CLASS X THE RISE OF NATIONALISM IN EUROPE (HISTORY-1)

THE RISE OF NATIONALISM IN EUROPE

FREDERIC SORRIEU’S PRINTS

•       In 1848, Frederic Sorrieu prepared a series of 4 prints visualizing his dream of a world made up of democratic and social republics.

•       In the first print, we see people of Europe and America, men and women of all ages and social classes, moving in a long chain and offering homage to The statue of Liberty, which has the Torch of Enlightenment in one hand and the Charter of the Rights of Man on the other.

•       On the ground, we see shattered images of Absolutist(a monarchical form of govt that was centralized, militererised and repressive) institutions.

•       The people are grouped as distinct nations, and can be identified through their flags and national costumes.

•       Leading the procession were the USA and Switzerland, who were already nation states. France (tricolour) has just reached the statue, followed by Germany (black, red and gold flag), Austria, kingdom of Two socities-Lombardy, Poland, England, Ireland, Hungary & Russia.

•       From the heavens above, Christ & Angels gaze(watch) upon the scene.

•       This utopian painting was done by the artist to symbolizes fraternity among nations of the world.

1.   Emergence of Nationalism in Europe

•       During the nineteenth century, nationalism brought about sweeping changes in the political and mental world of Europe.

•       Nation states emerged in place of the multinational dynastic empires of Europe.

•       The concept of a modern state had been developing over a long period of time in Europe.

•       Nation state is one in which the majority of its citizens, and not only its rulers come to develop a sense of common identity and shared history or descent which were forged through struggles, actions of leaders and the common people.

2. The French Revolution in 1789
• The first clear expression of nationalism came with the French Revolution in 1789.

•       France was a full-fledged territorial state in 1789 under the rule of an absolute monarch.

•       The political and constitutional changes that came in the wake of the French Revolution led to the transfer of sovereignty from the monarchy to a body of French citizens.

•       The French Revolutionaries introduced various measures and practices that could create a sense of collective identity amongst the French people like the ideas of la patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen).

•       A new French flag, the tricolour, was chosen to replace the former royal standard.

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

•       New hymns were composed, oaths taken and martyrs commemorated, all in the name of the nation.

•       A centralized administrative system formulated uniform laws for all citizens within its territory.

•       Internal customs duties and dues were abolished.

•       A uniform system of weights and measures was adopted.

•       Regional dialects were discouraged, and French, as it was spoken and written in Paris, became the common language of the nation by discouraging regional dialects.

•       The revolutionaries declared that it was the mission and the destiny of the French nation to liberate the people of Europe from despotism.

3. The Napoleonic Code

•       The Civil code of 1804 – usually known as the Napoleonic Code – did away with

•       Abolished all the privileges based on birth

•       established equality before the law

•       Secured the right to property

•       Simplified administrative divisions

•       Abolished the feudal system.

•       Freed peasants from serfdom and manorial dues.

•       Transportation and communication systems were improved.

•       Peasants, artisans, workers and new businessmen enjoed a new found freedom.

•       In the areas conquered by the French, such as Holland and Switzerland and cities such as Mainz, Brussesls, Milan and Warsaw, the French armies were welcomed as harbingers(forerunner)of liberty.

•       But this feeling turned to hostility, ? Reasons……

•       Increased taxation

•       Censorship

•       Forced recruitment into the French Army

•       Political freedom

4. Europe in the mid 18^th century

•       Europe was divided into kingdoms, duchies and cantons whose rulers had their autonomous territories.

•       They did not see themselves as sharing a collective identity or a common culture. They spoke different languages and dialects and belonged to different ethnic groups.

•       Habsburg Empire(ruled Austria-Hungary) included the Alpine regions. The Tyrol, Austria and Sudentland, Bohemia(German speaking aristocracy prevalent), Italian speaking provinces of Lombardy and Venetia .

•       Hungary – Half of the population spoke Magyar while the rest spoke in a variety of other dialects.

•       Galicia – Polish speaking aristocracy.

•       Peasant people : Bohemians and Slovaks

•       These differences present did not promote collective unity. The only tie binding them was a common allegiance(commitment) to the emperor.

Features of Aristocracy in Europe

•       The Aristocracy were a dominant group socially and politically, but numerically small.

•       They owned estates in the countryside and town-houses.

•       They spoke French for diplomacy and in high society.

•       Their families were connected by ties of marriage.

Ideas of Liberalism/Liberal Nationalism

•       The word liberalism is derived from the Latin root ‘liber’ meaning free.

•       Different interpretations of liberalism

•       New middle classes-Freedom of the individual, equality of all before law.

•       Polically-Govt by consent

•       Since the French Revn-liberalism had stood for the end of autocracy and  clerical privileges, a constitution and representative govt through parliament.

