Nationalism in Europe - Detailed Notes

Frédéric Sorrieu's Vision of Democratic and Social Republics (1848)

French artist who created a series of four prints.
Visualized a world of 'democratic and social Republics'.
First print: Peoples of Europe and America marching and paying homage to the Statue of Liberty.
Statue of Liberty symbolized with the torch of Enlightenment and the Charter of the Rights of Man.
Shattered remains of absolutist institutions in the foreground.
Peoples grouped as distinct nations with flags and national costumes.
United States and Switzerland leading; France with the revolutionary tricolor following.
German peoples bearing the black, red, and gold flag (representing liberal hopes for unification).
Other nations: Austria, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Lombardy, Poland, England, Ireland, Hungary, and Russia.
Christ, saints, and angels in the heavens symbolize fraternity among nations.

Absolutist and Utopian Concepts

Absolutist: A government with no restraints on its power.
- Historically, a centralized, militarized, and repressive monarchical government.
Utopian: An ideal society unlikely to exist.

Nationalism in the 19th Century

Emergence of nationalism as a force for sweeping changes in Europe.
Result: Emergence of the nation-state, replacing multi-national dynastic empires.
Modern state: Centralized power exercising sovereign control over a defined territory.
Nation-state: Citizens develop a sense of common identity, shared history, or descent.
Commonness forged through struggles, leadership actions, and common people.

Ernst Renan: What is a Nation?

French philosopher (1823-92) who delivered a lecture at the University of Sorbonne in 1882.
Lecture published as the essay 'Qu’est-ce qu’une nation?' ('What is a Nation?')
Renan's view: A nation is not formed merely by common language, race, religion, or territory.
Nation as the culmination of shared endeavors, sacrifice, and devotion.
Importance of a heroic past, great men, and glory as the social capital for a national idea.
Essential conditions: Common glories in the past, a common will in the present, having performed great deeds together, and the desire to do more.
Nation as large-scale solidarity with daily plebiscite.
A province is its inhabitants; their consultation is vital.
No nation should annex a country against its will.
Existence of nations is a guarantee of liberty.

The French Revolution and the Idea of the Nation (1789)

First clear expression of nationalism.
France was a full-fledged territorial state under an absolute monarch.
Revolution led to the transfer of sovereignty from the monarchy to French citizens.
Proclamation that the people would constitute the nation and shape its destiny.
Introduction of measures and practices to create a sense of collective identity.
Ideas of la patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen).
- Emphasized a united community enjoying equal rights under a constitution.
The tricolor flag replaced the royal standard.
The Estates General was elected by active citizens and renamed the National Assembly.
New hymns, oaths, and commemorations in the name of the nation.
A centralized administrative system with uniform laws for all citizens.
Abolition of internal customs duties and adoption of a uniform system of weights and measures.
Regional dialects were discouraged; French became the common language.
Mission of the French nation to liberate other peoples of Europe from despotism.
News of events in France led to the establishment of Jacobin clubs in other European cities.
Activities prepared the way for French armies into Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, and Italy in the 1790s.
French armies began to carry the idea of nationalism abroad.

Napoleonic Code (Civil Code of 1804)

Introduced reforms in territories under French control.
Revolutionary principles incorporated to make the system more rational and efficient.
Abolished privileges based on birth, established equality before the law, and secured the right to property.
Code exported to regions under French control (Dutch Republic, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany).
Administrative divisions simplified; the feudal system abolished.
Peasants freed from serfdom and manorial dues.
Guild restrictions removed in towns.
Improved transport and communication systems.
New-found freedom for peasants, artisans, workers, and businessmen.
Uniform laws, standardized weights and measures, and a common national currency to facilitate trade.
*Example:
In areas conquered, reactions were mixed:
- Initially welcomed as harbingers of liberty in places like Holland, Switzerland, Brussels, Mainz, Milan, and Warsaw.
- Enthusiasm turned to hostility due to a lack of political freedom alongside administrative changes.
  *Increased taxation, censorship, and forced conscription outweighed the advantages.

Europe in the Mid-18th Century

Absence of 'nation-states' as they are known today.
Germany, Italy, and Switzerland divided into kingdoms, duchies, and cantons with autonomous rulers.
Eastern and Central Europe under autocratic monarchies, with diverse peoples lacking a collective identity or common culture.
Different languages and ethnic groups.

The Habsburg Empire

Ruled over Austria-Hungary as a patchwork of regions and peoples.
Included Alpine regions (Tyrol, Austria, Sudetenland), Bohemia (German-speaking aristocracy), and Italian-speaking provinces (Lombardy and Venetia).
Hungary: half of the population spoke Magyar, and half spoke various dialects.
Galicia: Aristocracy spoke Polish.
Subject peasant peoples: Bohemians, Slovaks, Slovenes, Croats, and Roumans.
Common allegiance to the emperor as the only tie binding these diverse groups.

