World History Part 1 PDF

WORLD HISTORY
(PART-I)
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CONTENTS
Chapter 1 : Renaissance ............................................................................................................. 5-7
Chapter 2 : American Revolution .......................................................................................... 8-14
Chapter 3 : French Revolution ............................................................................................. 15-24
Chapter 4 : Industrialisation ................................................................................................. 25-34
Chapter 5 : Nationalism and British Democratic Politics .......................................... 35-48
Chapter 6 : Unification of Italy and Germany ............................................................... 49-57
Chapter 7 : Imperialism and colonialism ......................................................................... 58-69
Chapter 8 : World War - I ..................................................................................................... 70-76
Chapter 9 : Russian Revolution ........................................................................................... 77-81
Chapter 10 : World between Two World Wars ............................................................. 82-86
Chapter 11 : World War - II ................................................................................................. 87-94

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4 Chronicle IAS Academy

RENAISSANCE CHRONICLE
IAS ACADEMY
A CIVIL SERVICES CHRONICLE INITIATIVE
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The Enlightenment represents the clime of Descartes, Spinoza and Holbes, the real founders
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the intellectual revolution in philosophy. It began of the movement were Sir Issac Newton and Jon
in England about 1680 and quickly spread to Locke. It is true that Newton was not a
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most countries of northern Europe. It was not philosopher in the ordinary sense of the term.
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without influence in America. But the supreme But his work has a great significance for the
manifestation of the Enlightenment was, history of thought. He brought the whole world
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however, in France. The period of its real of nature under a precise mechanical
importance was the eighteenth century. Few interpretation. This was his greatest achievement.
other movements in history have had such great His theory of gravitation was held to be valid
effects in moulding men's thoughts on shaping not only on this earth but throughout the vast
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the course of their actions as the Enlightenment. expense of the solar system. From this it was an
easy step to the conclusion that every event in
The Philosophy of enlightenment was built
nature is governed by universal laws which can
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around a number of significant concepts than.
be formulated as precisely as mathematical
Firstly, reason is the only infallible guide to
principles. While the discovery of these laws is
wisdom. All knowledge has its roots in sense
the business of science, it is the duty of man to
perception, but the impressions of our senses are
allow them to operate unhindered. The old
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but the raw materials of truth, which has to be

medieval idea of a universe guided by benevolent
refined in the crucible of reason before it can
purpose now gave place to the idea that man
have value in explaining the world or in showing
lived in a world in which procession of events
the way to improvement of life. Secondly, the
was automatic. Newton's philosophy did not
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universe is a machine governed by inflexible laws

reject the idea of a God, but it deprived him of
which man cannot override. The order of nature
his power to guide the star in their courses or to
is absolutely uniform and not subject in any way
order the seen to remain stationary.
to miracles or to any other form of divine
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intervention. Thirdly, the best structure of society Locke's influence was quite different from
is the one which is the simplest and most natural. that of Newton. He was the originator of a new
The life of the noble salvage is preferable to that theory of knowledge which served as the corner-
of a civilized man with its outworn conventions stone of the Enlightenment. He maintained that
which serve to perpetuate the tyranny of priests man's knowledge originates from sense
and rulers. Every artificial thing was to be perception. This is known as the theory of
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removed from religion government and economic sensationalism. He was the first modern
institutions which should be reduced to a form philosopher to develop it in systematic form,
consistent with reason and natural liberty. though Hobbes had already asserted it earlier
Fourthly, there is no such thing as original sin. than Locke. He asserted that the human mind at
Men are not inherently deprived. Only the birth is a blank tablet, containing nothing
scheming priests and depots who are eager for inscribed on it. The (human mind) does not even
making war drive them to acts of cruelty and contain the idea of God or any notions of right
meanness. If men are allowed to follow freely and wrong. Anything gets registered in the mind
the guidance of reason and their own instincts, of the new-born child only after the child begins
the infinite perfectibility of human nature, and to have experiences, to perceive the external
therefore of the society itself, would be easily world with its senses.
realised.
The simple ideas which result directly from
Though the inspiration for the Enlightenment sense perception are merely foundations of
has come partly from the nationalism of knowledge. Man, however, cannot live
Chronicle IAS Academy 5

intelligently on the basis of the simple ideas. These the senses and tied together by habits of
simple ideas must therefore be integrated and association, i.e. we learn from experience to
fused into complete ideas. This is the function of associate warmth with fire. If we had never
reason or understanding. Reason has the power actually experienced the sensation of warmth,
to combine, coordinate, and organise the no reasoning faculty in our minds would enable
impressions received from the senses. us to draw the conclusion that fire produces heat
. But constant repetition of the fact that when
It will thus be seen that sensation and reason we see a flame we generally experience warmth
are both indispensable, one for furnishing the leads to the habit of associating the two in our
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mind with the raw materials of knowledge and
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minds. Impressions and associations are all that
the other for working them into a meaningful there is to knowing. Since every idea in the mind
form. It was this combination of sensationalism is nothing but a copy of a sense impression, it
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and rationalism which became one of the basic follows that one can know nothing of final
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elements in the philosophy of the Enlightenment. causes, the nature of substance, or the origin of
Locke is also known for his defence of the the universe. We cannot be sure of any of the
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religious toleration and for his liberal political conclusions of reason except those which can be
theory.
verified by actual experience. All others are likely
The Enlightenment blossomed fourth in its to be the products of feelings and desires, of
animal urges and fears. But denying the
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fullest glory in France during the eighteenth
century under the leadership of Voltaire and competence of reason, Hume placed himself
other critics of the established order. Voltaire's almost wholly outside the main intellectual trend
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first philosophic work was Letters on the of the Enlightenment. Hence it is said that he
English which he wrote in Britain where he helped to prepare its death.
lived for three years, acquiring a deep admiration
for British institutions. In this work, he Jean-Jacques Rousseau:
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popularised the ideas of Newton and Locke. Most Rousseau repudiated may of the basic
of his later writings the Philosophical Dictionary, assumptions which emerged from Newton and
Candide, his histories and many of his essays- Locke. He maintained that reason cannot be
were also concerned with exposition of the depended upon as the infallible guide to conduct
doctrine that the world is governed by natural and truth. Though reason has its uses, it is not
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laws and that reason and concrete experience the full answer. In the really vital problems of
are the only dependable guides for man to follow. life it is much safer to depend on feelings, to
Voltaire is best known as a champion of follow our instincts and emotions. Since these
individual freedom. He considered all restrictions are ways of nature, they are more conducive to
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upon liberty of speech and opinion as barbarous. happiness than the artificial lucubration of the
He hated most the tyranny of organised religion. intellect. To Rousseau, the thinking man is a
He condemned the monstrous cruelty of the depraved animal. Not withstanding his contempt
church in torturing and burning intelligent men for reason, he was in other ways completely in
who were bold enough to question its dogmas. agreement with the viewpoint of the
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His slogan was 'crush the infamous thing' with Enlightenment.

reference to the whole system of persecuting and
privileged orthodoxy. He was almost unsparing In his Discourse on the Arts and Sciences he
in this attacks on political tyranny, especially contrasted the freedom and innocence of
when it resulted in the massacre of thousands to primitive men with the tyranny and wickedness
glut the ambitions of the despots. of the civilized society. He even went to the extent
of insisting that the progress of learning is
Two other philosophers, Davind Hume, a destructive of human happiness. Like all other
Scotsman and Rousseau, a Frenchman, are reformers he shared the impatience of the
commonly given a place in the Enlightenment Enlightenment with every sort of restriction upon
even though neither of them was in full individual freedom. But he was much more
agreement with the majority of his concerned about the liberty and equality of the
contemporaries. The former is known for his masses than other reformers of his time. He
skepticism. He taught that the mind is a mere considered the origin of private property as the
bundle of impressions, derived exclusively from primary source of misery in human society.

Rousseau is commonly considered the father He gave the greatest importance to the
of romanticism as he was the first significant concept of moral will and freedom. In this he
writer to uphold the validity of conclusions drew upon Rousseau and asserted that if a person
dictated by emotion and sentiment. His slogan is allowed to act according to his morals he will
'back to nature' provided the foundation for a attain freedom. He laid stress on moral nature
veritable cult dedicated to the pursuit of the and did not consider material progress as progress
simple life. His influence, however, was not at all. Kant did not subordinate individual to
confined only to the founding of romanticism
state nor did he approve of state control over
and the encouragement of sentimental devotion
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individuals. Like other individualists he
to nature. His dogmas of equality and popular
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sovereignty became the rallying cries of considered state a necessary evil. State is all
revolutionaries and of thousands of more powerful and whatever freedom the individual
surrenders to the state he gets it back in the form
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moderate opponents of the existing regime. It is
no exaggeration to say that it was his political of assurance from the state to protect his freedom
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philosophy which provided the real inspiration from any outside agency. This enlarges the sphere
for the modern ideal of the rule of the majority. of his freedom.
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Immanuel Kant: Kant is criticized for advocating and justifying
the existence of an absolute monarchy on the
Immanuel Kant devoted most of his time in
other. He gave too much importance to moral
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teaching and matured his philosophic ideas very
slowly. For a long time he spoke scornfully of
freedom and inspite of his idealism leaned
towards individualism. However this gave birth
the meta physicians as those who dwelt on the
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to liberalism and aroused a desire among the
high towers of abstruse cogitation, where there
people to form representative institutions. They
is a great deal of wind. He finished his first
also awakened the spirit of nationalism and
great work the critique of Pure Reason, when he
national integration.
was on the other side of fifty. He owed a great
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deal to the minds of the Enlightenment. They Rousseau:

contributed to his political ideas. Kant believed
in the natural rights of men and or defended the The slogans of equality, liberty and fraternity
during the French Revolution were inspired by
separation of powers as a necessary protection
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his ideas. His ideas left an indelible effect upon

for the liberty of the citizens.
the French Revolution. Napoleon has truly stated
However, in the field of general philosophy that If Rousseau had not taken birth, the
Kant departed widely from the rationalism of emergence of French Revolution would have been
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the eighteenth century. impossible.

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AMERICAN CHRONICLE
REVOLUTION IAS ACADEMY
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communal persecution and suppression and there
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American Revolution and American
Constitution: would be neither the pressure of the church nor
the governing classes.
After the seventeenth century France,
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Holland and England began to expand their
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Position of America before the revolution:
trading activities and to establish colonies in
In all there were 13 English colonies from
America. The USA was subjugated by Great
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Maine in the north to Georgia in the south.
Britain during the early 18th century but the
Between 1713 and 1763 numerous English, Scot,
subjugation could not last long because of two
German and French immigrants settled in these
significant ideals freedom and equality- which
colonies. The prices of all the American products
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emerged strongly in the 18th century in Europe
like wood, leather, tobacco, sugar, copper and
and in America. The occurrence of some events
fish increased rapidly in England and Europe,
and the emergence of certain thoughts between
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which made the Americans richer. The
1775 and 1783 gave birth to a new nation.
continuous prosperity which lasted 50 years
The history of the American war of enhanced the status of Americans in the world.
Independence is a record of severe struggle for Some American journals like the Gazette, The
its redemption from the sovereignty of England. New York Reporter became popular in Europe
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That glorious struggle was launched by the and their demand increased there. Many famous
American colonies to regain their freedom against universities like Princeton, Yale, Dart-Mouth,
the desire of England and to oppose its stringent Brown etc. had already been established before
colonial policy. It is true that the immediate cause the revolution.
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of the American Revolution lays in the imposition The colonial culture was a hybrid culture. There
of undue taxes upon the colonists, but there were were two reasons that contributed to the
several other causes also. On the one side, the emergence of a hybrid culture in the American
Americans were not prepared to bear with their colonies. Firstly, the People who had settled in
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subjugation under the British sovereignty and these Colonies came from different regions of
on the other after 1763 the British government Europe and belonged to various sects and these
formulated and followed such policies, as could Colonies had different forms of government and
reinforce their control over the American Colonies distinct laws. Secondly, they had various sources
better than it was earlier. of livelihood. Therefore, there emerged a special
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culture which contained the strands of various