•       19^th century liberals-inviolability of private property

•       Economic sphere-Freedom of markets and the abolition of state-imposed restrictions on the movement of goods and capital. Eg-situation of Germany

Economic situation of Germany

•       Germany was a confederation of 39 states. Each of them possessed its own currency, weights and measures.

•       Duties were levied according to the weight and measurement of goods which involved time consuming calculation.

•       Measure of cloth – elle

•       1 elle in Frankfurt – 54.7 cm

•       In Mainz – 55.1 cm

•       In Nuremburg – 65.6 cm

•       In Freiburg – 53.5 cm

Liberalism and Women’s rights

•       Liberalism did not necessarily stand for universal suffrage.

•       In revolutionary France, the right to vote and to get elected were granted exclusively to property owning men(active citizens). Men without property and all women were excluded from voting(passive citizens).

•       Under the Jacobins, all adult males enjoyed suffrage.

•       Under the Napoleonic code, limited suffrage was granted and reduced women to the status of a minor, subject to the authority of fathers and husbands.

•       Throughout the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, women and non-propertied men organized opposition movements demanding equal political rights.

FORMATION OF ZOLLVERIN

•       In 1834, a German Customs Union or zollverin was formed as the initiative of Prussia and joined by most of the German States.

•       The union abolished tariff barriers and reduced the number of currencies from over thirty to two.

•       The creation of a network of railways further stimulated mobility, harnessing economic interests to national unification.

5. CONSERVATISM IN EUROPE

•       It’s a political philosophy that stressed the importance of tradition, established institutions and customs, and preferred gradual development to quick change.

•       They believed that established traditional institutions of state and society, like the monarchy of the church, social hierarchies, property and the family should be preserved.

•       Following the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the European govts.were driven by a spirit of conservatism.

•       However, they did not want to go back to the old system of Monarchy.

•       Following the Napoleonic code of 1804, they understood that implementation of a system similar to that of the Napoleonic code could strengthen monarchy.

•       A modern army, an efficient bureaucracy, a dynamic economy, the abolition of feudalism and serfdom could strengthen autocracies in Europe.

6. THE TREATY OF VIENNA OF 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.

•       Also known as Vienna Congress, this was hosted by Austrian Chancellor Duke Metternich.

•       Aim-Undoing most of the changes that had come about in Europe during the Napoleonic wars.

RESULT OF VIENNA CONGRESS

•       The Bourbon dynasty, which was removed from power during the French Revolution, were restored.

•       A series of states were formed surrounding France to prevent French Expansion.

•       Netherlands in the North

•       Piedmont (Genoa) in the South

•       Prussia in the West

•       Austria (Northern Italy), Russia (Poland) in the East

•       German Federation – 39 states

•       Aim-To restore the monarchies and create conservative order.

•       Conservatives of 1815 were autocratic -  they did not tolerate criticism and dissent and sought to curb activities that questioned the autonomous rule of conservatives.

•       Censorship laws were set up.

GUISEPPE MAZZINI

•       Born  in Genoa in 1807

•       Became a member of secret society  ‘Carbonari’

•       Was sent to exile in 1831, when he was 24 years old for attempting a revolution in Liguria

•       Founder of 2 secret societies : Young Italy in Marseilles, Young Europe in Berne

•       Members were like minded men from Poland, France, Italy and German states

•       Believed that God intended nations to  be natural units of mankind, and hence Italy could not continue to be a patchwork of small states and kingdoms but has to be forged into a single nation

•       A key person(revolutionary) in the Unification of Italy

•       Metternich described him as – The most dangerous enemy of our social order

7. THE AGE OF REVOLUTIONS 1830-48

•       First upheaval took place in July 1830 in France

•       The Bourbon kings who had been restored to power were overthrown by liberal revolutionaries and installed a constitutional monarchy with Louis Philippe as its head.

•       Duke Metternich once remarked, “when France sneezes, the rest of Europe catches a cold”

•       July Revolution sparked an uprising in Brussels which led to Belgium breaking away from the United Kingdom of Netherlands.

8. GREEK WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

•       Greece had been a part of the Ottoman Empire since the 15^th century, and the growth of revolutionary nationalism in Europe sparked off a national movement here .

•       It began in 1821

•       Got support from other Greeks living in exile and also from many West Europeans who sympathised with Greece.

•       Poets and artists praised Greece as the Cradle of European Civilization and mobilised public support to fight against the Muslim Empire (romanticism)

•       English poet Lord Byron collected funds and went to fight in the war, where he died in 1824

•       The treaty of Constantinople of 1832 declared Greece as an independent nation.

ROMANTICISM

•       A cultural movement which sought to develop a particular form of nationalist sentiment.

•       Roman artists and poets criticized the glorification of reason and science and focused on emotions, intuition and mystical feelings.