The Making of Nationalism in Europe

Aristocracy and the New Middle Class

Landed aristocracy as the dominant class, united by a common way of life.
Owned estates and town-houses.
Spoke French for diplomacy and in high society.
Families connected by ties of marriage.
Numerically a small group.
Majority of the population: peasantry.
Land farmed by tenants and small owners in the west.
Vast estates cultivated by serfs in Eastern and Central Europe.

Growth of Industrial Production and Trade

Industrial production and trade led to the growth of towns and commercial classes.
Industrialisation began in England in the second half of the 18th century.
France and German states experienced industrialization in the 19th century.
Emergence of a working-class population and middle classes (industrialists, businessmen, professionals).
Smaller numbers in Central and Eastern Europe until late 19th century.
Ideas of national unity gained popularity among the educated, liberal middle classes.

Liberal Nationalism

Ideas of national unity closely allied to the ideology of liberalism.
'Liberalism' derived from the Latin root liber, meaning free.
Liberalism stood for freedom for the individual and equality before the law.
Emphasis on government by consent.
End of autocracy and clerical privileges, a constitution, and representative government through parliament.
Emphasis on the inviolability of private property.

Equality Before the Law and Suffrage

Equality before the law did not necessarily mean universal suffrage.
Revolutionary France: Right to vote granted exclusively to property-owning men.
Men without property and all women were excluded from political rights.
Brief period under the Jacobins when all adult males enjoyed suffrage.
Napoleonic Code: Limited suffrage and reduced women to the status of a minor.
Opposition movements demanding equal political rights by women and non-propertied men.

Economic Sphere and Freedom of Markets

Liberalism stood for the freedom of markets and the abolition of state-imposed restrictions on the movement of goods and capital.
Strong demand of the emerging middle classes.
Napoleon’s administrative measures created a confederation of 39 states in German-speaking regions.

Obstacles to Economic Exchange

*Each state possessed its own currency, weights, and measures.

Merchant traveling from Hamburg to Nuremberg in 1833 would pass through 11 customs barriers and pay a 5% duty at each.
Duties were often levied according to the weight or measurement of goods.
Each region had its own system of weights and measures.
The measure of cloth, the elle, varied in length by region (e.g., Frankfurt 54.7 cm, Mainz 55.1 cm, Nuremberg 65.6 cm, Freiburg 53.5 cm).
Such conditions were viewed as obstacles to economic exchange and growth.

Zollverein (Customs Union)

Advocated by the new commercial classes.
Formed in 1834 at the initiative of Prussia and joined by most German states.
Abolished tariff barriers and reduced the number of currencies.
Creation of a network of railways stimulated mobility and harnessed economic interests to national unification.
A wave of economic nationalism strengthened nationalist sentiments.

Conservatism after 1815

Following the defeat of Napoleon, European governments were driven by a spirit of conservatism.
Conservatives believed in preserving traditional institutions (monarchy, Church, social hierarchies, property, family).
Recognized that modernisation could strengthen traditional institutions.
A modern army, efficient bureaucracy, dynamic economy, and the abolition of feudalism and serfdom could strengthen autocratic monarchies.

Congress of Vienna (1815)

Representatives of European powers (Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria) met to draw up a settlement for Europe.
Hosted by Austrian Chancellor Duke Metternich.
Objective: To undo changes brought about by Napoleon.
The Bourbon dynasty was restored to power in France.
France lost annexed territories.
A series of states were set up on the boundaries of France to prevent future expansion.
The kingdom of the Netherlands (including Belgium) was set up in the north, and Genoa was added to Piedmont in the south.
Prussia was given important new territories on its western frontiers, and Austria was given control of northern Italy.
The German confederation of 39 states set up by Napoleon was left untouched.
Russia was given part of Poland, and Prussia was given a portion of Saxony.
The main intention was to restore monarchies and create a new conservative order.

Conservative Regimes

Autocratic and intolerant of criticism and dissent.
Sought to curb activities that questioned the legitimacy of autocratic governments.
Imposed censorship laws to control what was said in newspapers, books, plays, and songs.

The Revolutionaries

Fear of repression drove liberal-nationalists underground.
Secret societies sprang up to train revolutionaries and spread ideas.
Commitment to oppose monarchical forms and fight for liberty and freedom.
Creation of nation-states as a necessary part of the struggle for freedom.

Giuseppe Mazzini

Italian revolutionary born in Genoa in 1805.
Member of the secret society of the Carbonari.
Exiled in 1831 for attempting a revolution in Liguria.
Founded Young Italy in Marseilles and Young Europe in Berne.
Believed God intended nations to be the natural units of mankind.
Italy could not remain a patchwork of small states and kingdoms but be forged into a unified republic.
Following his model, secret societies were set up in Germany, France, Switzerland, and Poland.
Relentless opposition to monarchy frightened conservatives.
Metternich described him as ‘the most dangerous enemy of our social order’.

