NAME:- Harsh Agarwal

Class:- Xth B
Roll No.:- 10214
School:- S.J Public School
Submitted to:- Mrs. Meenakshi Mam
Sub:- History
 Chapter- 1

The Rise of Nationalism in Europe.

The Rise of Nationalism in Europe
Frédéric Sorrieu Vision of the World

Frédéric Sorrieu, a French artist, in 1848, prepared a

series of four prints, visualizing his dream of a world
made up of democratic and Social Republics.
The first print shows the people of Europe and America
marching in a long train and offering homage to the
Statue of Liberty as they pass it. The torch of
Enlightenment was carried by a female figure in one
hand and the Charter of the Rights of Man in the other.
On the earth in the foreground lie the shattered
remains of the symbols of absolutist institutions.
In Sortie's utopian vision, the people of the world are
grouped as distinct nations, identified through their
flags and national costume.
The procession was led by the United States and Switzerland, followed
by France and Germany. Following the German people are the people
of Austria, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilia's, Lombardy, Poland, England,
Ireland, Hungary and Russia.
From the heavens above, Christ, saints and angels gaze upon the
scene. They have been used by the artist to symbolize fraternity among
the nations of the world.
During the nineteenth century, nationalism emerged as a force which
brought huge changes in the political and mental world of Europe. The
end result of these changes was the emergence of the nation-state.
 1 The French Revolution and the Idea of the Nation

 In 1789, Nationalism came with the French Revolution and the political and
constitutional changes led to the transfer of sovereignty from the monarchy
to a body of French citizens. Various measures and practices were
introduced, such as the ideas of la patria (the fatherland) and le citizen ( the
citizen). A new French flag, the tricolor , was chosen to replace the former
one.
 Democracy was destroyed in France by Napoleon, and the Civil Code of 1804,
known as the Napoleonic Code, did away with all privileges based on birth,
established equality before the law and secured the right to property.
Fig. Europe after the
Congress of Vienna, 1815.
2 The Making of Nationalism in Europe

Germany, Italy and Switzerland were divided into

kingdoms, duchies and cantons whose rulers had their
autonomous territories.
2.1The Aristocracy and the New Middle
Class
The Aristocracy was the dominant class on the
continent politically and socially. The majority of the
population was made up of the peasantry.
Industrialization began in England in the second half of
the eighteenth century. New social groups came into
being: a working-class population and a middle class
made up of industrialists, businessmen, and
professionals.
 2.2 What Did Liberal Nationalism Stand
For?

 The term ‘liberalism’ derives from the Latin root liber, meaning
free. The right to vote and to get elected was granted exclusively
to property-owning men. Men without property and all women
were excluded from political rights.
 In 1834, a customs union or Zollverein was formed at the
initiative of Prussia and joined by most of the German states. The
union abolished tariff barriers and reduced the number of
currencies from over thirty to two.
 2.3 A New Conservatism after 1815
 In 1815, European governments were driven by a spirit of
conservatism. Conservatives believed in monarchy, the
Church, social hierarchies, and property and that the family
should be preserved.
 A modern army, an efficient bureaucracy, a dynamic economy,
and the abolition of feudalism and serfdom could strengthen
the autocratic monarchies of Europe.
 In 1815, representatives of the European powers – Britain,
Russia, Prussia and Austria met in Vienna to draw up a
settlement for Europe.
 The Bourbon dynasty was restored to power, and France lost
the territories it had annexed under Napoleon.
 The major issue taken up by the liberal nationalists, who
criticized the new conservative order, was the freedom of the
press.
 2.4 The Revolutionaries
2
 In 1815, secret societies were formed in many European
states to train revolutionaries and spread their ideas.
Revolutionaries opposed monarchical forms and fought for
liberty and freedom.
 The Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Mazzini, born in Genoa in
1807, founded two more underground societies, the first
being Young Italy in Marseilles.
 Secondly, he founded Young Europe in Berne, whose
members were like-minded young men from Poland, France,
Italy and the German states.
 3 The Age of Revolutions: 1830-
1848