•       Aim: To create a sense of shared collective heritage, a common cultural past as the basis of a nation.

•       Eg: German philosopher Johann Gottfried claimed that true German culture was to be discovered among common people-Das Volk, and it was through folk songs, folk poetry and dance that the spirit of the nation was popularized.

•       Volksgeist-True spirit of the nation

CASE OF POLAND – NATIONALISM KEPT ALIVE

•       Poland had been partitioned at the end of the 18^th century by the Great powers-Russia, Prussia and Austria.

•       Even though Poland no longer existed as an independent territory, nationalist feelings were kept alive through music and language.

•       Karol Kurpinski promoted the nationalist sentiment through his operas and music, turning dances like the polonaise and mazurka into nationalist symbols.

•       After Russian occupation in Poland, Russian language was imposed everywhere.

•       In 1831, Armed rebellion against Russia – failure

•       People began to use Polish as a symbol of resistance against Russian dominance, and was used for Church gatherings and all religious institution.

•       As a result, a large no.of bishops and priests were put in jail for speaking Polish.

•       The use of Polish came to be known as a symbol of struggle against Russian dominance.

HUNGER, HARDSHIP & POPULAR REVOLT

•       Increasing economic hardship during the 1830s.

•       Widespread unemployment, urban congestion, competition from machine made goods from England, feudal dues, rising food prices, failed crops.

•       Popular revolt in France in 1848 resulted in Louis Philippe fleeing, France declared a republic with voting for all men above 21 and national workshops for more employment.

•       In Selisia in 1845 weavers led a revolt against the contractor who was cheating them.

•       They surrounded his house and demanded higher wages.

•       Getting only threats from him they attacked his house, destroyed his goods.

9. Frankfurt Parliament

•       In the German regions a large number of political associations whose members were middle-class professionals, businessmen and prosperous artisans came together in the city of Frankfurt and decided to vote for an all-German National Assembly.

•       On 18th May 1848, 831 elected representatives marched in a festive procession to take their places in the Frankfurt parliament convened in the Church of St Paul.

•       They drafted a constitution for a German nation to be headed by a monarchy subject to a parliament.

•       When the deputies offered the crown on these terms to Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia, he rejected it and joined other monarchs to oppose the elected assembly.

•       While the opposition of the aristocracy and military became stronger, the social basis of  parliament eroded.

•       The parliament was dominated by the middle classes who resisted the demands of workers and artisans and consequently lost their support.

•       In the end troops were called in and the assembly was forced to disband.

•       Women were denied suffrage rights during the election of the Assembly.

•       When the Frankfurt parliament convened in the Church of St Paul, women were admitted only as observers to stand in the visitors’ gallery.

10. Emergency of UK

•       The model of the nation or the nation-state, some scholars have argued, is Great Britain.

•       In Britain the formation of the nation-state was not the result of a sudden upheaval or revolution.

•       The primary identities of the people who inhabited the British Isles were ethnic ones – such as English, Welsh, Scot or Irish. All of these ethnic groups had their own cultural and political traditions.

•       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.

•       The English parliament, which had seized power from the monarchy in 1688 at the end of a protracted conflict, was the instrument through which a nation-state, the England at its centre, came to be forged.

•       The Act of Union (1707) between England and Scotland that resulted in the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain meant, in effect that England was able to impose its influence on Scotland. The British   parliament was henceforth dominated by its English members.

•       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 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 suffered a similar fate. It 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 the new Britain – the British flag (Union Jack), the national anthem (God Save Our Noble King), the English language – were actively promoted and the older nations survived only as subordinate partners in this union.

11. The Unification of Germany

•       Nationalist feelings were widespread among middle-class Germans, who in 1849 tried to unite the different regions of the German confederation into a nation-building was, however, repressed by the large landowners (called Junkers) of Prussia.

•       From then on, Prussia took on the leadership of the movement for national unification.

•       Its Chief Minister, Otto von Bismarch, was the architect of this process carried out with the help of the Prussian army and bureaucracy.

•       Three wars over seven years – with Austria, Denmark ad France – ended in Prussian victory and completed the process of unification.

•       In January 1871, the Prussian king, William I, was proclaimed German emperor in a ceremony held at Versailles.

•       On the bitterly cold morning of 18 January 1871, an assembly comprising the princes of the German states, representatives of the army, important Prussian ministers including the chief minister Otto von Bismarch gathered in the unheated Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles to proclaim the new German Empire headed by Kaiser William I of Prussia.

•       The nation building process in Germany had demonstrated the dominance of Prussian state power. Prussian measures and practices often became a model for the rest of Germany.

12. The Unification of Italy

•       Italy too had a long history of political fragmentation.

•       Italians were scattered over several dynastic states as well as the multi-national Habsburg Empire.

