Ch 1The Rise of Nationalism in Europe

Chapter 1: The Rise of Nationalism in Europe

In the nineteenth century, nationalism emerged as a force that changed the political and mental world of Europe. Multi-national dynastic empires gave way to the nation-state — a state in which the majority of citizens develop a sense of common identity and shared history. This chapter traces how nationalism grew in Europe from the French Revolution (1789) to the unification of Germany and Italy (1871) and the crisis in the Balkans.

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

• The French Revolution transferred sovereignty from the monarchy to the body of French citizens — the people would constitute the nation.
• Steps that created a collective identity: ideas of la patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen), new French flag (tricolour), Estates General renamed the National Assembly, new hymns and oaths, centralised administration, uniform laws, abolition of internal customs duties, uniform weights and measures, and French as the common national language.
• Revolutionaries declared it the mission of the French nation to liberate the peoples of Europe — students and educated middle classes abroad set up Jacobin clubs.

Napoleon and the Civil Code of 1804

• Napoleon destroyed democracy in France but in administration he applied revolutionary principles.
• The Civil Code of 1804 (Napoleonic Code): abolished privileges based on birth, established equality before the law, secured the right to property, abolished the feudal system, freed peasants from serfdom and manorial dues, removed guild restrictions, improved transport and communication.
• Reactions were mixed: businessmen welcomed uniform laws and standardised weights, measures and currency, but increased taxation, censorship and forced conscription into French armies caused hostility.

The Making of Nationalism in Europe

• Germany, Italy and Switzerland were divided into kingdoms, duchies and cantons under autocratic rulers; the Habsburg Empire was a patchwork of many peoples and languages.
• Aristocracy: the dominant class, united by a common way of life (French as the language of high society) but numerically small.
• New middle class: industrialisation created working classes and a middle class of industrialists, businessmen and professionals — among whom ideas of national unity and liberalism grew.
• Liberalism: for the middle classes it meant freedom of the individual, equality before law, government by consent, end of autocracy and clerical privilege, a constitution and representative government. Economically it meant freedom of markets and abolition of state-imposed restrictions. In 1834 the Zollverein (customs union) was formed at Prussia's initiative — it abolished tariff barriers and reduced currencies from over thirty to two.
• Conservatism after 1815: belief that established institutions (monarchy, Church, social hierarchy, property, family) should be preserved. The Treaty of Vienna (1815), drawn up under Austrian Chancellor Duke Metternich, aimed to undo Napoleonic changes: Bourbons restored in France, buffer states created on France's boundaries, but the confederation of 39 German states was left untouched. Conservative regimes were autocratic and imposed censorship.
• Revolutionaries: secret societies trained the young to fight for liberty and nation-states. Giuseppe Mazzini founded Young Italy (Marseilles) and Young Europe (Berne); Metternich called him "the most dangerous enemy of our social order".

The Age of Revolutions: 1830–1848

• July Revolution, France 1830: Bourbons overthrown; constitutional monarchy under Louis Philippe. Metternich: "When France sneezes, the rest of Europe catches cold."
• Greek War of Independence (began 1821): Greece, part of the Ottoman Empire, won independence with support from West Europeans who admired ancient Greek culture (poet Lord Byron died of fever there). The Treaty of Constantinople, 1832, recognised Greece as an independent nation.
• Romanticism: a cultural movement that criticised reason and glorified emotion, intuition and mystical feelings; nationalists like the German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder claimed true German culture lay in folk songs, folk poetry and folk dances (das volk). Language too became a weapon — after the Russian occupation of Poland, Polish was used in Church gatherings as a symbol of resistance.
• 1848 — the year of revolutions: food shortages and unemployment brought Parisians onto the streets; Louis Philippe fled; a republic with universal male suffrage was proclaimed in France. Simultaneously, a revolution of the liberal middle classes demanded constitutions and national unification in German regions, Italy and the Habsburg Empire.
• Frankfurt Parliament (18 May 1848): 831 elected representatives met in the Church of St Paul and drafted a constitution for a German nation headed by a constitutional monarchy. Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm IV rejected the crown; the parliament, dominated by the middle classes, lost workers' support and was dissolved. Women had formed political associations and newspapers but were admitted only as observers in the visitors' gallery.

Unification of Germany and Italy

• Germany: after 1848, Prussia took the lead. Chief Minister Otto von Bismarck used the Prussian army and bureaucracy — a policy of "blood and iron". Three wars over seven years (with Denmark, Austria and France) ended in Prussian victory. In January 1871, the Prussian king Kaiser William I was proclaimed German Emperor at the Palace of Versailles. New currency, banking and legal systems were modelled on Prussia.
• Italy: divided into seven states; only Sardinia-Piedmont had an Italian princely house. Mazzini's republican programme failed in 1831 and 1848. Chief Minister Count Camillo de Cavour (who spoke French better than Italian) led unification through diplomacy and a tactful alliance with France, defeating Austria in 1859. Giuseppe Garibaldi and his volunteers (Red Shirts, the Expedition of the Thousand) won South Italy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. In 1861 Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed King of united Italy. Much of the illiterate peasantry remained unaware — many thought "Italia" was the king's wife!
• Britain — a different path: no sudden revolution but a long-drawn process. The Act of Union 1707 united England and Scotland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain; Ireland was forcibly incorporated in 1801 after the failed revolt of Wolfe Tone. English culture dominated: British flag (Union Jack), national anthem (God Save Our Noble King), the English language.

Visualising the Nation: Allegory

• Nations were personified as female figures (an allegory — an abstract idea expressed through a person or thing).
• Marianne (France): attributes of Liberty and the Republic — red cap, tricolour, cockade; statues in public squares, images on coins and stamps.
• Germania (Germany): wears a crown of oak leaves (oak = heroism); sword, breastplate with eagle, olive branch (peace), black-red-gold tricolour. Painted by Philip Veit; the falling rays of the rising sun in Hübner's version symbolised the beginning of a new era.

Nationalism and Imperialism: The Balkans

• By the last quarter of the 19th century nationalism became narrow and intolerant; major European powers manipulated nationalist aspirations for imperialist aims.
• The Balkans — a region of geographical and ethnic variation (modern Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, etc., inhabited broadly by Slavs) — was under the disintegrating Ottoman Empire. As Balkan peoples claimed independence based on nationality, the area became one of intense conflict and big-power rivalry (Russia, Germany, England, Austro-Hungary), leading to a series of wars and finally the First World War (1914).
• Meanwhile, anti-imperial movements in colonies (like India) developed their own variety of nationalism — the idea that societies should be organised into nation-states became universal.

Timeline of Important Dates and Events