People migrated from Europe to American elements. The people faced identical problems
colonies to get rid of the war of genocide going and had to seek a joint solution. In this way,
on constantly in Europe. The poor were sold to they patched up their differences gradually for
the rich and the governing class to be as slaves the sake of their existence and developed a
in war. In order to avoid such a grievous fate, specific culture which proved to be very
people thought it better to migrate to the significant although it resembled the European
American colonies. Most European immigrants culture.
left their countries with an intention to earn profit
in American Colonies. The immigration was Causes of the American Revolution:
strengthened by the peoples desire to escape The American struggle for freedom was a
political tortures and to get religious freedom. conflict of economic interests primarily between
People thought that in the American colonies Great Britain and her Colonies. But from many
they would be able to worship God freely and angles, it was a revolt against the social and
get redemption from the European religious and political system of that time which had lost its

significance for America. In other words that the power of the British Parliament could
economic, political, social and religious forces be subjected to limitations. Further they did not
worked together in American revolution. The share the Ameri-can restrictions by some kind of
American Colonies rose in rebellion in order to fundamental law.
retain their liberty, freedom and autonomy. It is
noteworthy that the colonists lived in diversity The Seven Years War (1756-63) gave Great
and most people did not have causes of complaint Britain a much larger American empire. It also
against England; even then certain circumstances placed her under a heavy war debt. The long
bound them in unity. war strained her resources to such an extent that
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her government started imposing heavy duties
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One of the main causes of American on the manufactured goods. Since experience
revolution was the clash in ideas and principles during the war had shown that the colonies were
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held dear by the native of England and the very reluctant to cooperate with each other for
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American colonists. Colonists did not intend to mutual protection and to pay any additional
snap political connection from their motherland taxes, it seemed necessary for the British
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but they were not prepared to see the colonies government to resort to compulsion. The
exploited for profit only. They wanted equality successive British government since 1763 were
and autonomous rule for themselves. The middle of the view that they were not acting illegally by
class hated the privileges and luxuries enjoyed imposing additional taxes. But they were seeking
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by the colonial rulers. This class desired the
establishment of economic, social and political
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to hold the colonies in their traditional position
of subordination just at the time when the most
democracy in the colonies. Being an awakened vigorous elements in the colonial population were
class, the middle class was full of excessive beginning to feel that they were entitled to
discontent and frustration. England had been equality. In view of the fundamental differences
following mercantilism, an ideology which had between the British and American conception of
the nature of the empire and powers of British
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emerged in the economic field since the later half

of the 16th century. When the colonies grew in Parliament, it appeared unlikely that conflicts
size and importance, the British government felt could be avoided permanently.
keen on establishing control over them. Firstly,
When the French lost Canada to Britain after
Britain appointed governors to rule them and
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Seven Years War, the colonies no larger feared

the salary was to be borne by the colonial of a French attack. It was this situation which
exchequer. Secondly, the British merchants were gave the colonist courage and self-confidence.
interested in deriving benefits from a policy which But the British government under King George-
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Britain was to adopt arbitrarily and implement III, was not prepared to give them a large
it in her colonies in America. This policy was measure of independence. King George-III forced
called mercantilist policy. Under the mercantilism the cabinet to secure parliamentary sanction for
policies, England imposed many restrictions on imposing new taxes on the colonists. The royal
production in American colonies. officials in the colonies were ordered to enforce
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the mercantilist trade regulations. It gave customs

World History American Revolution-2 officials writs of assistance or general search
The colonists were made to sell their goods warrants empowering them to search ships and
only to the English Merchants and to buy foreign warehouses for smuggled goods. This aroused
goods after paying duty at an English port. stout opposition. It was argued that the writs of
Furthermore, the colonists were not to compete assistance violated the fundamental rights of
with the English manufacturers. Opposition to citizens and were therefore illegal. This argument
these mercantilist regulations were widespread reflected the American conviction that the powers
and some of the merchants in the colonies of the British government were limited by
maintained their trade contacts with the enemies fundamental laws.
of Britain.
The British government by means of a Royal
While a new spirit was developing in Proclamation made in 1763, ordered settlers not
America, the British still stuck to the old to move beyond the traditional border on the
mercantilist theory. They also did not recognise western side lest they provoke the Red Indians.

It stopped the colonists from marching towards the molasses duty and passed a Declaratory Act,
the West and they considered the British which affirmed the principle of the supremacy
government to be their enemy. of the British parliament over the colonies.
In 1763, the British government decided to Rockingham was replaced by William Pitt
maintain an army in North America in order to and, Townshend became the Finance Minister.
guard against possible Red Indian raids and He levied customs duties on five goods (Tea, lead,
French attempts at reconquest. The British paper, coin-metal and paints) which were
government led by George Greenville felt that imported by America from England. He explained
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since it was needed for the defence of the that by levying import duties which were in the
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colonies, a part of the cost should be borne by nature of indirect taxes, he was only complying
the colonies. with the viewpoint of the colonists. John
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Dickinson, a conservative Rennsylvanian lawyer,
Greenville proposed four regulations which
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while accepting the right of British Parliament to
affected the colonies. Two important regulations
regulate trade, denied that it could levy taxes,
were Sugar Act (Molasses Act 1764) and Stamp
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direct or indirect.
Act (1765). The other two were Currency Act
and Quartering Act. Riots against the British law broke out at
several places. Besides raising a storm of protest
Through the Sugar Act, duty was imposed
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on molasses imported by the colonists. Customs
New York resorted to the boycott of the British
officials were ordered to show more energy and
goods. The condition in Boston city was very
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strictness in collecting duties. British ships were
deplorable. The regiment of British regulars
instructed to seize smugglers and an admiralty
stationed in Boston to prevent smuggling fired
court was set up to try smuggling cases. Duties
their guns on a protesting mob, in which four or
were also imposed upon some other colonial
five persons were killed. This came to be known
imports. It was to compel the colonists to
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as Boston massacre.
contribute towards meeting the expenses of
British troops stationed in the colonies. This was The new taxes could not be collected. The
followed by the Stamp Act. British traders were overwhelmed with fear and
on their insistence Lord North, who took place
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The Stamp Act declared that stamp duties

of Townshend after his death, repealed all duties,
were to be paid on newspapers and legal
except on tea.
commercial documents. This was the first time
that the British government had levied a direct After these successful agitations it was quite
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tax on the colonies. The American felt that the clear to popular leaders like Sam Adams who
Stamp Act would drain the colonies of money led Boston Mob, that none of the basis issues
and make their debts to the British merchants had been settled. In 1772 Adams set up
more intolerable. They believed that taxation throughout Massachusetts a network of
without representation was tyranny. They committees of correspondence to organise
accepted trade regulations by the British
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resistance to British authority. This idea was

Parliament as legitimate, but felt that British copied by Jefferson in Virginia and by similar
Parliament's imposition of direct taxes was leaders in other colonies. As a result a real inter-
contrary to fundamental law and natural rights. colonial political organisation began to take place.
The opposition took the form not only of
resolutions by colonial assemblies and of a The British government made yet another
collective protest drafted by a Congress of mistake in 1773 which proved to be very costly.
delegates from nine colonies, but also of violent In 1773, Parliament passed the Tea Act, granting
popular demonstrations. The colonists also the financially troubled British East India
devised the instrument of general agreement to Company an exclusive monopoly on tea exported
stop importing British goods. British merchants to the American colonies. This Act agitated
suffered heavy losses and urged the British colonists even further: although the new
government to give way. By this time Greenville monopoly meant cheaper tea, many Americans
was succeeded by Marquess of Rockingham. the believed that Britain was trying to dupe them
Rockingham repealed the Stamp Act, lowered into accepting the hated tax.

The Boston Tea Party: The First Continental Congress:
In response to the unpopular Act, tea agents In response to the Intolerable Acts, delegates
in many American cities resigned or cancelled from twelve of the thirteen colonies (Georgia
orders, and merchants refused consignments. In chose not to attend) met at the First Continental
Boston, however, Governor Thomas Hutchinson Congress in Philadelphia in the autumn of 1774
resolved to uphold the law and ordered that three to discuss a course of action. The delegates were
ships arriving in Boston Harbour be allowed to all fairly prominent men in colonial political life
deposit their cargoes and that appropriate but held different philosophical beliefs. Samuel
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payment be made for the goods. This policy Adams, John Adams, Patrick Henry, and George
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prompted about sixty men, including some Washington were among the more famous men
members of the Sons of Liberty, to board the who attended. Although rebellion against the
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ships on the night (disguised as Native Crown was at this point still far from certain,
Americans) and dump the tea chests into the leaders believed grievances had to be redressed
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water. The event became known as the Boston to Parliament and King George III. The delegates
Tea Party. met for nearly two months and concluded with
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a written Declaration of Rights and requests to
The dumping of the tea in the harbour was Parliament, George III, and the British people to
the most destructive act that the colonists had repeal the Coercive Acts so that harmony could
taken against Britain thus far. The previous
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rioting and looting of British officials houses over
be restored. The First Continental Congress
marked an important turning point in colonial
the Stamp Act had been minor compared to the relations with Britain. Although some delegates
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thousands of pounds in damages to the ships still hoped for reconciliation, the decisions they
and tea. Governor Hutchinson, angered by the made laid the foundations for a revolt. Even
colonists disregard for authority and disrespect though American colonial leaders had petitioned
for property, left for England. The tea party Parliament and King George III to repeal taxes
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was a bold and daring step forward on the road in the past, never had they boldly denounced
to outright revolution. them until this point, when they claimed that
Britains actions had violated their natural rights
The Intolerable Acts
and the principles of the English Constitution.
The Tea Party had mixed results: some
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This appeal to natural rights above the King or

Americans hailed the Bostonians as heroes, while God was groundbreaking because it justified and
others condemned them as radicals. Parliament, even legalized colonial opposition to the Crown.
very displeased, passed the Coercive Acts in 1774
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in a punitive effort to restore order. Colonists The Battle of Lexington and Concord:
quickly renamed these Acts the Intolerable Acts. By 1775, colonial resentment toward Britain
Numbered among these Intolerable Acts was had become a desire for rebellion. Many cities
the Boston Port Bill, which closed Boston Harbour and towns organized volunteer militias of
to all ships until Bostonians had repaid the British minutemen-named for their alleged ability to
prepare for combat at the drop of a hat-who
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East India Company for damages. The Acts also

restricted public assemblies and suspended many began to drill openly in public common areas.
civil liberties. Strict new provisions were also made On April 19, 1775, a British Commander
for housing British troops in American homes, dispatched troops to seize an arsenal of colonial
reviving the indignation created by the earlier militia weapons stored in Concord,
Quartering Act, which had been allowed to Massachusetts. Militiamen from nearby
expire in 1770. Lexington intercepted them and opened fire.
Eight Americans died as the British sliced through
The Quebec Act: them and moved on to Concord. The British
arrived in Concord only to be ambushed by the
At the same time the Coercive Acts were put
Concord militia. The shot heard round the
into effect, Parliament also passed the Quebec
worldor the first shot of many that defeated
Act. This Act granted more freedoms to Canadian
the British troops at Concord-sent a ripple
Catholics and extended Quebecs territorial claims
throughout the colonies, Europe, and the rest of
to meet the western frontier of the American
the world. The British retreated to Boston after
colonies.

more than 270 soldiers in their unit were killed, and a return to the pre-1763 status quo had
compared to fewer than 100 Americans. The vanished.
conflict became known as the Battle of Lexington
and Concord. The minutemens victory On July 4, 1776, America severed its relations
encouraged patriots to redouble their efforts and with England and the representatives who
at the same time convinced King George III to gathered in Philadelphia declared independence
commit military forces to crushing the rebellion. of the 13 colonies and approved the Declaration
Almost immediately, thousands of colonialists set of Independence. The main purpose of the
up camp around Boston, laying siege to the Declaration of Independence was to reveal the
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British position. The battle initiated a chain of fact that the public is empowered to change a
events, starting with the militia siege of Boston government that deprives it of their natural
and the Second Continental Congress, that kicked rights. It was emphasized in the Declaration of
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the Revolutionary War into high gear. Independence that public is the source of power
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and was fully empowered to elect the government
The Second Continental Congress:
of its choice. It was also stated that hence forward
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The Second Continental Congress was the Americans were free to take authoritative
convened a few weeks after the Battle of decisions independently in all the matters of war,
Lexington and Concord to decide just how to peace, truce and business which are the rights of
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handle the situation. Delegates from all thirteen an independent state.
colonies gathered once again in Philadelphia and
discussed options. The desire to avoid a war was The Battle of Saratoga:
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still strong, and in July 1775, delegate John
After numerous battles, the turning point in
Dickinson from Pennsylvania penned the Olive
the war came in 1777 at the Battle of Saratoga
Branch Petition to be sent to Britain. All the
in upstate New York. When American forces
delegates signed the petition, which professed
won, their victory encouraged France to pledge
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loyalty to King George III and beseeched him to

its support for the United States in the Franco-
call off the troops in Boston so that peace
American Alliance of 1778. A year later, Spain
between the colonies and Britain could be
followed suit and also entered the war against
restored. George III eventually rejected the
Britain. Spain, hoping to see Britain driven out
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petition.
of North America, had tacitly supported the
Despite their issuance of the Olive Branch Americans by providing them with munitions
Petition, the delegates nevertheless believed that and supplies since the beginning of the war. Their
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the colonies should be put in a state of defence entry as combatants took pressure off the
against any future possible British action. After Americans, as Britain was forced to divert troops
much debate, they also selected George to fight the Spanish elsewhere. Finally, Holland
Washington to command the American army entered the war against Britain in 1780. Though
surrounding Boston, renaming it the Continental the war went on for several years, American
Army. Washington was a highly respected popular support for it, especially after France
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Virginian plantation owner, and his leadership and Spain entered the fray, remained high. The
would further unite the northern and southern motivation for rebellion remained strong at all
colonies in the Revolution. levels of society, not merely among American
military and political leaders. French and Spanish
The delegates hopes for acknowledgment and
assistance certainly helped the Americans, but
reconciliation failed in June 1775, when the Battle
without the grassroots support of average
of Bunker Hill was fought outside Boston.
Although the British ultimately emerged Americans, the rebellion would have quickly
victorious, they suffered over 1,000 casualties, collapsed.
prompting British officials to take the colonial Fortified by the Franco-American Alliance,
unrest far more seriously than they had the Americans maintained an impasse with
previously. The engagement led King George the British until 1781, when the Americans laid
III to declare officially that the colonies were in siege to a large encampment of British forces
a state of rebellion. Any hope of reconciliation
under Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia.