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

•       The north was under Austrian Habsburgs, the centre was ruled by the Pope and the southern regions were under the domination not acquired one common form and still had many regional and local variations.

•       During the 1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini had sought to put together a coherent programme for a unitary Italian Republic.

•       He had also formed a secret society called Young Italy for the dissemination of his goals.

•       The failure of the revolutionary uprisings both in 1831 and 1848 meant that the mantle now fell on Sardinia-Piedmont under its ruler King Victor Emmanuel II to unify the Italian states through war. In the eyes of the ruling elites of this region, a unified Italy offered them the possibility of economic development and political dominance.

•       Chief Minister Cavour who led the movement to unify the regions of Italy was neither a revolutionary nor a democrat. He spoke French much better than he did Italian.

•       Through a tactful diplomatic alliance with France  engineered by Cavour, Sardinia-Piedmont succeeded in defeating the Austrian forces in 1859.

•       A large number of armed volunteers under the leadership of Giuseppe Garibaldi joined the fray.

•       In 1860, they marched into South Italy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and succeeded in winning the support of the local peasants in order to drive out the Spanish rulers.

•       In 1861 Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of united Italy.

•       However much of the Italian population remained unaware of the liberal-nationalist  ideology.

•       The peasant masses who had never heard of Italia, and believed the ‘La Talia’ was Victor Emmanuel’s wife

13. Visualizing a Nation

•       Artists in the 18th and 19th centuries found a way of personifying a nation. In other words they represented a country as if it were a person.

•       Nations were then portrayed as female figures. That is, the female figure became an allegory of the nation.

•       During the French Revolution artists used the female allegory to portray ideas such as liberty, Justice and the red cap, or the broken chain, while Justice is generally a blindfolded woman carrying a pair of weighing scales.

•       Similar female allegories were invented by artists in the 19th century to represent the nation.

•       In France, she was christened Marianne, a popular Christian name, which underlined the idea of a people’s nation. Her characteristics were drawn from those of Liberty and the Republic – the red cap, the tricolour, the cockade.

•       Statues of Marianne were erected in public squares to remind the public of the national symbol of unity and to persuade them to identify with it.

•       Marianne images were marked on coins and stamps.

•       Similarly, Germania became the allegory of the German nation. Germania wears a crown of oak leaves, as the German oak stands for heroism.

ALLEGORY

•       When an abstract idea is expressed through a person or thing. It has two meanings – literal and symbolic.

•       Nations were portrayed as female figures, and they did not stand for any woman in real life, but sought to give the abstract idea of the nation in concrete form.

•       Liberty = red cap and broken chain

•       Justice = a blindfolded woman carrying a pair of weighing scales.

MARIANNE

•       Allegory of France

•       Since Marianne was a popular Christian name, this underlined the idea of a people’s nation.

•       Wore red cap, tricolour and cockade

•       Statues of Marianne were erected in public square to remind the public of the national symbol of unity and do persuade them to identify with it.

•       Marianne images were printed on coins and stamps

Allegory of Germany

•       Wears a crown of oak leaves  = symbolism

•       Some Important allegories and their interpretations

•       Red cap/Broken chains = Liberty

•       Blindfolded woman with a pair of weighing scales = Justice

•       Marianne = Allegory of France

•       Germania = allegory of Germany

•       German Oak/Crown of Oak leaves = Heroism

•       Breastplate with eagle = German empires stregnth

•       Sword = Readiness to fight

•       Olive branch around the word = willing to make peace

•       Rays of rising sun = beginning of a new era

•       Black, red and gold tricolour = Flag of the liberal nationalists in 1848, banned by the Dukes of Germany

Nationalism & Imperialism

•       Nationalism – A sense of feeling of pride and collectiveness for one’s own country.

•       Imperialism – A system in which rich and powerful countries control other countries or desire for control over other countries.

14. Nationalist Tensions in Balkans

•       Balkans was a region of geographic and ethnic variation comprising modern day Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro.

•       Inhabitants were known as slaves and were under the control of Ottoman Empire.

•       Inspired by the nationalist movements in Europe, the Balkan nationalities demanded independence and they broke away from the control of Ottoman Empire.

•       After different Slavic nations were formed, they struggled to define their identity, leading to conflicts.

•       The Balkans states were fiercely jealous of each other and wanted to gain more territory.

•       At the same time, the European powers were also competing for trade and colonies as well as naval and military might.

•       Each Great Power – Russia, Germany, England, Austro-Hungary wanted to gain power in Balkans, which led to a series of wars in the region and finally the First World War in 1914.

Conclusion

•       Nationalism stained with Imperialism led Europe to disaster.

•       Many colonized countries in the world started to oppose imperial domination.

•       The anti-imperialist movements developed as nationalist movements