The Age of Revolutions: 1830-1848

Liberalism and nationalism became increasingly associated with revolution.
Revolutions led by liberal-nationalists from the educated middle-class elite.

July Revolution (1830) in France

Bourbon kings overthrown by liberal revolutionaries.
Constitutional monarchy installed with Louis Philippe at its head.
Sparked an uprising in Brussels, leading to Belgium breaking away from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Greek War of Independence

Mobilized nationalist feelings among the educated elite.
Greece had been part of the Ottoman Empire since the fifteenth century.
Struggle for independence began in 1821.
Nationalists got support from Greeks in exile and West Europeans.
Poets and artists lauded Greece as the cradle of European civilisation.
Lord Byron organised funds and fought in the war, where he died in 1824.
The Treaty of Constantinople of 1832 recognised Greece as an independent nation.

Romantic Imagination and National Feeling

Culture's role in creating the idea of the nation (art, poetry, stories, and music).
Romanticism: A cultural movement seeking to develop nationalist sentiment.
Criticised the glorification of reason and science; focused on emotions, intuition, and mystical feelings.
Effort to create a sense of shared collective heritage as the basis of a nation.

Johann Gottfried Herder

German philosopher (1744-1803).
Claimed true German culture was to be discovered among the common people – das volk.
Importance of folk songs, folk poetry, and folk dances (volksgeist).
Collecting and recording folk culture was essential to nation-building.

The Grimm Brothers

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, born in Hanau (1785 and 1786).
Collected old folktales, traveling from village to village.
Published their first collection of tales in 1812.
Active in liberal politics, especially the movement for freedom of the press.
Published a 33-volume dictionary of the German language.
Saw French domination as a threat to German culture.
Believed folktales were expressions of a pure and authentic German spirit.
Folktale collection and German language development as part of broader efforts to oppose French domination and create a German national identity.

Language and National Identity

Emphasis on vernacular language and collection of local folklore to recover an ancient national spirit.
Important in Poland, which had been partitioned by Russia, Prussia, and Austria.
National feelings kept alive through music and language.
Karol Kurpinski celebrated national struggle through operas and music.
Folk dances like the polonaise and mazurka turned into nationalist symbols.
Polish language forced out of schools after Russian occupation; Russian imposed.
Armed rebellion in 1831 crushed.
Clergy used Polish as a weapon of national resistance in Church gatherings.
Priests and bishops jailed or sent to Siberia for refusing to preach in Russian.
The use of Polish became a symbol of the struggle against Russian dominance.

Hunger, Hardship, and Popular Revolt

The 1830s were years of great economic hardship in Europe.
Enormous population increase.
More job seekers than employment opportunities.
Migration to cities and overcrowded slums.
Small producers faced competition from cheap machine-made goods from England.
Peasants struggled under feudal dues and obligations.
Rise of food prices or bad harvests led to widespread pauperism.
The year 1848: food shortages and unemployment brought the population of Paris out on the roads.
Barricades erected, and Louis Philippe was forced to flee.
A National Assembly proclaimed a Republic, granted suffrage to all adult males above 21, and guaranteed the right to work.
National workshops to provide employment were set up.

Silesian Weavers' Revolt (1845)

Weavers revolted against contractors who reduced payments for finished textiles.
Villages with 18,000 inhabitants; cotton weaving as the most widespread occupation.
Misery of the workers due to reduced prices.
On June 4, weavers marched to the mansion of their contractor demanding higher wages.
They were met with scorn and threats.
A group forced their way into the house, smashed windows and furniture, and plundered supplies of cloth.
The contractor fled and returned with the army.
*Eleven weavers were shot.

The Revolution of the Liberals (1848)

Parallel to revolts of the poor, unemployed, and starving.
A revolution led by the educated middle classes.
Events in France led to the abdication of the monarch and a republic based on universal male suffrage.
Men and women of the liberal middle classes combined demands for constitutionalism with national unification in Germany, Italy, Poland, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Demands for a nation-state on parliamentary principles (a constitution, freedom of the press, and freedom of association).

Frankfurt Parliament

*In the German regions, members (middle-class professionals, businessmen, and artisans) decided to vote for an all-German National Assembly.

On May 18, 1848, 831 elected representatives marched to 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.
Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia, rejected the crown and opposed the elected assembly.
The parliament was dominated by the middle classes.
Opposition of the aristocracy and military became stronger.
Resisted the demands of workers and artisans, losing their support.
Troops were called in, and the assembly was forced to disband.

Women's Rights

*The issue of extending political rights to women was controversial, even though women had actively participated.