Scattered battles persisted until 1783, but the Court). Delegates believed this separation of
British, weary of the stalemate, decided to powers into three different branches would
negotiate peace. ensure that the United States would not become
another monarchy.
The Peace of Paris:
The Virginia and New Jersey Plans:
The war came to an official close in September
1783, when Britain, the United States, France, The structure of the new legislative branch
and Spain negotiated the Peace of Paris. The was the subject of a heated debate, as delegates
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treaty granted vast tracts of western lands to the from Virginia and New Jersey both submitted
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Americans and recognized the United States as proposals. The Virginia Plan called for a bicameral
a new and independent country. The last British (two-house) legislature in which the number
of representatives each state had would depend
AD L
forces departed New York in November 1783,
leaving the American government in full control on the states population. The larger, more
EM
of the new nation. populous states supported this proposal because
it would give them more power. Hence, the
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Constitution of America: Virginia plan came to be known as the large
To address the problems with the Articles of state plan.
Confederation, delegates from five states met at
The New Jersey Plan proposed a unicameral
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the Annapolis Convention in Maryland in 1786.
However, they could not agree on how these
(one-house) legislature in which all states had
the same number of representatives regardless of
issues should be resolved. Finally, a new
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population. This small state plan was, not
convention was proposed for the following year
surprisingly, the favourite of smaller states, which
with the express purpose of revising the Articles
stood to gain power from it.
of Confederation.
Eventually, the delegates settled on what
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In 1787, delegates from twelve of the thirteen

came to be called the Great Compromise: a new
states (minus Rhode Island) met at the
Congress with two housesan upper Senate, in
Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Most
which each state would be represented by two
of the attendees were not die-hard revolutionaries
senators, and a lower House of Representatives,
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(Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Samuel Adams,

in which the number of delegates would be
and Patrick Henry were all absent). Nevertheless,
apportioned based on state population. Senators
most did have experience writing their own State
would be appointed by state legislatures every
Constitutions. Though all fifty-five delegates
CH
six years; representatives in the House would be

involved in the proceedings were wealthy
elected directly by the people every two years.
property owners, most were aware that they
were serving a republic that comprised all social The President:
classes. George Washington was unanimously
The delegates had an easier time outlining
chosen as the Chairman of the convention.
presidential powers. Although some delegates
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It quickly became clear to the Philadelphia had extreme opinionsAlexander Hamilton

delegates that the Articles should be scrapped proposed a constitutional monarchy headed by
and replaced with an entirely new constitution an American Kingmost agreed that a new
to create a stronger national government. Though executive or president was needed to give the
this about-face was a violation of Congresss country a strong leadership that it had lacked
mandate to revise the Articles only, most under the Articles.
delegates believed there was no other way to
Article II of the Constitution thus outlined
restore order in the Union.
the powers of a new executive outside the control
The delegates began drafting a new of Congress. The president would be elected via
Constitution to create a republican government. the Electoral College for a term of four years,
They decided on a government consisting of three would be commander-in-chief of the U.S.
branches: Legislative (Congress), Executive (the military, could appoint judges, and could veto
President), and Judicial (headed by the Supreme legislation passed by Congress.

The Judiciary: crimes and misdemeanors. The Supreme Court
was given the sweeping power of judicial
The judiciary branch of the new government
reviewthe authority to declare an act of
would be headed by a Supreme Court, which
Congress unconstitutional and thereby strike it
would be headed by a chief justice. The structure
down.
of the rest of the federal court system, however,
was not formalized until the Judiciary Act of Fear of Pure Democracy:
1789.
The delegates also feared pure democracy and
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Checks and Balances: considered it to be the placement of the
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government directly in the hands of the rabble.
Many delegates felt that separation of powers
Many elements of the Constitution were thus
was not enough to prevent one branch of
engineered to ensure that only the best men
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government from dominating, so they also
would run the country.
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created a system of checks and balances to
balance power even further. Under this system, Under the original Constitution, senators
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each branch of government had the ability to were to be appointed by state legislatures or
check the powers of the others. governors, not elected by the peoplein fact,
this rule did not change until the Seventeenth
The President, for example, was given the Amendment (1913) established direct elections
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power to appoint Supreme Court justices, cabinet for senators. Although representatives in the
members, and foreign ambassadorsbut only House were elected directly by the people, their
with the approval of the Senate. On the other terms were set at only two years, compared to
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hand, the president was granted the right to veto senators six years. In addition, even though new
all Congressional legislation. legislation could be introduced only in the House,
the Senate had to approve and ratify any Bills
Congress was given its own veto power over before they could become law.
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the presidenta two-thirds majority vote could

override any presidential veto. Congress also These checks on pure democracy were not
confined to the legislative branch. The Electoral
was charged with the responsibility to
College was implemented to ensure that the
confirm presidential appointeesbut also the
uneducated masses didnt elect someone unfit
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power to block them. And finally, Congress for the presidency. Life terms for Supreme Court
had the ability to impeach and remove the justices were also instituted as a safeguard against
president for treason, bribery, and other high mob rule.
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FRENCH CHRONICLE
REVOLUTION IAS ACADEMY
E
The French Revolution broke out in 1789 as the financial situation of the already cash-
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a result of the interaction of varied factors strapped French government. Frances prolonged
political, economic, social and intellectual. One involvement in the Seven Years War of 1756
AD L
among the political factors leading to the 1763 drained the treasury, as did the countrys
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Revolution was the absolution of the king. All participation in the American Revolution of 1775
administrative functions were centralized in the 1783. . Under Louis XVI, France helped the
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hands of the king who was not answerable to thirteen American colonies to gain their
anyone except God. The kings word was the independence from the common enemy, Britain.
law of the land. At one time absolutism was Aggravating the situation was the fact that the
quite popular in France as it had helped the government had a sizable army and navy to
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nation to become supreme in Europe besides
promoting the well-being of the people. Louis
maintain, which was an expenditure of
particular importance during those volatile times.
XV, who became king in 1715, was neither great Moreover, in the typical indulgent fashion that
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nor enlightened. He wasted his time and energy so irked the common folk, mammoth costs
in pursuit of idle personal pleasures and allowed associated with the upkeep of King Louis XVIs
the administration to be conducted by the extravagant palace at Versailles and the frivolous
mistresses. His successor Louis XVI, who spending of the queen, Marie-Antoinette, did little
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happened to rule France on the eve of the to relieve the growing debt. These decades of
Revolution, though well-meaning, kind and just, fiscal irresponsibility were one of the primary
lacked the very qualities which could have saved factors that led to the French Revolution Leaders
the country from the prevailing situation. Years who gave the state credit, now began to charge
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of feudal oppression and fiscal mismanagement 10 per cent interest on loans. So the French
contributed to a French society that was ripe for government was obliged to spend an increasing
revolt. percentage of its budget on interest payments
alone. To meet its regular expenses, such as the
CH
Causes of The Revolution: cost of maintaining an army, the court, running

The following reasons are commonly adduced: government offices or universities, the state was
(1) the increasingly prosperous elite of wealthy forced to increase taxes. Yet even this measure
commonersmerchants, manufacturers, and would not have sufficed. French society in the
professionals, often called the bourgeoisie eighteenth century was divided into three estates,
S
produced by the 18th centurys economic growth and only members of the third estate paid taxes.
resented its exclusion from political power and The society of estates was part of the feudal
positions of honour; (2) the peasants were acutely system that dated back to the middle ages. The
aware of their situation and were less and less term Old Regime is usually used to describe the
willing to support the anachronistic and society and institutions of France before
burdensome feudal system; (3) the philosophers, 1789.Peasants made up about 90 per cent of the
who advocated social and political reform, had population. However, only a small number of
been read more widely in France than anywhere them owned the land they cultivated. About 60
else; (4) French participation in the American per cent of the land was owned by nobles, the
Revolution had driven the government to the Church and other richer members of the third
brink of bankruptcy. estate. The members of the first two estates, that
is, the clergy and the nobility, enjoyed certain
Long years of war had drained the financial privileges by birth. The most important of these
resources of France. A number of ill-advised was exemption from paying taxes to the state.
financial manoeuvres in the late 1700s worsened The nobles further enjoyed feudal privileges. These

included feudal dues, which they extracted from the richer members of society. In addition to
the peasants. Peasants were obliged to render merchants and manufacturers, the third estate
services to the lord, to work in his house and included professions such as lawyers or
fields, to serve in the army or to participate in administrative officials. Although many accounts
building roads. The Church too extracted its share of the French Revolution focus on the French
of taxes called tithes from the peasants, and peasantrys grievancesrising food prices,
finally, all members of the third estate had to disadvantageous feudal contracts, and general
pay taxes to the state. These included a direct mistreatment at the hands of the aristocracy
tax, called taille, and a number of indirect taxes
E
these factors actually played a limited role in
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which were levied on articles of everyday
inciting the Revolution. For all of the hardships
consumption like salt or tobacco. The burden of
that they endured, it wasnt the peasants who
financing activities of the state through taxes was
AD L
jump-started the Revolution. Rather, it was the
borne by the third estate alone.
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wealthy commonersthe bourgeoisiewho
Noting a downward economic spiral in the objected most vocally to the subpar treatment
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late 1700s, King Louis XVI brought in a number they were receiving. The bourgeoisie were
of financial advisors to review the weakened generally hardworking, educated men who were
French treasury. Each advisor reached the same well versed in the enlightened thought of the
conclusionthat France needed a radical change time. Although many of the wealthier members
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in the way it taxed the publicand each advisor of the bourgeoisie had more money than some of
was, in turn, kicked out. Finally, in the early the French nobles, they lacked elite titles and
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1780s, France realized that it had to address the thus were subjected to the same treatment and
problem, and fast. First, Louis XVI appointed taxation as even the poorest peasants. It was the
Charles de Calonne, Controller General of bourgeoisie that would really act as a catalyst
finances in 1783. Then, in 1786, the French for the Revolution, and once they started to act,
government, worried about unrest should it to
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the peasants were soon to follow. All of these

try to raise taxes on the peasants, yet reluctant were educated and believed that no group in
to ask the nobles for money, approached various society should be privileged by birth. Rather, a
European banks in search of a loan. By that point, persons social position must depend on his merit.
however, most of Europe knew the depth of
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These ideas envisaging a society based on

Frances financial woes, so the country found freedom and equal laws and opportunities for
itself with no credibility. Calonne finally all, were put forward by philosophers such as
convinced Louis XVI to gather the nobility John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau. In his
CH
together for a conference, during which Calonne

Two Treatises of Government, Locke sought to
and the king could fully explain the tenuous
refute the doctrine of the divine and absolute
situation facing France. This gathering, dubbed
right of the monarch. In The Spirit of the Laws,
the Assembly of Notables, turned out to be a
Montesquieu proposed a division of power within
virtual whos who of people who didnt want to
the government between the legislative, the
pay any taxes. After giving his presentation,
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executive and the judiciary. This model of

Calonne urged the notables either to agree to the
government was put into force in the USA, after
new taxes or to forfeit their exemption to the
the thirteen colonies declared their independence
current ones. Unsurprisingly, the notables refused
from Britain. The American constitution and its
both plans and turned against Calonne,
guarantee of individual rights was an important
questioning the validity of his work. He was
example for political thinkers in France. Another
dismissed shortly thereafter, leaving Frances
economic prospects even grimmer than before. great writer was Voltaire, who employed his
sharp tongue and sarcastic pen in a tirade against
The eighteenth century witnessed the the existing order in general and against
emergence of social groups, termed the middle Christianity in particular. His writings became
class, who earned their wealth through an the gospel of the French Revolution. In his
expanding overseas trade and from the writings he advocated enlightened despotism
manufacture of goods such as woollen and silk and created a thundering sensation throughout
textiles that were either exported or bought by France.

