The Rise of Nationalism in Europe

The French Revolution and the Idea of the Nation

• The French Revolution in 1789 was the first clear expression of nationalism.
• Before 1789, France was an absolute monarchy, with sovereignty held by the monarch.
• The revolution shifted sovereignty to the French citizens.
• The ideas of la patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen) emphasized a united community.
• This community would enjoy equal rights under a constitution.
• The tricolor replaced the royal standard as the flag.
• Representatives elected by active citizens formed the Estates-General, which was renamed the National Assembly.
• New hymns, oaths, and commemorations of martyrs were created in the name of the nation.
• A centralized administrative system created uniform laws for all citizens.
• Internal customs duties were abolished, and a uniform system of weights and measures was implemented.
• French replaced regional dialects as the common language.
• Revolutionaries aimed to liberate Europe from despotism and help other peoples form nations.
• French armies spread nationalist ideas abroad during the 1790s.

The Napoleonic Code

• The Napoleonic Code was exported to regions under French control during the Napoleonic Wars.
• Napoleon simplified administrative divisions, abolished feudalism, and freed peasants in the Dutch Republic, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany.
• Guild restrictions were removed in towns, and transport/communication systems improved.
• The Napoleonic Code established equality before the law, it also secured the right to property and abolished feudal dues.
• Some sections of the population welcomed these measures.
• Increased taxation, censorship, and forced conscription created opposition to French rule in conquered territories.
• Opposition outweighed the benefits of administrative changes.

The Making of Nationalism in Europe

• Mid-18th century Europe lacked nation-states.
• The Habsburg Empire included diverse regions and peoples, such as Alpine regions, Bohemia, Lombardy and Venetia.
• People did not share a common culture or identity and spoke different languages.
• Nationalism emerged among the aristocracy and the new middle class.

The Aristocracy and the New Middle Class

• The landed aristocracy was the dominant class, owning estates.
• Aristocrats spoke French for diplomacy and in high society, despite being small in number.
• Industrial production and trade led to the rise of a working class and a middle class of industrialists, businessmen, and professionals.
• Education and new ideas contributed to the growth of the middle class.
• The educated liberal middle classes popularized the idea of national unity.

What did Liberal Nationalism Stand for?

• Liberalism originates from the Latin word liber, meaning free.
• It advocated individual freedom and equality before the law, and emphasized government by consent.
• After the French Revolution, liberalism meant the end of autocracy and clerical privileges, as well as the establishment of a constitution and representative government.
• Nineteenth-century liberals stressed the importance of private property.
• Economically, liberalism meant freedom of markets and the removal of state restrictions on the movement of goods and capital.
• The Zollverein customs union, formed in Prussia in 1834, abolished tariff barriers and reduced the number of currencies from over thirty to two.

A New Conservatism After 1815

• Following Napoleon's defeat in 1815, European governments embraced conservatism.
• Conservatives aimed to preserve traditional institutions like monarchy, Church, and social hierarchies.
• They advocated gradual development, acknowledging the inevitability of change after the French Revolution.
• The Treaty of Vienna in 1815 sought to restore monarchies and create a new conservative order in Europe.
• The Bourbon dynasty was restored in France.
• France lost territories annexed under Napoleon.
• The Kingdom of the Netherlands, including Belgium, was set up in the north, and Genoa was added to Piedmont in the south.
• Prussia gained territories on its western frontier, and Austria gained control of northern Italy.
• Russia was given part of Poland, and Prussia was given a portion of Saxony.
• The German confederation of 39 states remained unchanged.
• Conservative regimes were autocratic, repressing dissenting opinions through censorship in newspapers, books, plays, and songs.

The Revolutionaries

• Liberal-nationalists went underground fearing repression.
• Secret societies emerged to spread revolutionary ideas and fight for liberty.
• Giuseppe Mazzini founded Young Italy in Marseilles and Young Europe in Berne.
• Mazzini believed nations were natural units of mankind.
• Secret societies were founded in Germany, France, Switzerland, and Poland
• Conservatives feared the spread of revolutionary ideas.

The Age of Revolutions: 1830-1848

• The first upheaval occurred in France in July 1830.
• Liberal revolutionaries overthrew the Bourbon kings; they installed a constitutional monarchy with Louis Philippe.
• Belgium seceded from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands because of the July Revolution.
• The Greek War of Independence began in 1821.
• Greek nationalists sought independence from Ottoman rule and gained support from Greeks living in exile.
• English poet Lord Byron organized funds and fought in the war.
• The Treaty of Constantinople in 1832 recognized Greece as an independent nation.

The Romantic Imagination and National Feeling

• Romanticism emphasized emotion, intuition, and mystical feelings, representing a cultural movement.
• Romantic artists criticized reason and science, focusing on emotions instead.
• Johann Gottfried Herder believed true German culture resided among common people (das volk).
• Folk songs, poetry, and dances embodied the nation's true spirit (volksgeist).
• Collecting and recording these folk forms essential for nation-building and the importance of vernacular language.
• Local language helped carrying modern nationalist message to illiterate citizens.
• Despite Poland being partitioned by Russia, Prussia, and Austria, national feelings persisted through music and language.
• Karol Kurpinski celebrated the national struggle through operas and music.
• Language was strategically employed as a weapon for national resistance, with Polish used in churches and schools.
• Russian authorities imposed the Russian language everywhere after the armed rebellion in 1831.

