Nationalism in Europe: Key Events & Processes

• Section I details significant events and processes.

The Rise of Nationalism in Europe

• Frédéric Sorrieu, a French artist, created a series of four prints in 1848 envisioning a world of "democratic and social Republics".
• The prints depict people of all ages and social classes marching in a long train, paying homage to the Statue of Liberty.
• Liberty is personified as a female figure bearing the torch of Enlightenment and the Charter of the Rights of Man.
• Shattered remains of absolutist institutions lie on the earth.
• Sorrieu's utopian vision groups people into distinct nations, identified by flags and national costume.
• The United States and Switzerland, already nation-states, lead the procession.
• They are followed by France, identifiable by the revolutionary tricolor.
• Germany, not yet a united nation at the time of the image's creation, carries a flag expressing liberal hopes for unification.
• Austria, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Lombardy, Poland, England, Ireland, Hungary, and Russia follow the German peoples.
• Christ, saints, and angels symbolize fraternity among the nations.
• Nationalism emerged as a force for sweeping change in the political and mental world of 19th-century Europe, leading to the rise of the nation-state.
• The concept of a modern state, with centralized power and sovereign control, had been developing in Europe for a long time.
• A nation-state involves the majority of citizens developing a sense of common identity, shared history, or descent.
• This commonness was forged through struggles, leadership, and the actions of common people.

Ernst Renan's Definition of a Nation

• According to French philosopher Ernst Renan (1823-92), a nation is the culmination of shared endeavors, sacrifices, and devotion.
• A heroic past, great men, and glory form a social capital for a national idea.
• Essential conditions include common glories in the past, a shared will in the present, and the desire to perform great deeds together.
• Renan views a nation as a large-scale solidarity, with its existence being a daily plebiscite.
• He believes a nation should never annex a country against its will and considers the existence of nations a guarantee of liberty.

The French Revolution and the Idea of the Nation

• The French Revolution in 1789 was the first clear expression of nationalism.
• Sovereignty transferred from the monarchy to French citizens, with the revolution proclaiming the people would constitute the nation and shape its destiny.
• French revolutionaries introduced measures and practices to create a sense of collective identity.
• The ideas of la patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen) emphasized a united community with equal rights under a constitution.
• A new French flag, the tricolour, replaced the royal standard.
• The Estates General was elected by active citizens and renamed the National Assembly.
• New hymns, oaths, and commemorations of martyrs were all done in the name of the nation.
• A centralized administrative system was established, formulating uniform laws, abolishing internal customs duties, and adopting a uniform system of weights and measures.
• Regional dialects were discouraged, and French became the common language.
• Revolutionaries declared it the French nation's mission to liberate other Europeans from despotism.
• News from France led students and educated middle classes to set up Jacobin clubs with activities preparing the way for French armies.
• French armies carried the idea of nationalism abroad, moving into Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, and Italy in the 1790s.

Napoleonic Code and its Impact

• Napoleon introduced reforms in territories under his control, incorporating revolutionary principles for a more rational and efficient system.
• The Civil Code of 1804, or Napoleonic Code, abolished privileges based on birth, established equality before the law, and secured the right to property.
• The Code was exported to regions such as the Dutch Republic, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany.
• Napoleon simplified administrative divisions, abolished the feudal system, and freed peasants from serfdom and manorial dues.
• Guild restrictions were removed, and transport and communication systems were improved.

Reactions to French Rule

• Reactions to French rule in conquered areas were mixed.
• Initially, French armies were welcomed as harbingers of liberty in places like Holland, Switzerland, Brussels, Mainz, Milan, and Warsaw.
• Enthusiasm turned to hostility as administrative arrangements did not align with political freedom.
• Increased taxation, censorship, and forced conscription outweighed the advantages of the administrative changes .