The most prominent among the French apparent that this archaic arrangementthe
philosophers was Rousseau. In his Social group had last been assembled in 1614would
Contract which became the Bible of the French not sit well with its present members. Although
Revolution he says, Man is born free but he is Louis XVI granted the Third Estate greater
everywhere in chains. He denounced the numerical representation, the Parliament of Paris
existing government as illegitimate and stepped in and invoked an old rule mandating
promulgated the theory of popular sovereignty that each estate receive one vote, regardless of
and popularized the notion of liberty, equality size. As a result, though the Third Estate was
and fraternity. Rousseau carried the idea
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vastly larger than the clergy and nobility, each
Y
forward, proposing a form of government based estate had the same representationone vote.
on a social contract between people and their Inevitably, the Third Estates vote was to be
representatives. Montesquieu had only overridden by the combined votes of the clergy
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denounced the autocracy of the crown, while and nobility. The members of the third estate
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Voltaire had vehemently criticized the clergy and demanded that voting now be conducted by the
exposed the social evils. But Rousseau did assembly as a whole, where each member would
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something constructive for the regeneration of have one vote. This was one of the democratic
the society. His Social Contract also instilled principles put forward by philosophers like
in the people a strong desire to raise the banner Rousseau in his book 'The Social Contract'. When
of the revolt against the established monarchy.
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The Influence of the American War of
the king rejected this proposal, members of the
third estate walked out of the assembly in protest.
Independence on France: When the people of
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The fact that the Estates-General hadnt been
America rose in revolt against the English rule
summoned in nearly 200 years probably says a
and fought the War of Independence, it was thing or two about its effectiveness. The First
France which rushed to the help of the Americans and Second Estatesclergy and nobility,
with men and money. It resulted in a great blow respectivelywere too closely related in many
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to the finances of France. Though France became matters. Both were linked intrinsically to the
bankrupt, the French people became rich in their royalty and shared many similar privileges. As a
thoughts and were convinced that the result, their votes often went the same way,
melancholic state of affairs of the France could automatically neutralizing any effort by the Third
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be made good by a revolution. The success of a Estate.

revolution and the American War of
Independence opened their eyes and their Additionally, in a country as secularized as
thoughts and actions found a happy blend there. France at the time, giving the church a full third
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According to Webster, The War of American of the vote was ill-advised: although Frances
Independence became an eye-opener for the citizens would ultimately have their revenge, at
nations of Europe and in particular gave leaders the time the churchs voting power just fostered
to the French Revolution. more animosity. There were numerous
philosophers in France speaking out against
COURSE OF THE REVOLUTION: religion and the mindless following that it
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supposedly demanded, and many resented being

The Estates-General, 1789: In the wake of forced to follow the decisions of the church on a
Calonnes dismissal, Louis XVI brought back national scale.
Swiss banker Jacques Necker, who had
Although the reconvening of the Estates-
previously served a ten-year stint as Director
General presented Frances aristocracy and clergy
General of Finance. After assessing the situation,
with a perfect opportunity to appease the Third
Necker insisted that Louis XVI call together the
Estate and maintain control, they focused only
Estates-General, a French congress that originated
on maintaining the dominance of their respective
in the medieval period and consisted of three
estates rather than address the important issues
estates. The First Estate was the clergy, the Second
that plagued the country. When the Estates-
Estate the nobility, and the Third Estate effectively
General convened, the Third Estate wasnt
the rest of French society.
seeking a revolutionjust a bit of liberty and a
On May 5, 1789, Louis XVI convened the more equitable tax burden. The entire Revolution
Estates-General. Almost immediately, it became might have been avoided had the first two estates

simply acquiesced to some of the Third Estates Lafayette and the National Guard:
moderate proposals. Instead, they fell back on
As the assembly secured control over the
tradition and their posh lifestyles and lit the
capital, it seemed as if peace might still prevail:
revolutionary flame.
the previous governmental council was exiled,
The Tennis Court Oath: and Necker was reinstated. Assembly members
assumed top government positions in Paris, and
Three days after splitting from the Estates- even the king himself traveled to Paris in
General, the delegates from the Third Estate (now revolutionary garb to voice his support. To bolster
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the National Assembly) found themselves locked the defence of the assembly, the Marquis de
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out of the usual meeting hall and convened on Lafayette, a noble, assembled a collection of
a nearby tennis court instead. There, all but one citizens into the French National Guard. Although
of the members took the Tennis Court Oath,
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some blood had already been shed, the
which stated simply that the group would remain Revolution seemed to be subsiding and safely in
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indissoluble until it had succeeded in creating a the hands of the people. Though few deaths
new national constitution. among the nobility were reported, the National
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Upon hearing of the National Assemblys Assembly, which was meeting in Versailles at
formation, King Louis XVI held a general the time, feared that the raging rural peasants
gathering in which the government attempted would destroy all that the assembly had worked
AC I hard to attain. In an effort to quell the
to intimidate the Third Estate into submission.
The assembly, however, had grown too strong, destruction, the assembly issued the August
and the king was forced to recognize the group. Decrees, which nullified many of the feudal
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Parisians had received word of the upheaval, obligations that the peasants had to their
and revolutionary energy coursed through the landlords. For the time being, the countryside
city. Inspired by the National Assembly, calmed down.
commoners rioted in protest of rising prices.
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The Declaration of the Rights of Man and

Fearing violence, the king had troops surround
of the Citizen:
his palace at Versailles.
Just three weeks later, on August 26, 1789,
The Bastille: the assembly issued the Declaration of the Rights
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Blaming him for the failure of the Estates- of Man and of the Citizen, a document that
General, Louis XVI once again dismissed Director guaranteed due process in judicial matters and
General of Finance Jacques Necker. Necker was established sovereignty among the French people.
a very popular figure, and when word of the Influenced by the thoughts of the eras greatest
CH
dismissal reached the public, hostilities spiked minds, the themes found in the declaration made
yet again. In light of the rising tension, a scramble one thing resoundingly clear: every person was
for arms broke out, and on July 13, 1789, a Frenchmanand equal. Not surprisingly, the
revolutionaries raided the Paris town hall in French people embraced the declaration, while
pursuit of arms. The next day, upon realizing the king and many nobles did not. It effectively
ended the ancient rgime and ensured equality
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that it contained a large armoury, citizens on

the side of the National Assembly stormed the for the bourgeoisie. Although subsequent French
Bastille, a medieval fortress and prison in Paris. constitutions that the Revolution produced would
be overturned and generally ignored, the themes
Although the weapons were useful, the of the Declaration of Rights of Man and of the
storming of the Bastille was more symbolic than Citizen would remain with the French citizenry
it was necessary for the revolutionary cause. The in perpetuity. The document The Declaration of
revolutionaries faced little immediate threat and the Rights of Man and the Citizen stated that:
had such intimidating numbers that they were
capable of non-violent coercion. By storming one 1. Men are born and remain free and equal
of Pariss most notorious state prisons and in rights.
hoarding weapons, however, the revolutionaries 2. The aim of every political association is the
gained a symbolic victory over the Old Regime preservation of the natural and inalienable
and conveyed the message that they were not to rights of man; these are liberty, property,
be trifled with. security and resistance to oppression.

3. The source of all sovereignty resides in the Though they focused on the king as
nation; no group or individual may exercise figurehead, most of the revolutionaries were more
authority that does not come from the against the nobles than the king. Everyday people
people. in France had limited interaction with royalty
4. Liberty consists of the power to do and instead placed blame for the countrys
whatever is not injurious to others. problems on the shoulders of local nobility. A
common phrase in France at the time was,
5. The law has the right to forbid only actions
that are injurious to society. If only the king knew, as though he were
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ignorant of the woes of the people. It was partly
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6. Law is the expression of the general will. owing to this perspective that the assembly
All citizens have the right to participate attempted to establish a constitutional monarchy
in its formation, personally or through alongside the king, rather than simply oust him
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their representatives. All citizens are
and rule the nation itself.
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equal before it.
7. No man may be accused, arrested or The Assemblys Tenuous Control:
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detained, except in cases determined by Despite the National Assemblys progress,
the law. weaknesses were already being exposed within
8. Every citizen may speak, write and print France, and the Great Fear and the womens
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freely; he must take responsibility for the
abuse of such liberty in cases determined
march on Versailles demonstrated that perhaps
the assembly didnt have as much control as it
by the law. liked to think. The revolution that the assembly
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9. For the maintenance of the public force was overseeing in Paris was run almost
and for the expenses of administration a exclusively by the bourgeoisie, who were far more
common tax is indispensable; it must be educated and intelligent than the citizens out in
the country. Although the August Decrees helped
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assessed equally on all citizens in

proportion to their means. assuage the peasants anger, their dissatisfaction
would become a recurring problem. The differing
10. Since property is a sacred and inviolable
priorities that were already apparent
right, no one may be deprived of it, unless
foreshadowed future rifts.
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a legally established public necessity

requires it. In that case a just compensation Louis XVIs Flight:
must be given in advance.
Although King Louis XVI maintained a
The Food Crisis:
CH
supportive front towards the Revolution, he

Despite the assemblys gains, little had been remained in contact with the rulers of Austria,
done to solve the growing food crisis in France. Prussia, and Sweden, asking for their help in
Shouldering the burden of feeding their families, restoring his family to power. In late June 1791,
it was the French women who took up arms on Louis XVI and his family attempted to escape to
October 5, 1789. They first stormed the city hall the Austrian border, where they were supposed
S
in Paris, amassing a sizable army and gathering to meet the Austrian army and arrange an attack
arms. Numbering several thousands, the mob on the revolutionaries. However, the runaway
marched to Versailles, followed by the National party was caught just before reaching the border
Guard, which accompanied the women to and brought back to Tuileries in Paris.
protect them. Overwhelmed by the mob, King
Louis XVI, effectively forced to take responsibility This escape attempt considerably weakened
for the situation, immediately sanctioned the the kings position and lowered his regard in the
August Decrees and the Declaration of the Rights eyes of the French people. Beforehand, although
of Man and of the Citizen. The next day, having he had little real power remaining, he at least
little choice, the royal family accompanied the still had the faith of his country. The kings
crowd back to Paris. To ensure that he was aware attempt to run away, however, made it clear to
of the woes of the city and its citizens, the king skeptics that he was a reluctant associate at best
and his family were imprisoned in the Tuileries and would turn his back on the constitution and
Palace in the city. its system of limited monarchy at any moment.

The more radical revolutionaries, who had never deputies, leading thinkers, and generally
wanted a constitutional monarchy, trusted the progressive society memberswho wanted to
king even less after his attempted escape. The drive the Revolution forward aggressively. The
more moderate revolutionaries, who once were Jacobins found Louiss actions contemptible and
staunch proponents of the constitutional wanted to forgo the constitutional monarchy and
monarchy, found themselves hard-pressed to declare France a republic.
defend a situation in which a monarch was
Disagreeing with the Jacobins opinions were
abandoning his responsibilities. Therefore,
many of the more moderate members of the
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although Louis XVI constitutionally retained some
Legislative Assembly, who deemed a
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power after being returned to Paris, it was clear
constitutional monarchy essential. The most
that his days were numbered.
notable of these moderates was Jacques-Pierre
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The Declaration of Pillnitz: Brissot. His followers were thus labeled Brissotins,
EM
although they became more commonly known
In response to Louis XVIs capture and forced
as Girondins.
return to Paris, Prussia and Austria issued the
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Declaration of Pillnitz on August 27, 1791, Meanwhile, in cities throughout France, a
warning the French against harming the king group called the sans-culottes began to wield
and demanding that the monarchy be restored. significant and unpredictable influence. The
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The declaration also implied that Prussia and groups nameliterally, without culottes, the
Austria would intervene militarily in France if knee breeches that the privileged woreindicated
any harm came to the king. their disdain for the upper classes. The sans-
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culottes consisted mainly of urban laborers,
Prussia and Austrias initial concern was peasants, and other French poor who disdained
simply for Louis XVIs well-being, but soon the the nobility and wanted to see an end to privilege.
countries began to worry that the French peoples Over the summer of 1792, the sans-culottes
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revolutionary sentiment would infect their own became increasingly violent and difficult to
citizens. The Declaration of Pillnitz was issued control.
to force the French Revolutionaries to think twice
about their actions and, if nothing else, make War against Austria and Prussia:
them aware that other countries were watching
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A number of French counter revolutionaries

the Revolution closely. nobles, ecclesiastics, and some bourgeois
abandoned the struggle in their own country and
The Constitution of 1791:
emigrated. Many formed armed groups close to
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In September 1791, the National Assembly the northeastern frontier of France and sought
released its much-anticipated Constitution of help from the rulers of Europe. The rulers were
1791, which created a constitutional monarchy, at first indifferent to the Revolution but began to
or limited monarchy, for France. This move worry when the National Constituent Assembly
allowed King Louis XVI to maintain control of proclaimed a revolutionary principle of
the country, even though he and his ministers
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international lawnamely, that a people had

would have to answer to new legislature, which the right of self-determination. In accordance
the new constitution dubbed the Legislative with this principle, the Papal territory of Avignon
Assembly. The constitution also succeeded in was reunited with France on September 13, 1791.
eliminating the nobility as a legal order and By early 1792 both radicals, eager to spread the
struck down monopolies and guilds. It principles of the Revolution, and the king, hopeful
established a poll tax and barred servants from that war would either strengthen his authority
voting, ensuring that control of the country or allow foreign armies to rescue him, supported
stayed firmly in the hands of the middle class. an aggressive policy. France declared war against
Austria on April 20, 1792.
The Jacobins and Girondins:
Divisions quickly formed within the new In the first phase of the war (AprilSeptember
Legislative Assembly, which coalesced into two 1792), France suffered defeats; Prussia joined the
main camps. On one side were the Jacobins, a war in July, and an Austro-Prussian army crossed
group of radical liberalsconsisting mainly of the frontier and advanced rapidly toward Paris.

