5.2 Nationalism & revolutions

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AGE OF NEW IDEAS → WHY IT CAUSED CONFLICT

  • Enlightenment ideas (reason, natural rights, progress) challenged old systems based on monarchy, church power, and tradition.

  • Conservatives like Edmund Burke & Joseph de Maistre believed revolutions caused chaos and violence because they destroyed long-standing institutions.

  • Common people wanted rights, representation, and constitutional government → clashed with conservative elites.

  • Result: 19th-century revolutions across Europe because Enlightenment ideas inspired people to question absolute monarchies.

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AMERICAN REVOLUTION → WHY IT HAPPENED

Causes

  • Enlightenment ideas (Locke’s natural rights + social contract) inspired colonists to reject monarchy.

  • Physiocrats challenged mercantilism → colonists hated British policies restricting trade.

  • Colonists already had local assemblies → felt capable of self-government.

  • Physical distance weakened British control → colonists felt more independent.

Declaration of Independence (1776)

  • Jefferson used Locke’s ideas (“life, liberty, property” → “pursuit of happiness”).

  • Explained WHY colonists were rebelling: Britain had violated their natural rights.

Outcome

  • With France’s help, the colonists won in 1783.

  • Proved Enlightenment ideas could create a new democratic government.

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NEW ZEALAND WARS → WHY THEY STARTED

  • The Māori had lived in NZ since ~1200s and formed tribal groups (iwi).

  • British annexed NZ in 1840 and increased control over land and government.

  • Growing pressure for Māori land → major conflict.

  • Māori united against a common enemy → rise of Māori nationalism.

  • British military power eventually defeated them by 1872.

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FRENCH REVOLUTION → WHY IT HAPPENED

1. Enlightenment Ideas

  • liberty, equality, fraternity

  • Inspired people to challenge the unfair social order of the Old Regime.

2. Economic Crisis

  • France was heavily in debt from wars (including helping Americans).

  • Government spent more than it earned → financial collapse.

3. Estates-General (1789)

  • Clergy + nobility always outvoted the commoners.

  • Third Estate (97% of population) broke away to form a National Assembly.

Revolution Begins

  • July 14, 1789: Storming of the Bastille → symbol of resisting tyranny.

  • Peasants attacked nobles in the countryside.

  • King Louis XVI was forced to accept a new government.

Major Changes

  • Abolished feudalism.

  • Adopted Declaration of the Rights of Man → guaranteed basic rights.

Radical Phase

  • Louis XVI resisted reforms → radicals (Jacobins) took over.

  • 1793–1794: Reign of Terror → executed thousands including the king & queen.

Rise of Napoleon

  • Political instability + war allowed Napoleon to take power in 1804.

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HAITIAN REVOLUTION → WHY IT WAS DIFFERENT

Background

  • Saint-Domingue was France’s richest colony (sugar + coffee).

  • Society was brutally unequal: enslaved Africans at the bottom.

Why the Revolution Started

  • Enlightenment ideas + American and French Revolutions inspired enslaved people.

  • 1791: Enslaved people began a massive revolt.

Toussaint L’Ouverture (Hero + Leader)

  • Joined revolt in 1791; very educated and a strong military leader.

  • By 1801: controlled the colony and wrote a constitution ending slavery.

  • Declared himself governor for life.

France Betrays Him

  • Napoleon attempted to re-establish slavery.

  • Toussaint was captured and died in France (1803).

Outcome

  • Jean-Jacques Dessalines declared independence in 1804.

  • Haiti became:

    • 1st Latin American country to win independence

    • 1st Black-led nation in the West

    • Only successful slave revolt in history

WHY it mattered

  • Showed Enlightenment rights applied to enslaved people too, not just elites.

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LATIN AMERICAN CREOLE REVOLUTIONS → WHY THEY HAPPENED

Social Hierarchy

  1. Peninsulares (born in Spain) – highest power

  2. Creoles – wealthy but blocked from top jobs

  3. Mestizos – wanted more rights

  4. Indigenous + enslaved people – bottom
    → Huge resentment.

Creole Motivations

  • Hated Spanish mercantilism (could only buy/sell with Spain).

  • Wanted political power reserved for peninsulares.

  • Influenced by American + French revolutions and Enlightenment ideas.

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SIMÓN BOLÍVAR → WHY HE MATTERED

  • Wealthy Venezuelan creole educated on Enlightenment ideas.

  • Led independence movements in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru.

  • Created Gran Colombia, hoping to unite South America like the U.S.

  • Believed in:

    • Free market

    • Abolition of slavery

    • Republican government

  • Jamaica Letter (1815) explained why Latin America deserved independence.

Results

  • Independence came, but…

    • Creoles kept elite power.

    • Many Indigenous + mestizo people still excluded.

    • Women continued to have few rights.

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PUERTO RICO & CUBA (Late 1800s)

  • Both revolted against Spain starting in 1868.

  • Poet Lola Rodríguez de Tió wrote revolutionary songs and was exiled for activism.

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PHILIPPINES

  • Filipino students studying in Spain absorbed Enlightenment ideas.

  • José Rizal’s writings pushed for reform (not independence), but Spain executed him in 1896.

  • His death inspired the Philippine Revolution (1896).

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ITALIAN UNIFICATION → WHY IT WORKED

Cavour

  • Prime minister of Piedmont-Sardinia.

  • Believed in realpolitik (doing whatever is necessary).

  • Used alliances and war to weaken Austria in Italy.

Allies

  • Napoleon III of France helped fight Austria (1858).

  • Garibaldi and the Red Shirts unified southern Italy.

  • By 1871, Italy was unified under King Victor Emmanuel II.

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GERMAN UNIFICATION → WHY IT WORKED

Bismarck (Prussia)

  • Master of realpolitik.

  • Used nationalism to unify German states.

  • Won three wars:

    • Denmark (1864)

    • Austria (1866)

    • France (1870)

Outcome

  • 1871: German Empire formed.

  • Germany + Italy’s rise shifted European power balance → helped lead to WWI.

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BALKAN NATIONALISM

  • Ottoman Empire declining since 1600s.

  • Enlightenment ideas spread → people wanted independence.

  • Greece won independence in 1821 with help from Britain, France, Russia.

  • Other Balkan ethnic groups (Serbs, Bulgarians, Romanians) followed similar paths.

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OTTOMAN NATIONALISM

  • Ottoman leaders tried to unify the empire by forcing cultural sameness (Ottomanism).

  • This backfired → ethnic groups resisted and wanted independence even more.