The Making of Nationalism in Europe

• Mid-18th century Europe was not divided into nation-states as understood today.
• Germany, Italy, and Switzerland consisted of kingdoms, duchies, and cantons with autonomous rulers.
• Eastern and Central Europe were under autocratic monarchies with diverse peoples who did not share a collective identity or common culture.
• The Habsburg Empire, ruling Austria-Hungary, was a patchwork of regions and people, including Alpine regions.
• The empire included the Tyrol, Austria, the Sudetenland, Bohemia, Lombardy, and Venetia.
• Half the population of Hungary spoke Magyar and the other half spoke various dialects.
• In Galicia, the aristocracy spoke Polish.
• Besides dominant groups in the Habsburg Empire, Bohemians and Slovaks, Slovenes, Croats, and Roumans formed subject groups.
• These differences hindered political unity, with allegiance to the emperor as the only binding tie.

Aristocracy and the New Middle Class

• A landed aristocracy was the dominant class socially and politically in Europe.
• Members of this class shared a common way of life, owning estates and town-houses, speaking French, and connecting through marriage.
• The aristocracy was numerically small, as evidenced by the majority of the population being peasants.
• Western Europe’s land was farmed by tenants and small owners.
• Eastern and Central Europe’s landholding was characterized by vast estates cultivated by serfs.

Industrialization and New Social Groups

• Industrial production and trade led to the growth of towns and emergence of commercial classes in Western and parts of Central Europe.
• Industry began in England in the second half of the 18th century and during the 19th century in France and areas of the German states.
• New social groups, including a working class and middle classes made up of industrialists, businessmen, and professionals, came into being.
• The educated, liberal middle classes adopted the idea of national unity after aristocratic privileges were abolished.

Liberal Nationalism

• Ideas of national unity in early 19th-century Europe were tied to liberalism.
• Liberalism, derived from the Latin liber meaning free, stood for freedom for the individual and equality before the law for the new middle classes.
• Politically, it emphasized government by consent and the end of autocracy.
• Nineteenth-century liberals advocated for a constitution, representative government through parliament, and the inviolability of private property.
• Equality before the law did not always include universal suffrage.
• Revolutionary France limited voting rights to property-owning men.
• The Napoleonic Code reduced women to the status of a minor.
• Women and non-propertied men organized opposition movements demanding equal political rights.
• Economically, liberalism promoted the freedom of markets and the abolition of state-imposed restrictions on the movement of goods and capital.
• Napoleon's administrative measures created a confederation of 39 states in German-speaking areas.
• Each state had its own currency, weights, and measures.
• Merchants passing through these states faced customs barriers with duties of approximately 5%.
• These conditions impeded economic exchange and growth.
• The customs union or zollverein was created in 1834 at the initiative of Prussia and joined by most of the German states.
• The union abolished tariff barriers and reduced the number of currencies.
• A network of railways further stimulated mobility and economic nationalism, strengthening nationalist sentiments.

Conservatism After 1815

• European governments were driven by conservatism after Napoleon's defeat in 1815.
• Conservatives aimed to preserve traditional institutions like monarchy, church, social hierarchies, property, and family.
• They realized modernization could strengthen the monarchy, making state power more effective.
• Modern army, efficient bureaucracy, and dynamic economy and the abolition of feudalism and serfdom could strengthen monarchies.
• Representatives of Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria met at Vienna in 1815 to draw up a post-war Europe settlement.
• They aimed to undo changes brought about by Napoleonic wars.
• The Bourbon dynasty was restored, and France lost annexed territories.
• States were set up on France's boundaries to prevent expansion.
• The Kingdom of the Netherlands was created in the north, Genoa was added to Piedmont in the south, Prussia gained territories on its western frontiers, and Austria controlled northern Italy.
• The German confederation of 39 states was left untouched.
• Russia gained part of Poland and Prussia gained a portion of Saxony, with the intention to restore monarchies and create a new conservative order.
• Conservative regimes were autocratic, suppressing criticism and dissent, and imposing censorship laws.