Believing that they had been betrayed by the reached their boiling point. They stormed the
king and the aristocrats, the Paris revolutionaries National Convention and accused the Girondins
rose on August 10, 1792, occupied Tuileries of representing the aristocracy. Seeing an
Palace, where Louis XVI was living, and opportunity, Maximilien Robespierre, the leader
imprisoned the royal family in the Temple. At of the Jacobins, harnessed the fury of the sans-
the beginning of September, the Parisian crowd culottes to take control of the convention, banish
broke into the prisons and massacred the nobles the Girondins, and install the Jacobins in power.
and clergy held there. Meanwhile, volunteers
were pouring into the army as the Revolution Once again, the sans-culottes proved to be a
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formidable force in effecting change during the
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had awakened French nationalism. In a final
effort the French forces checked the Prussians Revolution. Already upset about the composition
on September 20, 1792, at Valmy. On the same of the National Conventionwhich remained
AD L
day, a new assembly, the National Convention, dominated by middle- and upper-class
EM
met. The next day it proclaimed the abolition of bourgeoisie and was influenced by big thinkers
the monarchy and the establishment of the of the timethey became even more angry upon
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republic. learning that many of the Girondin leaders
expected them to bolster the failing war effort.
In the second phase of the war (September Sieyes had originally rallied the Third Estate by
1792April 1793), the revolutionaries got the reminding them that they numbered many and
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better of the enemy. Belgium, the Rhineland,
Savoy, and the county of Nice were occupied by
that their numbers gave them strength. This
message clearly stuck with the sans-culottes
French armies. Meanwhile, the National throughout the Revolution, and they took
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Convention was divided between the Girondins, advantage of their strength at every possible
who wanted to organize a bourgeois republic in opportunity.
France and to spread the Revolution over the
whole of Europe, and the Montagnards The Reign of Terror:
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(Mountain Men), who, with Robespierre, In the autumn of 1793, Robespierre and the
wanted to give the lower classes a greater share Jacobins focused on addressing economic and
in political and economic power. Despite efforts political threats within France. What began as a
made by the Girondins, Louis XVI was judged proactive approach to reclaiming the nation
IA R
by the Convention, condemned to death for quickly turned bloody as the government
treason, and executed on January 21, 1793; the instituted its infamous campaign against internal
queen, Marie-Antoinette, was guillotined nine opposition known as the Reign of Terror.
months later.
CH
Beginning in September, Robespierre, under the

In the weeks after the execution of the king, auspices of the Committee of Public Safety, began
the internal and external wars in France pointing an accusing finger at anyone whose beliefs
continued to grow. Prussian and Austrian forces seemed to be counter revolutionary citizens who
pushed into the French countryside, and one had committed no crime but merely had social or
noted French general even defected to the political agendas that varied too much from
S
opposition. Unable to assemble an army out of Robespierres. The committee targeted even those
the disgruntled and protesting peasants, the who shared many Jacobin views but were perceived
Girondin-led National Convention started to as just slightly too radical or conservative. A rash
panic. In an effort to restore peace and order, of executions ensued in Paris and soon spread to
the convention created the Committee of Public smaller towns and rural areas.
Safety on April 6, 1793, to maintain order within
France and protect the country from external During the nine-month period that followed,
threats. anywhere from 15,000 to 50,000 French citizens
were beheaded at the guillotine. Even longtime
The Jacobins Coup: associates of Robespierre such as Georges Danton,
The Committee of Public Safety followed a who had helped orchestrate the Jacobin rise to
moderate course after its creation but proved power, fell victim to the paranoia. When Danton
weak and ineffective. After a few fruitless months wavered in his conviction, questioned
under the committee, the sans-culottes finally Robespierres increasingly rash actions, and tried

to arrange a truce between France and the progress in nearly every direction. Napoleons
warring countries. Robespierre pursued his forces drove through Italy and reached as far as
policies so relentlessly that even his supporters Egypt before facing a deflating defeat. In the
began to demand moderation. Finally, he was face of this rout, and having received word of
convicted by a court in July 1794, arrested and political upheavals in France, Napoleon returned
on the next day sent to the guillotine. to Paris. He arrived in time to lead a coup against
the Directory in 1799, eventually stepping up
The Constitution of 1795 and the Directory: and naming himself first consuleffectively,
the leader of France. With Napoleon at the helm,
E
The fall of the Jacobin government allowed
the Revolution ended, and France entered a
Y
the wealthier middle classes to seize power.On
fifteen-year period of military rule.
August 22, 1795, the convention was finally able
to ratify a new constitution, the Constitution of
AD L
Significance of the French Revolution in
1795, which ushered in a period of governmental the World History:
EM
restructuring. The new legislature would consist
of two houses: an upper house, called the Council French revolution influenced not only the
C
French public but left an indelible impression on
of Ancients, consisting of 250 members, and a
Europe and the entire world. Before and during
lower house, called the Council of Five Hundred,
consisting of 500 members. Fearing influence from the revolution, certain ideas were put forward
which later became the foundation of modern
AC I
the left, the convention decreed that two-thirds
of the members of the first new legislature had thought and practice. The first republic of France
to have already served on the National lasted a few years only and may indicate that
N
Convention between 1792 and 1795. the revolution was a fiasco. Although France
retrieved monarchy, it sustained good objectives
The new constitution also stipulated that the of the revolution. Feudal prerogatives could not
executive body of the new government would be flourish again and the Church could not revive
a group of five officers called the Directory. its bygone glory. Government was run
O
Although the Directory would have no legislative efficaciously and the condition of farmers
power, it would have the authority to appoint improved considerably. Jurisdiction of the law
people to fill the other positions within the increased. Taxation was made more rational.
government, which was a source of considerable
IA R
power in itself. Annual elections would be held The French Revolution originated a new
to keep the new government in check. concept in the matter of state, propagated new
ideology in respect of politics and society and
The dilemma facing the new Directory was a presented a fresh, novel outlook towards life. The
CH
daunting one essentially, it had to rid the scene Revolution claimed that nationality did not mean
of Jacobin influence while at the same time the subjection to one ruler but to a sharing of
prevent royalists from taking advantage of the same, blood, language and tradition. The idea of
disarray and reclaiming the throne. The two- nationalism had a profound effect on Europe
thirds rule was implemented for this reason, as and, later on the world. Nearly every revolution
an attempt to keep the same composition like in the 19th and 20th century was caused by
S
that of the original, moderate-run National

nationalistic ambitions. It effect can be also seen
Convention. In theory, the new government
on the Indian struggle for independence. The
closely resembled that of the United States, with
declaration of the Rights of Man, a statement of
its checks-and-balances system. As it turned out,
the peoples rights issued by the French
however, the new governments priorities became
revolutionary government in1789, laid down the
its downfall: rather than address the deteriorating
democratic principle that any government should
economic situation in the country, the legislature
be for the people and by the people. It also
instead focused on keeping progressive members
out. Ultimately, paranoia and attempts at emphasized the principle of the popular
overprotection weakened the group. sovereignty, and that ultimately the people had
the right to create a government or to remove it
Meanwhile, the Committee of Public Safetys if it does not work for the welfare of the people.
war effort was realizing unimaginable success. The revolution acquainted the people with their
French armies, especially those led by young rights and they had come to know about their
General Napoleon Bonaparte, were making individual freedom. The Revolution established

the principle that a country should be led by Republic, helping to defeat the British at Toulon.
men of ability and not necessarily by men of the For his services there, he was made a Brigadier
noble birth and this had enabled Napoleon to General. After the Directory came to power,
rise from obscurity to the position of the Emperor Napoleon married Josephine de Beauharnais and
of France. gained command of the French army in Italy,
where, after defeating the Austrians in 1797, he
It can be said that French Revolution has negotiated the Treaty of Campo Formio. This
played a remarkable role in the making of the victory boosted Napoleon to widespread
modern age in Europe and other countries of the popularity when he returned to France. Eager to
E
world and familiarised the common people with
Y
get rid of this potential challenger, the Directory
the spirit of liberty, equality and democracy. It
agreed to let Napoleon take an army on an
started a number of movements where people
Egyptian campaign to capture Egypt and hamper
AD L
demanded not only political freedom but also
British shipping to India. Napoleon's campaign
right to property and freedom of expression. They
EM
in Egypt did not go as planned, and when he
also demanded franchise. The revolution aroused
heard that the Directory was losing power, he
the spirit of political, social and economic equality.
C
abandoned his army and rapidly returned to
Women claimed equal rights with men.
Paris to take advantage of the situation, becoming
The Revolution awakened the spirit of
the first of three consuls in the new government
nationalism, which paved the way for the
proclaimed in 1799.
AC I
unification of Italy and Germany. It also
popularized the concept of democracy. Absolute As First Consul, Napoleon began a
monarchy was replaced by constitutional programme to consolidate his power. He ended
N
monarchy in many countries. It fortified the the current rift between France and the Church
concept of fraternity and separated religion from by instituting the Concordat of 1801. France was
politics. It stood for secularism and condemned then involved in several wars. In 1802, Napoleon
religious fanaticism. The ideas of liberty and signed the Peace of Amiens, a temporary peace
O
democratic rights were the most important legacy

with the British. In order to be able to concentrate
of the French Revolution. These spread from
solely on his European affairs, he sold France's
France to the rest of Europe during the nineteenth
Louisiana territory to the U.S. in 1803. In 1804,
century, where feudal systems were abolished.
he set the foundation for much of Europe's legal
Colonial peoples reworked the idea of freedom
IA R
system by establishing the Napoleonic Code. In

from bondage into their movements to create a
1804, Napoleon did away with the Consulate
sovereign nation state. Tipu Sultan and Ram
Mohan Roy were greatly influenced from the and crowned himself Emperor in an extravagant
coronation ceremony.
CH
ideas coming from revolutionary France. The

impact of ideas of nationalism, democracy, In 1805, Napoleon was planning an invasion
equality, etc., which arose from the French of England when the Russian and Austrian
Revolution can be seen on the Indian struggle armies began marching towards France.
for independence and on Indian Constitution.
Napoleon's forces defeated them at Austerlitz,
but not before the British fleet had destroyed
S
Napoleon Era (1799-1815):

Napoleon's navy at Trafalgar. At this time,
Napoleon was born in the island of Corsica Napoleon expanded his Empire by creating the
in 1769. His family had received French nobility
Confederation of the Rhine in Germany and the
status when France made Corsica a province in
Grand Duchy of Warsaw in Poland. By now,
that year, and Napoleon was sent to France in
Napoleon controlled almost all of Western Europe
1777 to study at the Royal Military School in
with the exception of Spain. He decided to try
Brienne. In 1784, Napoleon spent a year studying
and destroy the economy of his major enemy,
at the Ecole Militaire in Paris, graduating as a
Britain, by instituting the Continental System,
Second Lieutenant of artillery. Sent to Valence
on a peacetime mission, Napoleon whiled away under which all European ports would refuse to
the hours there educating himself in history and accept British shipments. He failed in this task,
geography. and in trying to force Spain to comply touched
off the Peninsular War. Russia and Prussia,
During the tumultuous years of the French however, did cooperate with Napoleon for a few
Revolution, Napoleon fought well for the years under the Treaty of Tilsit (1807).

Czar Alexander I withdrew Russia from the Switzerland, in Italy and Germany, Napoleon
Continental System. In 1812, Napoleon's Grand simplified administrative divisions, abolished the
Army entered Russia in order to punish feudal system and freed peasants from serfdom
Alexander, but the ravages of the deadly Russian and manorial dues. In the towns too, guild
winter decimated his army. Meanwhile, affairs restrictions were removed. Transport and
in France began to look unstable. Napoleon communication systems were improved. Peasants,
rushed back to Paris and raised a new army, artisans, workers and new businessmen enjoyed
only to be defeated by a coalition of European a new-found freedom. He introduced many laws
forces at Leipzig in 1814.
E
such as the protection of private property and a
Y
Napoleon was then exiled to the isle of Elba, uniform system of weights and measures
where he plotted his return. With the great provided by the decimal system. Businessmen
and small-scale producers of goods, in particular,
AD L
powers of Europe deep in negotiations over how
to redivide the continent, Napoleon escaped from began to realize that uniform laws, standardized
EM
Elba, sneaked into France, and raised a new army weights and measures, and a common national
in the period known as the Hundred Days. In currency would facilitate the movement and
C
June 1815, the armies of Wellington and Blucher exchange of goods and capital from one region
defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. Napoleon was to another. Initially, many saw Napoleon as a
again exiled, this time to distant Saint Helena in liberator who would bring freedom for the people.
However, in the areas conquered, the reactions
AC I
the South Atlantic, where he died in 1821.
of the local populations to French rule were
Impact of Napoleon on Europe: mixed. Initially, in many places such as Holland
N
Napoleon saw his role as a modernizer of and Switzerland, as well as in certain cities like
Europe. Within the wide swathe of territory that Brussels, Mainz, Milan and Warsaw, the French
came under his control, Napoleon set about armies were welcomed as harbingers of liberty.
But the initial enthusiasm soon turned to hostility,
introducing many of the reforms that he had
as it became clear that the new administrative
O
already introduced in France. Through a return

arrangements did not go hand in hand with
to monarchy Napoleon had, no doubt, destroyed
political freedom. Increased taxation, censorship,
democracy in France, but in the administrative
forced conscription into the French armies
field he had incorporated revolutionary principles required to conquer the rest of Europe, all seemed
IA R
in order to make the whole system more rational to outweigh the advantages of the administrative
and efficient. The Civil Code of 1804 usually changes. Soon the Napoleonic armies came to be
known as the Napoleonic Code did away with viewed everywhere as an invading force. Many
all privileges based on birth, established equality of his measures that carried the revolutionary
CH
before the law and secured the right to property. ideas of liberty and modern laws to other parts
This Code was exported to the regions under of Europe had an impact on people long after
French control. In the Dutch Republic, in Napoleon had left.
S


