolished Feudal System {Switzerland, Italy, Germany}

Freed Peasants from Serfdom and Manorial Dues
Guild Restrictions Removed
Transport and Communication Improved
Uniform Laws, Standardized Weights and Measures, Common National Currency
First: French Armies were welcomed as the above Ideas were great in the eyes of the people.
Second: Hostility ← Other Factors:
Censorship
Increased Taxation
Forced Conscription into the French Armies
⬆ Outweighed the advantages in the administrative system
The Making of Nationalism in Europe
(18th Century) No nation-states → Europe under autocratic monarchies
Patchwork of autocratic monarchies ← No sense of political unity

Only tie binding these diverse groups → common allegiance to the emperor

The Aristocracy and the New Middle Class

Aristocracy (Socially and Politically Dominant Class)
Rich and Powerful
Ownership of Estates
Spoke French
Families connected by Marriage
→ Industrial Revolution
Primary Sector → Secondary Sector
Working Middle Class

Educated Liberal Middle Class → Ideas of National Unity & Abolition of Aristocratic Privileges

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 What did Liberal Nationalism Stand for?
Social Liberalism
New Middle Classes →
Freedom for the individual
Equality of law

Political Liberalism
Concept of government by consent
End of autocracy
Constitution
Representative Government

Napoleonic Code → Limited Suffrage + Reduced Women to status of minor + Subject to the authority of
fathers and husbands

Economic Liberalism
Freedom of Markets
Abolition of State-imposed Restrictions
Reduction of Customs
Standardization of Weights and Measures

(1834) Customs Union / Zollverein

Prussia + German States
Abolished tariff barriers + No. of currencies from over 30 to 2

Creation of Railway Networks

A new Conservatism after 1815

(1815) Napoleon defeated at Waterloo → Rise of Conservatives

📄 Conservatives
Modernization + Traditional Institutions
Monarchy, Church, Social Hierarchies, Property, Family etc.

Britain, Russia, Prussia, Austria → Treaty of Vienna

Hosted by Austrian Chancellor Duke Metternich
Treaty of Vienna of 1815
Undoing most of the changes that had come about in Europe during the Napoleonic wars.

France was surrounded by stable monarchies to ensure no more outbreaks of revolutions.

To restore monarchies that had been overthrown by Napoleon.
Conservative Regimes → Autocratic
No Toleration of Criticism
Censorship Laws Imposed
Press was being Controlled

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 The Revolutionaries
Liberal-Nationalists were driven underground ← Fear of Repression
→ Secret Societies

Giuseppe Mazzini
(1807) Born: Genoa
Member of the Carbonari

24 years old → Exile in 1831 for attempting revolution in Liguria

Formed two Secret Societies:
1. Young Italy (Marseilles)
2. Young Europe (Berne)
Believed that God had intended nations to be the natural units of mankind — had to be forged into a
single unified republic within a wider alliance of nations.
Based on Model → Secret Societies

Metternich - “the most dangerous enemy of our social order”

The Age of Revolutions

Conservatism ⬆ — Liberalism & Nationalism ⬆
Revolutions ← Led by Educated Middle-Class

France (July 1830)

Bourbon Kings ← Overthrown ← Constitutional Monarchy (Louis Philippe)
France → INFLUENCES all of Europe
→ Sparked Uprising in Brussels → Belgium breaking away from the UK
Greek War of Independence
Ottoman Empire; Revolution in 1821
Nationalists in Greek ← Outside Support
Greek: Cradle of European Civilization ← Mobilized Public Opinion
Lord Bryon (English Poet) → Organized Funds and Went to Fight; Died of Fever
Treaty of Constantinople of 1832 : Independent Greek Nation

Romantic Imagination and National Feeling

Culture — Art, Poetry, Stories, Music
Romanticism
Cultural Movement — Sought to Develop — National Sentiment
Focused on Emotions, Intuition and Mystical Feelings
→ Sense of a Shared Collective Heritage — As basis for a nation

Johann Gottfried - German Culture was to be discovered among the common people - das volk.
FOLK SONGS, FOLD POETRY, FOLD DANCES

Emphasis on vernacular language and collection of local folklore.

↕
For the illiterate (large population) and recover national spirit.

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 Poland
Polish Language Forced Out
Seen as a way against Russian Rule — Weapon of National Resistance
Disapproving Clergy were put in jail/sent to Serbia.

Language — Instrument against conservatism

Hunger, Hardship and Popular Revolt

1830s — Economic Hardship

Population Boom: 1st half of 19th century → Significant population increase across Europe.
Job Scarcity
Urban Overcrowding: Rural to Urban migration → Overcrowded slums in cities.
Import Competition: Small town producers faced competition from cheap machine-made goods from
England (advanced industrialization).
Textile Production, Feudal Burdens, Food Prices & Pauperism.

Revolution of 1848

Paris Uprising: Food shortages, unemployment → Barricades, Louis Philippe ousted, Republic
proclaimed.

Suffrage & Employment: Universal suffrage for adult males, right to work guaranteed, national workshops
established.

Weaver's Revolt in Silesia - 1845

Workers - Extreme poverty due to contractor exploitation.