Hunger, Hardship and Popular Revolt

• The 1830s brought economic hardship to Europe.
• Population increase led to more job seekers than available employment.
• Peasants were burdened by feudal dues and obligations causing food shortages and unemployment.
• In 1848, food shortages and widespread unemployment led to revolution in Paris.
• The National Assembly proclaimed a Republic, granted suffrage to all adult males over 21, and guaranteed the right to work.
• National workshops were established to provide employment.
• In Silesia, weavers revolted against contractors over reduced payments.
• On June 4, 1845, weavers marched to contractors' houses demanding higher wages.
• Military forces killed eleven weavers.

The Revolution of the Liberals

• Educated middle classes revolted in 1848.
• In Germany, political associations of middle-class professionals, businessmen, and artisans convened in Frankfurt to vote for an all-German National Assembly.
• On May 18, 1848, 831 elected representatives marched to the Frankfurt parliament in the Church of St Paul.
• They drafted a constitution for a German nation headed by a monarchy accountable to a parliament.
• Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia, rejected the crown.
• The Assembly was dominated by the middle classes, who resisted demands from workers and artisans, leading to the assembly disbanding
• Women formed political associations, founded newspapers, and participated in political meetings and demonstrations in pursuit of political rights.
• Women were denied suffrage rights during the Assembly elections.
• In the Frankfurt parliament, women could only observe from the visitors' gallery.
• Despite conservative forces suppressing liberal movements in 1848, they realized the need for some concessions.
• Serfdom and bonded labor were abolished in the Habsburg dominions and in Russia.

The Making of Germany and Italy

• After 1848, nationalism shifted away from democracy and revolution.
• Conservatives mobilized nationalist sentiments to promote state power and political domination.

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

• Nationalist feelings were widespread among middle-class Germans.
• They attempted to unite the German Confederation's regions into a nation-state governed by an elected parliament in 1848.
• This initiative was suppressed by the monarchy and military.
• Prussia assumed leadership of the national unification movement.
• Otto von Bismarck, Chief Minister of Prussia, led this process using the army and bureaucracy.
• Three wars over seven years against Austria, Denmark, and France resulted in Prussian victory and unification.
• In January 1871, Prussian King William I was proclaimed German Emperor at Versailles.
• The nation-building process highlighted Prussian state power.
• The new state focused on modernizing currency, banking, and legal and judicial systems in Germany.

Italy Unified

• Mid-19th century Italy was divided into seven states; Sardinia-Piedmont was the only one ruled by an Italian princely house.
• Northern Italy was under Austrian Habsburgs, the center under the Pope, and the southern regions under Bourbon kings of Spain.
• Giuseppe Mazzini aimed to unify Italy into a republic, and formed the secret society Young Italy.
• Due to the failure of revolutionary uprisings in 1831 and 1848, Sardinia-Piedmont took on the responsibility of unifying Italy.
• Chief Minister Cavour led the movement.
• Cavour secured an alliance with France and defeated Austrian forces in 1859 through diplomacy.
• Giuseppe Garibaldi led an army of volunteers to southern Italy and liberated the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1860.
• Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of unified Italy in 1861.

The Strange Case of Britain

• The formation of a British nation-state was a gradual, long-term process, not a sudden revolution.
• England gradually extended its influence over the other nations within the British Isles.
• England became a nation-state with its own parliament
• The Act of Union (1707) between England and Scotland led to the creation of the "United Kingdom of Great Britain."
• The expansion of British identity resulted in the suppression of Scotland's unique culture and political institutions.
• Ireland was forcibly integrated into the United Kingdom in 1801 after a failed revolt led by Wolfe Tone and his United Irishmen; it suffered a similar fate to Scotland.
• British nationalism was promoted through symbols, national anthem ("God Save Our Noble King"), and the English language.

Visualising the Nation

• In the 18th and 19th centuries, artists used personification to represent a nation.
• Nations were portrayed as female figures or allegories.
• Marianne was the allegory of the French nation.
• Statues of Marianne were erected in public squares to remind the public of the national symbol of unity.
• Marianne's images were marked on coins and stamps.
• Germania became the allegory of the German nation.
• Germania wears a crown of oak leaves symbolizing heroism.

Nationalism and Imperialism

• By the late 19th century, nationalism lost its idealistic liberal-democratic character.
• Nationalist groups grew more intolerant and aggressive.
• Major European powers manipulated nationalist aspirations for their imperialist goals.
• The Balkans was a source of conflict, comprising modern-day Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, and Montenegro.
• The Ottoman Empire controlled the Balkans.
• Nationalism made the Balkans a very explosive region.
• European powers competed for trade, colonies, and naval and military strength.
• Nationalist tensions in the Balkans contributed to World War I.
• Although anti-imperial movements emerged, nations still desired independence and nation-state formation.
• The concept of 'nation-states' became broadly accepted as natural and universal.

The French Revolution was the first clear expression of nationalism. Ideas of la patrie and le citoyen emphasized a united community. The revolution led to a new flag, hymns, and a centralized administrative system.