In July 1830, Bourbon Kings were overthrown by

liberal revolutionaries who installed a
constitutional monarchy with Louis Philippe at its
head. The July Revolution sparked an uprising in
Brussels which led to Belgium breaking away from
the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. In 1821,
Greeks struggled for independence.
 3.1 The Romantic Imagination and National
Feeling
 Culture played an important role in creating the idea
of the nation: art and poetry, stories, and music
helped express and shape nationalist feelings.
 Romanticism was a cultural movement which
sought to develop a particular form of nationalist
sentiment. Language also played an important role
in developing nationalist sentiments.
 The Russian language was imposed everywhere, and
in 1831, an armed rebellion against Russian rule
took place, which was ultimately crushed.
 3.2 Hunger, Hardship and Popular
Revolt
Europe faced economic hardships in the 1830s. The first
half of the nineteenth century saw an enormous increase
in population all over Europe. The rise of food prices or a
year of bad harvest led to widespread pauperism in towns
and countries. In 1848, food shortages and widespread
unemployment brought the population of Paris out on the
roads.
 3.3The Revolution of the Liberals
In 1848, a revolution led by the educated middle classes was
underway. Men and women of the liberal middle class
demanded the creation of a nation-state on parliamentary
principles – a constitution, freedom of the press and
freedom of association.
A large number of political associations came together in
Frankfurt to vote for an all-German National Assembly. On
18 May 1848, 831 elected representatives marched to take
their places in the Frankfurt parliament convened in the
Church of St Paul.
The Constitution drafted for the German nation was headed by a
monarchy, subject to a Parliament. The Crown was offered to Friedrich
Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia, but he rejected it and joined other
monarchs to oppose the elected assembly. The Middle Class
dominated the Parliament, and a large number of women participated
in the liberal movement.
Women formed their own political associations, founded newspapers
and took part in political meetings and demonstrations, but they were
still denied suffrage rights during the election of the Assembly.
In the years after 1848, the autocratic monarchies of Central and
Eastern Europe began to introduce the changes that had already taken
place in Western Europe before 1815. Thus, serfdom and bonded
were abolished both in the Habsburg dominions and in Russia.
4 The Making of Germany and
Italy
4.1 – Can the Army Be the Architect of a Nation?
Nationalism in Europe moved away after 1848, and
Germany and Italy came to be unified as nation-states.
Prussia took over the leadership of the movement for
national unification. The architect of this process was its
chief minister, Otto von Bismarck, and it was carried out
with the help of the Prussian army and bureaucracy.
In January 1871, the Prussian King, William I, was
proclaimed German Emperor. An assembly was held to
proclaim the new German Empire. The process of nation-
building demonstrated the dominance of Prussian state
power. The currency, banking, legal and judicial systems in
Germany were modernized.
 4.2 Italy Unified
Italy was divided into seven states in the middle of the
nineteenth century, and among all the seven states, Sardinia-
Piedmont was ruled by an Italian princely house. All the regions
were dominated by different kings. In the 1830’s Giuseppe
Mazzini formed a secret society called Young Italy.
The movement was led by Chief Minister Cavour. In 1859,
Sardinia-Piedmont defeated Austrian forces. In 1860, they
marched into South Italy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilia's
and succeeded in winning the support of the local peasants. In
1861 Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of united Italy
 4.3 The Strange
Case of Britain
Great Britain was the model of the nation, and prior to
the eighteenth century, there was no British nation. The
nation became powerful as it steadily grew in wealth,
importance and power.
The Act of Union (1707) between England and Scotland
resulted in the formation of the ‘United Kingdom of
Great Britain’ meant, in effect, that England was able to
impose its influence on Scotland. In 1801, Ireland was
forcibly incorporated into the United Kingdom. The
symbols of the new Britain – the British flag (Union Jack),
the national anthem (God Save Our Noble King), and the
English language – were actively promoted.
 5 Visualizing the Nation
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, artists
represented a country as a person and nations as
female figures. During the French Revolution, female
figures portray ideas such as Liberty, Justice and the
Republic. Liberty is represented as a red cap or the
broken chain, and justice as a blindfolded woman
carrying a pair of weighing scales.
 6 Nationalism and Imperialism

Nationalism was no longer retained after the last quarter of the

nineteenth century. After 1871, the most tensioned area was
called the Balkans, a region comprising modern-day Romania,
Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-
Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro.
Ottoman Empire made the Balkans region explosive, and all
through the nineteenth century, they strengthened themselves
through modernization and internal reforms. Due to various
conflicts, Balkan became an area of intense conflict.
During this period, intense rivalry built among the European
powers over trade and colonies as well as naval and military might,
which led to a series of wars in the region and, finally, the First
World War.
In 1914, Europe was disaster because of Nationalism, aligned with
imperialism. Anti-imperial movements were developed, but they
all struggled to form independent nation-states. But the idea of
‘nation-states’ was accepted as natural and universal.