The Rise of Nationalism in Europe

• Introduction

  • Frederic Sorrieu's Vision (1848 prints)
  • Definition of Nation-State
  • Fall of Absolutist regimes

• The French Revolution & the Idea of the Nation

  • 1789: Transfer of sovereignty
  • Steps for collective identity:
    • La Patrie (the fatherland) and Le Citoyen (the citizen)
    • Tricolour flag
    • Estates-General renamed National Assembly
    • Uniform laws & centralized administrative system
  • Export of nationalism by Napoleon
    • Civil Code of 1804 (Napoleonic Code)
      • Abolished feudal privileges
      • Secured right to property
      • Standardized weights, measures, and currency

• The Making of Nationalism in Europe

  • Social and Political structure:
    • Aristocracy: Dominant, land-owning, united by French language
    • Peasantry: Majority of the population, tenants and small owners
    • New Middle Class: Industrialists, businessmen, professionals (educated liberals)
  • What Liberal Nationalism Stood For:
    • Freedom for the individual and equality before law
    • End of autocracy and clerical privileges
    • Constitution and representative government
    • Suffrage: Restricted in early years; Jacobin experiment vs. Women's exclusion
    • Economic Liberalism: Freedom of markets, abolition of state-imposed restrictions on movement of goods/capital
      • Creation of Zollverein (1834) customs union in Prussia
  • A New Conservatism after 1815:
    • Defeat of Napoleon (Battle of Waterloo)
    • Treaty of Vienna (1815) hosted by Duke Metternich
      • Restoration of Bourbon dynasty
      • Buffer states created (e.g., Kingdom of the Netherlands)
      • Suppression of press freedom and liberal criticism

• The Age of Revolutions (1830–1848)

  • Rise of Secret Societies:
    • Giuseppe Mazzini and Young Italy / Young Europe
    • Belief in nations as natural units of mankind
  • The Romantic Imagination and National Feeling:
    • Focus on culture, art, poetry, and stories
    • Johann Gottfried Herder: Das Volk (true German spirit through folk culture)
    • Language as a weapon of national resistance (e.g., Polish resistance against Russia)
  • Hunger, Hardship, and Popular Revolt:
    • 1830s: Years of economic hardship, population increase, unemployment
    • 1848: Food shortages and riots in Paris; abdication of Louis Philippe
  • 1848: The Revolution of the Liberals:
    • Frankfurt Parliament (May 18, 1848)
    • Drafting a constitution for a German nation-state
    • Rejection of the crown by Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia
    • Role of women in political struggles (denied voting rights)

• The Making of Germany and Italy

  • Unification of Germany:
    • Shift from liberal initiative to military might
    • Architect: Otto von Bismarck (Chief Minister of Prussia)
    • Three wars over seven years (Austria, Denmark, France) resulting in victory
    • January 1871: Kaiser William I proclaimed German Emperor
  • Unification of Italy:
    • Fragmented into seven states (only Sardinia-Piedmont ruled by an Italian prince)
    • Key Figures:
      • Giuseppe Mazzini: Early revolutionary vision
      • Count Cavour: Chief Minister (tactful diplomatic alliance with France)
      • Giuseppe Garibaldi: Led armed volunteers (Red Shirts) in the South
    • 1861: Victor Emmanuel II proclaimed King of united Italy
  • The Strange Case of Britain:
    • Not a sudden upheaval, but a long-drawn-out process
    • 1688: English parliament seized power from monarchy
    • 1707: Act of Union (United Kingdom of Great Britain)
    • Suppression of Scottish Highland culture and Irish Catholics (Wolfe Tone's revolt)
    • Emergence of a dominant British nation

• Visualizing the Nation

  • Personification of nations through female allegories
  • France: Marianne (popular Christian name, ideas of People's Nation)
  • Germany: Germania (wears a crown of oak leaves representing heroism)

• Nationalism and Imperialism

  • End of the 19th century: Nationalism lost its idealistic liberal-democratic sentiment
  • The Balkans:
    • Region of geographical and ethnic variation (Slavs)
    • Subject to the long control of the Ottoman Empire
    • Romantic nationalism + explosive disintegration of the Ottoman Empire
    • Fierce rivalry among European powers for control
  • Leads directly to the First World War (1914)