INDUSTRIALISATION
CHRONICLE
IAS ACADEMY
E
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION Kingdom of Great Britain began to be replaced
Y
by one dominated by industry and the
The Industrial Revolution was a manufacture of machinery. It started with the
AD L
transformation of human life circumstances that mechanization of the textile industries, the
EM
occurred in the late eighteenth and early development of iron-making techniques and the
nineteenth centuries (roughly 1760 to 1840) in increased use of refined coal. Once started, it
C
Britain, the United States, and Western Europe spread. Trade expansion was enabled by the
due in large measure to advances in the introduction of canals, improved roads and
technologies of industry. The Industrial railways. The introduction of steam power (fueled
Revolution was characterized by a complex primarily by coal) and powered machinery
AC I
interplay of changes in technology, society,
medicine, economy, education, and culture in
N
(mainly in textile manufacturing) underpinned
the dramatic increases in production capacity.
which multiple technological innovations The development of all-metal machine tools in
replaced human labour with mechanical work, the first two decades of the nineteenth century
replaced sources like wood with mineral sources facilitated the manufacture of more production
like coal and iron, freed mechanical power from machines for manufacturing in other industries.
being tied to a fixed running water source, and
O
The effects spread throughout Western Europe

supported the injection of capitalist practices, and North America during the nineteenth
methods, and principles into what had been an century, eventually affecting most of the world.
agrarian society. The impact of this change on society was enormous.
IA R
The Industrial Revolution marked a major Industrial Revolution, its emergence in

turning point in human history, comparable to
England was primarily the result of the many
the invention of farming or the rise of the first
reasons. A few are briefly enumerated here. A
city- statesalmost every aspect of daily life and
CH
major increase in population; An agricultural

human society was, eventually, in some way
revolution, which was linked to population
altered. As with most examples of change in
growth and the application of new techniques
complex systems, the transformation referenced
by Industrial Revolution was really a whole and machinery in cultivation; the application of
system effect wrought through multiple causes, new techniques of production in the cotton and
iron and steel industries; the gradual
S
of which the technological advances are only

the most apparent. abandonment of cottage industry and a focus of
production in factories, where it could be more
Industrial Revolution started in the United rigorously supervised.
Kingdom in the early seventeenth century. The
Act of Union uniting England and Scotland Character of British society also is stated to
ushered in a sustained period of internal peace have stimulated the rise of entrepreneurship.
and an internal free market without internal The pursuit of wealth in trade and
trade barriers. Britain had a reliable and fast manufacture or in the professions led to the
developing banking sector, a straight forward accumulation of fortunes which gave
legal framework for setting up joint stock individuals rank and status. Utter rejection of
companies, a modern legal framework and such fortune as tainted was not a feature of
system to enforce the rule of law, a developing English society, as it was in Europe. Nobles
transportation system. In the latter half of the themselves invested in activities which linked
1700s the manual labour based economy of the their estates to manufacturing.

In both France and Germany, the and clay) were used in sandy soil, as a fertilizer.
construction of railways in the mid-nineteenth Strips and commons were consolidated to
century was crucial to the growth of industrial introduce improvements and increase
capital. The development of industrial capitalism productivity to preserve income levels. This also
in other countries (Russia, and Hungary for led to release of sizable sections of rural
instance) in the late nineteenth century was population for industrial labour. Besides,
primarily the result of capital investments from Enclosures by Acts of Parliament were
the established industrial nations. However, undertaken in large number from around 1759.
E
towards the end of nineteenth century, increasing Under-drainage, which was necessary for
Y
importance of markets in colonies and cultivation of heavy clay land, was begun
underdeveloped regions of the world cannot be extensively in the 1820s.
denied for all these nations.
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Technical Innovations
EM
Agricultural Revolution and Industrial The most famous inventions were as follows.
Revolution For the textile industry, most significant were
C
Agricultural revolution, which grew out Kays Flying Shuttle (1733), which increased the
of the commercial agriculture of the seventeenth pace of weaving, Arkwrights Spinning Jenny
and early eighteenth century was a major factor (1769), and later more innovations revolutionized
AC I
responsible for the development of industrial spinning, i.e. Cromptons mule of 1779
capitalism in England, and the industrial Arkwrights water frame of 1785 and (for
weaving), Cartwrights Power Loom of 1785. In
revolution. In English agriculture, cultivation
N
the coal and iron industry, the development of
was by and large market oriented by this time.
coke by Abraham Darby (1709) and the use of
It was also specialized according to the
pudding and hammering by Cort.
convenience of soil, climate, location and product.
e.g. Clay soil of the Midlands was ideal for wheat The innovations, on the other hand, in the
O
production. Commercial production was case of coke, altered the quality of coal, while
primarily on the farms of the large tenants of other innovations permitted the quick removal
greater and lesser landowners. These proprietors of impurities. The application of steam power to
were not concerned with the productivity of their production through the Newcomen Engine (1705-
IA R
land as much as the rent it yielded, and they 06) and, more significantly, James Watts engines,
instituted major improvements in order to assure allowed the running of large wooden and metal
themselves of high rents. machines. The innovations led to economies in
various aspects of production. Such innovation
CH
Transfer of capital from agriculture to also gave the entrepreneur greater flexibility.
industry was a major requirement of the rise of
industrial capitalism in the country. Equally Crucial for the iron industry was the process
important for the rise of industrial capitalism was which allowed the production of steel, a more
the improvement in agricultural productivity and tensile and malleable product than iron. This was
the consequence of Henry Bessemers innovation
S
the ample availability of food for seasonal and

perennial industrial labour. Such improvement of 1856 whereby air blasts at the bottom of masses
was initially the result of reorganization of of molten metal reduced the carbon content of
cultivation; but from the end of the eighteenth iron, producing steel: a process which was
century, improvement was also the result of the perfected further by Sir William Siemens and
Pierre Martin (1866) in the open hearth process.
application of industrial technology for
cultivation. Demand, Market and Govt. Support
Many technology innovations were The increase in demand and labour that a
introduced into like crop rotation of root crops growing population supplied were crucial to
and legumes (beetroot, clover, sainfoin etc.), the development of industrial capitalism; and
which reinvigorated the soil, and allowed farmers substantial growth in population undoub-
to forgo the necessity of leaving it uncultivated tedly took place over the century, from 5.83
(fallow) to avoid soil exhaustion. Mixing marls million in England and Wales in 1701 to 9.16
(soil which was a mixture of carbonate of lime millions in 1801.

In this course of affairs, although, at home, The railways contributed to economies of scale,
demand from the poorer classes undoubtedly led because, for a variety of industries, they cut
to increase in agricultural production and the down the time taken for transport. If cotton had
transport industries which were linked to it, it been crucial to the economy of industrial
was middle class demand that merits attention. capitalism to the 1840s, it was coal and iron
There was a long history to this development, which led thereafter.
but it created a market for substantial rather than
fine goods, in other words, those suitable for Much of the industrial expansion of this
machine production. A rise in income before 1740 period was the consequence of the large amounts
E
of capital generated during the early phase of
Y
and a combination of rise of middle classes and
growth of overseas market after 1740 gave a the industrial revolution. Such capital inevitably
substantial scope to the market for industrial flowed to railways, given their considerable
AD L
capitalism. attractions (the Stockton Darlington generated
EM
15% interest on investment in 1839-41, and the
Large centers of production were controlled Liverpool-Manchester, a 10% dividend in 1830).
C
by the government. Government orders for From the 1860, with increasing competition from
munitions were of importance to the iron European economies and the economy of the
industry, wool and textile industries. The United States, the international position of British
Navigation Act (initially passed in 1660), and industrial capitalism declined. The consequence
AC I
related legislation, were important to the
shipbuilding industry, since they required that
was the resort to underdeveloped and colonial
markets which became increasingly important
trade with the colonies and carriage of goods to the country by the end of the nineteenth
N
from Asia, Africa and America could only be century.
done on English ships. Government followed a
protectionist policy of considerable scope (general Modern Industrial Society and New Classes
import duties rising from 10% in 1698 to 15% in Capital accumulation in the countryside and
O
1704 to 20% in 1747, 25% in 1759, 30% in 1779 erosion of common communal rights led to
and 35% in 1782. Most celebrated was the duty significant class formation within the peasantry
on corn imports, established by the Corn Law in most areas of Europe. All over Europe, the
(initially passed in 1670) by a sliding scale, which development of capitalism and modern class
IA R
varied from 25% of the home price to a minor society meant the breakup of peasant societies,
charge when that price was particularly high. and the differentiation of the peasantry into
classes ranging from the peasant petty
After the period of spirited growth described
bourgeoisie to the rural proletariat. More than
CH
above, industrial capitalism in Britain was

anywhere else in Europe, the peasantry in Russia
consolidated in the mid nineteenth century, partly
became responsive to political appeals and played
through participation in international
a significant role in the overthrow of capitalism
construction of railways. Other emerging
and the establishment of the socialist regime. With
Industrial nations increasingly placed British
the development of capitalism in Europe that
production under severe competition after the
S
rural conflicts became subsumed into the

1870s, which is described as the beginnings of
fundamental dichotomy of Capital and Labour,
the Great Depression. This depression affected
even as peasant agriculture remained alive and
both agriculture and industry: the former as a
the landlords remained privileged strata of
result of the arrival of cheap grain from North
European societies.
America on British markets from the 1870s, and
the latter because of competition from new This entire process of social restructuring that
industrializing nations. ensured a smooth and profitable integration of
the landed aristocracy into the capitalist economy
Railways to Colonial Markets and bourgeois society was helped along by the
The gradual development of steam-engine political victory of the land-owning gentry, for
drawn railway lines in England after the first example, in the Glorious Revolution after the
Darlington-Stockton rail was built (1825), English Civil War, followed by the land
substantially affected the iron and coal industries enclosures of the 18th century. Only from the
in Britain, which provided rolling stock, rail etc. 1880s that we can seriously speak of the

declining wealth or political influence of the to bourgeois status and climb higher in the social
landed gentry in England. Landlordism actually ladder. They did not agitate to overthrow the
vanished in Russia with the destruction of bourgeois social order or to challenge the right
capitalism itself. to private property, even as they suffered the
consequences of increasing concentration of
The second half of the nineteenth century production and trade, and lost out badly in the
can be characterized as the age of the bourgeoisie ensuring competition. In the labour market too
in Western Europe, although in the eastern parts their situation was precarious.
the bourgeoisie having attained its own identity
E
and wealth, was yet to exert its hegemony. Industrialization may have reduced the
Y
Throughout Western Europe the wealthiest and barriers between the landed classes and the
the most influential section of the bourgeoisie wealthy middle classes, but it sharpened the
AD L
were now bankers, factory owners and mine differences between the middle class and the
EM
owners, i.e. capitalists particularly after the labour class. This is one of the reasons for their
1850s. The merchants lost their eminence as their emerging as a political and social class despite
class gained hegemony. Commercial bourgeoisie
C
their varied composition. The city and social life
invested in urban property and land, participated reflected the strong division of the rich and poor.
as actors on the political stage. They had different spaces in the city to live in,
and the amenities and the facilities were quite
The virtues of the capitalist ethos-
AC I different.
individualism, thrift, hard work, competition, use
of money power, family, were values basically The industrial revolution destroyed the
N
promoted by middle class, and came to dominate traditional world of the new factory worker. The
industrial society as a whole. The bourgeoisie new worker was now entirely dependent on a
also included the professional salaried component cash wage, subjected to a totally different work
that grew with the growth of bureaucracies, the rhythm dictated by the factory discipline and
sectors of health and medicine, law and order,
O
the machine. Working conditions were terrible.