Women had formed political associations, founded newspapers, and taken part in meetings and demonstrations.
Denied suffrage rights during the election of the Assembly.
Women were admitted only as observers in the visitors’ gallery when the Frankfurt parliament convened.
Though conservative forces suppressed liberal movements, the monarchs introduced change.
*Serfdom and bonded labor were abolished.
*The Habsburg rulers granted autonomy to the Hungarians in 1867.

The Making of Germany and Italy

Germany – The Army as Architect of a Nation

After 1848, nationalism moved away from its association with democracy and revolution.
Nationalist sentiments mobilized by conservatives for state power and political domination over Europe.

Unification of Germany

*Nationalist feelings widespread among middle-class Germans.

Efforts to unite the German confederation repressed by the monarchy and military (supported by Junkers of Prussia).
Prussia took on the leadership of the movement for national unification.
Minister Otto von Bismarck was the architect.
*Wars over seven years ended in Prussian victory.
*January 1871, the Prussian king, William I, proclaimed German Emperor at Versailles.
German placed on modernising the currency, banking, legal and judicial systems.
-Prussian became a model for the rest of Germany.

Italy Unified

Long history of political fragmentation.
Italians scattered over dynastic states and the Habsburg Empire.
Mid-19th century: Italy divided into seven states, only one (Sardinia-Piedmont) 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 of the Bourbon kings of Spain.
Italian language had regional and local variations.

Giuseppe Mazzini and Young Italy

Giuseppe Mazzini sought to put together a coherent programme for a unitary Italian Republic.
*Had Formed a secret society called Young Italy.
*Failure of those revolutionary uprisings meant that Sardinia-Piedmont would have to take the charge.
*Offered possibility of economic development and political dominance.

Role of Cavour

Minister Cavour led the movement to unify Italy being neither revolutionary nor democrat, instead being wealthy and educated, making him more French than Italian speaking.
*Alliance with France with Sardinia-Piedmont defeating the Austrian forces in 1859
*Number of armed volunters joined.
*1860, Garibaldi marched into South Italy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and drove out the Spanish rulers
*1861 Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed. Most of the Italian population were not aware.

The Strange Case of Britain

Model of the nation-state: Great Britain.
Formation not from sudden upheaval but a long-drawn-out process.
No British nation prior to the 18th century.
Primary identities: English, Welsh, Scot, or Irish; all of these ethnic groups had their own cultural and political traditions.

English Influence and the Act of Union (1707)

English nation grew in wealth, importance, and power.
English parliament seized power from the monarchy in 1688.
Act of Union (1707) between England and Scotland formed the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain,’ allowing England to impose its influence.
British parliament dominated by English members.
Scottish culture suppressed.
Catholic clans in the Scottish Highlands suffered repression, forbidden to speak Gaelic or wear national dress; large numbers driven out of their homeland.

Ireland

*Suffered a similar fate being divided between Catholics and Protestants

English helped Protestants to establish dominance over Catholics.
Catholic revolts 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: promotion of dominant English culture.
English symbols being British flagging, national anthem, and English Language
-Subordinate partners in this union.

Visualising the Nation

Representing a ruler through a portrait or statue is direct, but giving a face to a nation required personification.
Artists portrayed nations as female figures.
Female form did not stand for any particular woman but gave the abstract idea of the nation a concrete form.

Allegory

*Abstract ideas expressed through a person or thing.
*During the French Revolution, artists used female allegory to portray ideas such as liberty, justice, and the republic through objects or symbols.

Marianne and Germania

-In France she was Marianne.

Drawings were from Liberty and the Republic – the red cap, the tricolour, the cockade.
-Marianne images marked on coins and stamps

*Similarly, Germania became the allegory of the German nation wearing crown of oak leaves representing heroism.

Nationalism and Imperialism

By the last quarter of the 19th century, nationalism lost its idealistic liberal-democratic sentiment.
Became a narrow creed with limited ends; nationalist groups became intolerant of each other and ready to go to war.
*Major European powers manipulated the ambitions of Europe, furthering them.

The Balkans

*Area of geographical and ethnic encompassing Albania, Greece, Macedonia, as well Serbia.
*Had most of it under control, making Ottoman empire crumble as they broke from them.
*Peoples with identity and struggle were intense
*Fiercely jealous of each other with each hoping to gain more territory.
-During this period, there was intense rivalry among the European powers and naval.
-These rivalries (Russia, Germany, England, Austro-Hungary) to the First World War.
*Nationalism, aligned with imperialism, led Europe to disaster in 1914.

Anti-Imperial Movements

*Countries colonised through dominating against it.

Were nationalist and that they all struggled to form independent nation-states, inspired by a sense of unifying.
*That socities should be organised into nation-states came to be widely used and seen as universal.