Large crowd marched to contractor's mansion, demanded higher wages. → Group forced entry,
vandalized mansion, plundered cloth supplies.
Contractor fled to a neighboring village, army requisitioned.

Exchange with army led to 11 weavers shot.

1848: The Revolution of the Liberals

1. Parallel Revolutions:

Poor and Unemployed: Revolts of peasants, workers.

Educated Middle Class: Middle-class led revolution.

February 1848 - France: Monarch abdication, republic with male suffrage.

2. Liberal Middle Class Demands:

Constitutionalism & National Unification: Germany, Italy, Poland, Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Growing Popular Unrest: Constitutionalism, freedom of press and association.

German Region Political Associations: Middle-class professionals, businessmen, artisans in

Frankfurt.

German National Assembly: 831 representatives drafted constitution for monarchy under
parliament.

Monarch Rejection: Friedrich Wilhelm IV refused, joined other monarchs against assembly.

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 Middle Class Dominance: Parliament controlled by middle classes, lost worker and artisan
support.

Suppression & Disbandment: Troops ended assembly.

3. Women's Rights Struggle:

Controversial Suffrage: Women's participation, denied suffrage in Assembly.

Political Involvement: Women formed associations, newspapers, attended meetings.

Limited Participation: Women allowed as observers, visitors' gallery in St Paul's Church.

4. Post-1848 Changes:

Conservative Suppression: Could not fully restore old order.

Monarch Concessions: Realization of ending cycles of revolution, repression.

Autocratic Monarchies' Changes: Followed Western Europe's pre-1815 changes.

Abolition of Serfdom: Habsburg dominions, Russia.

Hungarian Autonomy: Habsburg rulers granted more autonomy in 1867.

The Making of Germany and Italy

Germany
After 1848
Nationalist Sentiments {Conservatives} → Promotion State Power & Political Domination over Europe

(1848) Try to make Germany — Nation State {Liberal Initiative}

Suppressed By: Monarchy + Military + Large Landowners (”Junkers”) of Prussia
Mantle of National Unification ← Otto von Bismarck, Prussian Chief Minister

3 Wars over 7 Years → France, Austria, Denmark — Unified German Empire under Kaiser William I of
Prussia {Palace of Versailles, 18 Jan 1871}

Prussian Practices & Measures → Model for Germany

Italy
Political Fragmentation
7 States
Sardinia-Piedmont — Italian Princely House
North: Austrian, Habsburgs
South: Bourbon Kings, Spain

Giuseppe Mazzini — Young Italy & Europe

Failed because it was revolution — wanted autocratic monarchy!

Mantle for Unification ← King Victor Emmanuel II, Ruler Sardinia-Piedmont

→ Chief Minister Cavour: Neither Revolutionary nor Democrat
French more than Italian
(1859) French ↔ Sardinia-Piedmont {Cavour} → Defeat of Austrian forces

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 → Armed Volunteers under Giuseppe Garibaldi
(1860) South Italy + Kingdom of the Two Sicilies + Peasants → OUT: Spanish Kings
(1861) Victor Emmanuel II — King of United Italy

Huge Illiterate Population ← Blissfully unaware of liberal-nationalist ideology

Peasant Masses thought ‘Italia’ and ‘La Talia’ was Victor Emmanuel’s Wife!

Britain
Formation of Nation State: long-drawn-out process.
Scotland: Treaty

Ethnic Identities: English, Welsh, Scot, Irish

English ⬆ → Influence to other nations
Seized Monarchy in (1688)→ Nation-state of England

(1907) Act of Union: England ~ Scotland → ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain’

English Influence in Scotland: More English in Parliament
Scotland’s Culture and Institutions ⬇
Scottish (Gaelic) Language & National Dresses were forbidden

Ireland: Wars and Bloodshed

Ireland = Catholics + Protestants
(English + Protestants) → Dominance over Catholic Country

Failed revolt by Wolfe Tone and United Irishmen (1789)

Ireland: Forcibly incorporated into the UK (1801)

Symbols of New Britain: 1) British Flag; 2) National Anthem (God Save Our Noble King) 3) The English
Language

Other nations were subordinate partners in this union.

Visualizing the Nation

“Personifying a Nation” — Female Figures — Became allegory of Nation

France: Marianne (Popular Christian Name)

Characteristics: Red Cap, Tricolor, Cockade
Statues, Coins, Stamps
Germany: Germania
Crown of Oak Leaves {German Oak → Heroism}

Nationalism and Imperialism

(After 1871) — Balkans; {Region of Ethnic and Geographic Variation} ← Under Ottoman Empire

Romantic Nationalism + Disintegration of Ottomans = Balkan Region - Highly Explosive

European Subject Nationalities broke away from ottoman empire and declared Independence.
Balkans: Claim for Independence - Nationality — History (They were ONCE an independent nation)
Rebellious Nationalities → Attempts to win back long-lost independence.

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 Struggle to define identity & independence — Balkan Area: Intense Conflict
Balkans were jealous of each other — wanted each others land.
Balkans: became scene of big power rivalry — Intense rivalry among European powers over trade,
colonies, navel and military might.
Russia, Germany, England, Austro-Hungary — Hold of other powers over the Balkans
Series of Wars → WW1 (1914)

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