education, publishing, printing and mass media, The new industrial working class bore the brunt
and culture as an industry, with a new system of the early industrial growth. Long hours of
of patronage linked to mass production. work (15-16 hours, later 12 hours), unending
grind and terrible behaviour by the supervisors
IA R
This entire bourgeoisie shared a critical

often led to series of spontaneous worker riots.
distance from the landed aristocracy and the
monarchies in their countries as they grew in Political Consciousness and Class
strength and significance, and despite the clear Consciousness
CH
differentiation among themselves were united in

their opposition to privilege and despotism. Social Class experiences gave rise to class-
democracy and the womens movement, which consciousness on the part of the different sections
questioned the status quo, were born as a result of society, which was expressed through differing
of these. political affiliations. The bourgeoisie expressed
its political consciousness initially through
S
Numbers increased rapidly with the representing the general demands of society
expansion of services of various kinds under against privilege and despotism. Increasingly it
capitalism: Retailing, marketing, distribution, began to give specific form and content to its
banking and finance. This led to emergence of class interests through promoting economic
lower middle class. The lower middle class, policies opposed to agriculture and landed
though highly stratified, can be divided into two aristocracy and through gaining dominance in
main groups the classic petty bourgeoisie of the representative institutions. Although
shopkeepers and small businessmen, and the new ideologically it stood by liberalism, in practice it
white-collar salaried occupations, mostly clerks supported and initiated centrist and right wing
but also commercial travellers, schoolteachers, parties as well to counter the working class
and certain shop assistants. pressure.
They stood for the broad features of the The working people were the first to challenge
capitalist economy, strongly defended the right the capitalist order. Theirs is a story that began
to private property and their goals were to aspire with food riots and machine breaking and

evolved into varied forms of organized protests bankers were joined by various country banks
that assumed great political significance. which were set up during periods of expanding
trade after mid-century. They were also backed
In Europe, with the emergence of capitalism, by London banks in times of difficulty. A network
landlords and the peasantry were integrated with existed, therefore, for redistributing resources at
the economy in different ways. At the same time, the time that manufacturing industry increasingly
in some countries the dominance of landed came to require it.
interests continued to shape the society and
economy. This dominance of landed interest did Industry was increasingly rationalized. Here,
E
not allow the emerging bourgeoisie to attain an rationalization implied the subordination of
Y
independent identity or hegemony. Elsewhere, production to calculationa development which
the newly emerging classes had to struggle had been less important earlier, since hired labour
AD L
politically to attain a new consciousness. and technology were rarely concentrated in one
EM
place, where the influence of the capitalist could
Impact over social and economic systems exert itself effectively. Among the consequences
C
Industrial revolution is synonymous with of such change were economies of scale, where,
certain technological and economic changes, with as production increased, each unit of
important social consequences and social origins. manufacture became cheaper in terms of costs
It denotes the extensive application of water, of production. A diminution of dependence on
AC I
steam (and later electrical) power in production
systems; the focus of production in the factory
natural forces (climate, cardinally) followed from
the integration of markets
and its formidable mechanization; major changes
N
in the character and exploitation of home and Major changes in ecological balance resulted
foreign markets, and the near disappearance from the scale of demand and production: well
of subsistence agriculture. known here is the deforestation of large sections
of the United States and Russia, and the
O
Industrial society cannot survive without destruction of wild herds in the United States.
universal literacy. Education which was a cottage An important feature was also the rigorous
industry in the agrarian world, must now become subordination of economic activity to the troughs
full-fledged, impersonal and organized modern and booms of the trade cycle, whose nature
IA R
industry to turn out neat, uniform human varied in accordance with alterations in
product out of the raw material of an uprooted investment and consumption.
anonymous mass population.
Gradualist argument which stressed
An industrial society is one in which work is
CH
continuities with earlier demographic regime and

not manual but semantic. Modern economy does
slow growth of industrial productivity has been
not just need a worker; it needs a skilled worker.
criticized for not taking into account the
It is mobile society; it is an egalitarian society;
substantial contributions of female and child
and it is a society with a shared high-culture
labour and for not taking a connected regional
and not exclusive as it was in the agrarian world.
picture of emerging industrialization.
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A peasants son need not be a peasant; what

The peculiar importance of youth labour in
occupational position he occupies will depend,
the industrial revolution are highlighted in several
not on his heredity or communitys status, but
instances of textile and other machinery being
on his own competence and training.
designed and build to suit the child worker. The
Land inevitably attracted investment and spinning jenny was a celebrated case; the original
loans, but industry, with its few guarantees was country jenny had a horizontal wheel requiring
a different matter. Until mid-eighteenth century, a posture most comfortable for children aged nine
entrepreneurs lent to themselves within the same to twelve. Indeed, for a time, in the very early
trade, or drew on the funds that merchants phases of mechanization and factory
made available to them. They could also call for organization in the woollen and silk industries
loans on goldsmiths and others who dealt in as well as in cotton, it was generally believed
precious metals. With a pickup of commercial that child labour was integral to textile machine
activity in agriculture and industry, such design.

Bureaucratization can be said to death in 1817, his associates built Americas first
encompass the processes both of the centralization planned factory town, which they named after
and expansion and of the professionalization of him. This enterprise was capitalized in a public
all institutions. Bureaucratization has been a stock offering, one of the first such uses of it in
result & cause of and similar to industrialization. the United States. Lowell, Massachusetts,
Generating and exploiting material resources took utilizing 5.6 miles of canals and ten thousand
the form of industrialization; doing the same with horsepower delivered by the Merrimack River, is
human resources took the form of social considered the Cradle of the American
mobilization. Entirely new institutions and Industrial Revolution. The short-lived, utopia-
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professions were required for these activities; and like Lowell System was formed, as a direct
the emergence of professional bureaucracies takes response to the poor working conditions in
place against this background. The first of these Britain. However, by 1850, especially following
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were the direct servants of the state, the civil the Irish Potato Famine, the system was replaced
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servants and the armed forces. Bureaucratization by poor immigrant labour.
was accompanied by a campaign against
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corruption and in the cause of efficiency. Continental Europe
The Industrial Revolution on Continental
Geographical Spread of IR United States Europe came later than in Great Britain. In many
As in Britain, the United States originally used industries, this involved the application of
AC I
water power to run its factories, with the technology developed by Britain in new places.
consequence that industrialization was essentially Often the technology was purchased from Britain,
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limited to New England and the rest of the or British engineers and entrepreneurs in search
Northeastern United States, where fast-moving of new opportunities abroad. By 1809, part of
rivers were located. However, the raw materials the Ruhr Valley in Westphalia were being called
(cotton) came from the Southern United States. Miniature England because of its similarities
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It was not until after the American Civil War in to the industrial areas of England. The German,
the 1860s that steam-powered manufacturing Russian, and Belgian governments did all they
overtook water-powered manufacturing, could to sponsor the new industries by the
allowing the industry to spread across the entire provisions of state funding.
nation.
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In some cases (such as iron), the different

Samuel Slater (17681835) is popularly known availability of resources locally meant that only
as the founder of the American cotton industry. some aspects of the British technology were
As a boy apprentice in Derbyshire, England, he adopted.
CH
learned of the new techniques in the textile

industry and defied laws against the emigration Japan
of skilled workers by leaving for New York in In 1871, a group of Japanese politicians
1789, hoping to make money with his knowledge. known as the Iwakura Mission toured Europe
Slater started Slaters mill at Pawtucket, Rhode and the U.S. to learn western ways. The result
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Island, in 1793, and went on to own thirteen was a deliberate, state led industrialization policy
textile mills. to prevent Japan from falling behind. The Bank
of Japan, founded in 1877, used taxes to fund
While on a trip to England in 1810,
model steel and textile factories. Education was
Newburyport, Massachusetts merchant Francis
expanded and Japanese students were sent to
Cabot Lowell was allowed to tour the British
study in the west.
textile factories, but not take notes. Realizing the
War of 1812 had ruined his import business but A brief discussion of how IR spread to France
that a market for domestic finished cloth was and Germany is important to understand and
emerging in America, he memorized the design internalize the overall history of industrialization.
of textile machines, and on his return to the Major improvements in cultivation were
United States, he set up the Boston introduced in many regions of France especially
Manufacturing Company. Lowell and his in the north east, i.e. French Flanders (where
partners built Americas first cotton-to-cloth innovation in agriculture in Holland and Belgium
textile mill at Waltham, Massachusetts. After his had initially made their way to England and

were now quickly disseminated). Knowledge of immediately led to decline in demand for many
improving methods which were prevalent in items of French manufacture on the Continent,
England and elsewhere came to be known and confronted producers with the possibility of
through publications such as Duhamel du bankruptcy. It was almost natural, therefore, that
Monceaus 6-volume introduction to improving the government of the countrys Restoration rulers
agriculture, through cheap literature and by (Louis XVIII and Charles X), turned to a
word-of-mouth. Partly as a result of the continuation of Napoleonic and pre-
application of improving techniques, Revolutionary policies to protect national
substantial increase in agricultural production industry.
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was registered during 1725-1789.
Demands for free trade coincided with the
Since much cultivation on peasant land was industrial growth of the 1830s and 1840s. But
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still based on the three-field rotation in an open still much production focused in small units,
EM
field, improvements were difficult to initiate on which explains the popularity of protection until
smaller holdings and strips. Hence, on the 1848; and that production was dependent on
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standard and smaller peasant holdings, where less productive water power. Beyond
the open field was less known, land was international circumstances, much of the increase
increasingly insufficient to provide the in production in France was the consequence of
requirements of a growing family. Although the interventionism of the Bonapartist state under
AC I
commercialization in agriculture was substantial,
and major surpluses of grain were available for
the Second Empire. Here government
encouragement of growth, prompted by
growing urban population, large fluctuations and
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Napoleon Ills Saint Simonian principles, was
disparities in income levels were a feature of the evident in the official assistance to the creation
French countryside, as was dire poverty in of the Credit Foncier (a national mortgage bank)
certain quarters. and the Credit Mobilier (a joint-stock bank).
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A rapidly-growing internal market for Following the defeat of France in the Franco-
manufactured goods, though, was not a feature Prussian War (1870-71), a general impression
of initial manufacturing development; for this prevailed for several decades that the country
was prevented by major problems of trade within experienced a decline. However, the impression
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the country, and the problems of industrial

always bore reference to comparisons with
organization and capital availability. The country
Germany and the United States.
was far from uniform in its administration, and
could not strictly be treated as a well integrated France showed substantial headway in
CH
market by traders and producers. Industry was research and development in the fields of
curbed by guild restrictions. Country banks were chemicals production and the electrical industries.
not available in the country. Unlike England, the e.g. Solvay process for soda, dyestuff research,
practice of trade and manufacture attracted social electrical and telegraph and telephone
disapproval among the French elite, among manufacturing research are some areas where
whom status by privilege, either through venal France showed considerable growth. In general,
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offices (i.e. official positions which could be the loss of Alsace and Lorraine in 1871 (to
bought), or through titles of nobility. Germany) was less significant for French
A considerable portion of the political and industrial capitalism than may initially appear.
social reconstruction of France during the 1789- In Germany, many circumstances hindered
1815 periods had major economic repercussions, economic growth of a more substantial nature.
and affected the position of industrial capitalism Availability of labour was poor for much of the
within the country. These include the attack on eighteenth century in certain areas the
privilege and the consequent changes in land
consequences of heavy mortality during the wars
tenure, and the abolition of guild structures; and
of the time (the War of the Austrian Succession
equally important, the impact of war and
and the Seven Years War). The territory of the
expansion of trade and production.
German states, moreover, did not provide
The sudden influx of cheap goods from manufacturers with a well-integrated market,
England after the end of the Napoleonic Wars since each state had its tolls and duties, and

transit required the payment of these. (fragmented holdings held by customary rights
in France and serfdom in Germany) and the
Other problems of significance were: quality, dominance of big landed institution, on the other.
for instance, of the coal and iron deposits in the As a consequence of the above, the state played
region. In the East of the region, labour mobility a crucial role in (a) creating uniform legislative
was severely restricted by the prevalence of measures, (b) financing of industry and (c)
serfdom. Capital supply was, unlike Britain and creating a common market. In France, however,
like France, limited to the wealth of powerful an important role was played by the period of
traders and manufacturers, and could not call French revolution when the attack on privilege
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on a wider network of availability of capital
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loosened the tight grip of nobility and the guilds.
Such problems became of decreasing The growth of industrial capitalism in Russia
significance with the Serf Emancipation in the
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struggled with the countrys persistent
1800s, the creation of the Zollverein (the Prussia-
EM
backwardness. In the process a major role was
centered customs union) in the 1830s, the played by the state which tried to mobilize a
dismantling of paternalist conventions in 1848-
C
labour force by emancipation of serfs, took
49, and the creation of joint-stock banks on policy initiatives like bringing in foreign capital
French model in the 1850s. Together, these for investment and took major initiative in setting
developments lay the foundation of the industrial up centres of industry. Insufficient growth in the
AC I
boom of the middle decades of the nineteenth agricultural sector tended to reinforce
century, and, following the formation of the backwardness.
German empire, industrial capital systematically
N
developed on this basis. Models of development
The character of capitalism in the region was W.W. Rostow, in his discussion of the stages
decisively influenced by official measures that of economic growth argues that growth follows
were taken in the area during the period 1789- five stages:
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1815. In the first case, the industrial settlements Traditional society, where innovation
of the Rhineland underwent the dismantling of occurs in both industry and agriculture,
the guilds, and the abolition of their privileges but there is a limit on the level of
which improved the status of competitors in a
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attainable output per head.

number of industries and gave greater scope to
Societies in a process of transition in
innovation. The Continental system increased
the period when the pre-conditions for
demand for the products of this region. The
impact of serf emancipation, though, in Prussia
take-off are developed, where
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was limited but decisive and ubiquitous. transition might be the result of
circumstances where the insights of
Crucial also to economic growth after 1815 modern science began to be translated
was the gradual development of large regional into new production functions in
markets in the 1820s, before the formation of the agriculture and industry. An
Prussia centered Zollverein (Customs Union) in
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intrusion thus created would lead to

1834. Within such a system of trade agreements, the path towards modernity.
the development of railways in the German states The stage of take-off which is the
acted as a major stimulus to production and interval when old blocks and
innovation in the enclaves of iron and coal
resistances to steady growth are finally
production in Silesia and in the Rhineland.
overcome, where enclaves of modern
Railway lines allowed the extension of a home
activity expand and dominate society,
market which was reasonably well-knot around
the internal river system based around the Rhine,
and where growth becomes the
the Elbe and the Oder, all of which had canal normal condition. Here investment of
networks working off them. the Gross National Product of GNP
must increase from about 5% upto 10%
In total it can be said that the France and on average, and it must be marked by
German industrial capitalism was constrained by large reinvestment in industries and
a peasantry tied to land on the one hand large scale changes in agriculture.

It is a stage to be seen in Britain in the twenty a model of banking which thereafter became
years after 1783; in France and the USA in the widely established on the continent. This model
decades before 1860; in Germany in the 1850- was developed in new directions in Germany. In
1875; period; and in Russia and Canada in the Russia, on the other hand, the state was inspired
twenty-five years before 1914. The cardinal by military interests to establish a firm path
elements and periodicity of this perspective are towards industrialization. Different paths
not easily justified. Many of Rostows pre- followed by different countries for
conditions for take-off are themselves, for industrialization drives home the point that there
instance, features of take-off itself: in the case of can be no one-stop solution for the general
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the French economy, no significant period of take- underdevelopment in developing countries of
off is discernible. world. Every nation has to fine tune its strategy
keeping in mind its specific concerns.
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The drive to maturity, when an economy
EM
become fully part of an international Ideological Criticisms
economy, the significance of established
Path towards capitalist Industrial revolution
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leading sectors decline and investment
was not accepted unanimously but an ideological
stands at 10-20% of GNP.
and intellectual criticism of earlier growth models
The stage of high mass consumption, was vigorously pursued. Criticism pursued
where greater resources are devoted to mercantilists who were concerned with the
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social welfare, and where the focus of the methods the state might use to promote
economy shifts from leading sectors to prosperity, through regulation of foreign trade;
N
durable consumer goods. criticism was also leveled against physiocrats who
Alexander Gerschenkron, on the other hand, were mainly concerned with general
in his discussion of backwardness in historical improvements in the productivity of the land. A
perspective, argues that stress on preconditions proper integration of the various forces which
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or take-off is unwarranted, since these hardly were crucial to capitalism (population,

exist in any consistent way in industrialization. entrepreneurship, demand, rent, profit, state
He feels that the development of a backward policy etc.) were achieved by Adam Smith (1723-
country tend to differ fundamentally from that 1790), David Ricardo (1772-1823) and Thomas
Robert Malthus. Smith, in his Inquiry into the
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of an advanced country.
Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
Gerschenkron proposes that the nature of the established a critique of mercantilism and
industrialization process in a backward country physiocracy. He supported the principle of laissez
shows differences when compared with faire. Smith accepted the occurrence of social
CH
advanced countries in the rate of industrial disparities when individuals pursued their own
growth and, in its organization and nature of ends; but he was optimistic that overall
production. These consequences are the result of prosperity would ensure, and that a degree of
the application of institutional instruments for harmony with the onset of perfect compe-
which no counterpart exists in established tition in prosperity would exist in social relations.
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industrial nations. The intellectual climate of

industrialization is substantially different. The Objections were raised by others thinkers
extent to which these attributes of backwardness against the capitalist industrialization. Ricardo
occurred in individual instances appears to have was convinced that steady increase in rent, which
varied directly with the degree of backwardness would follow more production and a growing
and the natural industrial potentialities of the population, might be the foundation of economic
countries concerned. crises. Malthus, on the other hand, saw a rising
population, which was the necessary
Novel banking networks and the intervention consequence of growth, as the ultimate brake on
of the state are the institutional instruments prosperity. Utilitarian views, associated with
that Gerschenkron isolates as crucial to Jeremy Bentham that some role for government
industrialization in backward states of Europe. was still to be found in the pursuit of prosperity
Hence in France, a new form of banking emerged were further strengthend in face of such
during the reign of Napoleon III, which changed criticisms. These were aimed primarily to ensure
the direction of established wealth and established the greatest happiness of the greatest number,

which might, in various circumstances, be the source of an emergent middle class occupying
threatened by the greed of the minority. such positions as managers or independent
entrepreneurs or government employees.
Smiths optimism regarding the ability of
classes to arrive at a harmonious pursuit of Over the long term, the Industrial Revolution
prosperity, despite disparities of income, was marked a period in which the living standard of
challenged by Socialist writers. Sismonde de the people in the affected countries rose
Sismondi (1773-1842), saw production increasing tremendously as did the power of the human
rapidly within capitalist development, but also species to use technology for exploiting nature to
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foresaw a growth of inequalities, which could human purpose and the image of the human
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not be resolved, except through state intervention. being as the rightful dominating owner of the
Proudhon (1809-1868), considered that the natural world. The resulting destructive
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injustices which were linked to inequalities must consumption of the natural world has grown to
EM
be ameliorated by mutualism or the activities such dimensions that in recent decades equally
of voluntary associations which would perform powerful counter currents calling for sustainable
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the regulatory functions of an interventionist development and responsible stewardship of
state. Karl Marx (1818-1883) attempted to isolate nature have arisen.
the course that inequality would run, and argued
that capitalism itself would collapse eventually. While the Industrial Revolution contributed
AC I to a great increase in the GDP per capita of the
A revolution in human life participating countries, the spread of that greater
wealth to large numbers of people in general
To speak of the Industrial Revolution is to
N
occurred only after one or two generations during
identify only the most immediately obvious
which the wealth was disproportionately
aspects of a total social revolution that occurred
concentrated in the hands of a relatively few.
during the period called the Industrial Revolution.
Still, it enabled the ordinary to enjoy a standard
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The short-term effects were in many cases of living far better than that of their forebears.
drastic as traditional family-centered agrarian Traditional agrarian societies had generally been
lifestyles with all family members playing a role more stable and progressed at a much slower
were torn asunder by long hours of tedious rate before the advent of the Industrial Revolution
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factory work required of men, women, and and the emergence of the modern capitalist
children if the family were to earn enough to economy. In countries affected directly by it, the
survive. These new work patterns, over time, Industrial Revolution dramatically altered social
fostered the emergence of laws, regulations, relations, creating a modern, urban society with
CH
inspectors, and labour unions to protect factory a large middle class. In most cases, the GDP has
workers from exploitation by the factory owners. increased rapidly in those capitalist countries that
Aided by these protections, families became more follow a track of industrial development, in a
stable and factory workers in the cities became sense recapitulating the Industrial Revolution.
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NATIONALISM AND CHRONICLE
BRITISH DEMOCRATIC IAS ACADEMY
POLITICS A CIVIL SERVICES CHRONICLE INITIATIVE
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NATIONALISM AND BRITISH mobilization. For nearly 150 years between the
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DEMOCRATIC POLITICS Congress of Vienna in 1815 and the end of the
Second World War in 1945, nationalism was the
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Nationalism is an ideology and belief that the lone promoter of nation-states.
EM
people of a single territory should have a common
Although it is possible to trace the idea of the
culture, and with it, a sovereign state.
nation to the earliest times and certainly to the
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Nationalism is a modern phenomenon, dating
16th century as in the case of the German
from the eighteenth century; when it combines
word Volk for people - there is considerable
with the modern state in that territory, the
unanimity among historians that nationalism is
product is known as the nation-state. The
AC I
creation of the nation-state system thus witnessed
a modern concept. Despite other disagreements,
scholars like Benedict Anderson, Ernest Gellner
the development of nation-states out of existing
and Eric Hobsbawm agree that nationalism is a
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states (France and Britain) or through the
phenomenon which emerged in the eighteenth
unification of a number of smaller ones (Germany
century in Western Europe and then spread
and Italy).
during the 19th and 20th centuries to other parts
At the same time, the process entailed the of the world.
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break-up of existing territorial states into a

number of national units. The prime examples of Proto-Nationalism Before 1789
this process were the Russian, Habsburg, and Several 19th Century Observers believed that
Ottoman empires. Hence their pattern of elements of nationalism emerged in the medieval
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formation went through three phases; the first period - a sense of ethnic or linguistic or national
of scholars propagating the idea of a single identity. This can be called a form of patriotism
nation by promoting its language, folklore, and or of protonationalism. The 19th century French
history; the second of journalism disseminating historian and politician Guizot believed that the
CH
the idea of the nation through popular Hundred Years War between England and
publications in the national language; and the France (1337-1453) provoked by the claim of
third of political movements espousing these the king of England to the throne of France
doctrines to work for the nation-state. When brought together the nobility, burghers and
international diplomacy and war combined with peasantry in a common desire to defeat the
these factors, as especially during and after the foreigners who had attacked and plundered
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First World War, a number of such nation-states France. Though modern historians regard this as
established themselves. a period of crises marked by war, plague and
famine; it did create a sense of patriotism. The
Until the French revolutionary wars, states four different nationalities which created a
engaged in war and diplomacy; thereafter it was modern state in 1648 managed to create a distinct
nations, or more strictly, nation-states. Swiss national consciousness only by 1848 after
Nationalism has clearly emerged as the most the victory of the liberals and the drafting of a
dominant political force during the course of the new federal Constitution.
last two centuries. Modern man does not simply
think; he thinks as French or German or as an The 19th century is regarded as a century of
Indian. One of the most prominent features of nationalism a period in which the idea of the
modern state is nationalism. Nationalism has nation state based on Britain and France was
become one of most important instruments of generalized and perceived as the universal
mobilization and effectively it leads to self- principle for modern societies. It is the considered

view of historians that nationalism in the modern and a nation, in order to be, is not obliged to
sense emerged with the growth of industrial fulfil any of the objection conditions.
capitalism or print capitalism and was then
sustained by a variety of factors by notions of Stalin offered a much sharper and
community based on language, ethnicity or comprehensive understanding of nations.
religion or by the rivalry and competition among According to him, A nation is a historically
states and imagined communities. constituted, stable community of people, formed
on the basis of a common language, territory,
The big change in the attitude towards economic life and psychological make-up
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nationality and nationalism came about in the manifested in a common culture. If Renans
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late 19th century with the growth of mass definition-net was too wide catching nations as
political movements in the era of democratic well as many non-nations, Stalins definition
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politics. After 1880 the debate about the national tended to be a bit narrow, leaving out significant
EM
question becomes important with the need to nations.
mobilize voters for different political parties and
to gain adherents for new ideologies whether Though Renan offered an idealist definition
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among socialists or minor linguistic and national of the nation as against the materialist analysis
groupings. In the later stage of mass politics and of Stalin, both authors believed that there was
national movements, the state played an active nothing eternal or everlasting about nations.
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role. Colonel Pilsudski, the liberator of Poland, Nations had a beginning and they would also
in fact observed, It is the state which makes the have an end.
nation and not the nation the state. Whatever
N
view one takes of the relations between nation Within the Marxist tradition, the definition
and state, it was electoral democracy which of the nation has evolved from the writings of
undermined the liberal theory of the nation. Marx and Engels, through Lenin and Stalin, to
those of Hobsbawm. Broadly speaking, within
The exercise of power in modern European
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this tradition the nation is regarded as a

states was different from any form that preceded historically evolved phenomenon which emerges
it. It was marked especially by the absolute power only with decline of feudalism and the rise of
of the modern state, and the correspondingly capitalism. Tribes, clans and peoples existed prior
enormous mobilization of the population over
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to the emergence of capitalism but it was because

which these states exercised their powers. of new economic relations produced by the
Nationalism was the driver of this type of emergence of the capitalist mode of production
mobilization.
that nations were created. Nationalism was
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Defining the Un-Definable regarded as an ideological construct which

enabled the bourgeoisie to identify its interests as
The earliest attempt to define a nation was a class with the interests of the whole society.
made in 1882 by Ernest Renan, a French scholar.
He defined nation, as a human collectively Hobsbawm also emphasizes that nations and
brought together by will, consciousness and nationalist aspirations have to be examined in
S
collective memory (and also common the context of a particular stage of technological
forgetfulness, or a collective amnesia). He called and economic development. Though essentially
the nation as an exercise in everyday plebiscite. constructed from above, nationalism cannot be
The strength of Renans definition lay in providing understood unless it is also analyzed from below
a voluntaristic (as against naturalistic) component in terms of the assumptions, hopes, needs,
to the understanding of nation. He forcefully longings and interests of ordinary people which
rejected the notion that nations were created by are not necessarily national and still less
natural boundaries like mountains, rivers and nationalist.
oceans. He emphasized the role of human will
and memory in the making of a nation. Friedrich List in The National System of
Political Economy stated that, a large
According to Renan, human collectivity or population and an extensive territory endowed
grouping can will itself to form a nation. The with manifold national resources, are essential
process of the creation of a nation is not requirements of the normal nationality. It is this
defendant upon any natural or objective criteria tacit liberal assumption of a certain size of states

which Hobsbawm calls the threshold principle Kohn argued that both the idea and the
of nationality which the liberal bourgeoisie form of nationalism were developed before the
broadly endorsed from about 1830-1880. It is this age of nationalism. The idea of nationalism is
threshold principle of nationality which is shared traceable to the ancient Hebrews and Greeks.
by figures as far apart as John Stuart Mill, The idea of the chosen people, the consciousness
Friedrich Engels and Mazzini. It is this principle of national history and national mechanism were
which explains why Mazzini, the apostle of three traits of nationalism which emerged with
nationalism, did not support the cause of Irish the ancient Jews. But he acknowledges that,
independence. The principle of national self- despite their fierce nationalist ideology, the
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determination in the period of Mill and Mazzini Greeks lacked political nationalism and there
was therefore substantially different from that in was only a brief period of patriotism during the
the period of the American President, Woodrow Persian Wars.
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Wilson.
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According to Ernest Gellner, nations are best
The modern concept of the nation emerged understood in the spirit of nationalism. Contrary
C
during the Age of Revolution, the American to popular belief it is not nations that lead to
Revolution of 1776 and the French Revolution of nationalism. But, nations are created by
1789. In America political discourse did not nationalism. The three components-will (Renan),
emphasize the unitary aspect of nationalism - culture (Stalin) and ideology (Gellner)- complete
AC I
the Americans were concerned with the
inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit
definition of nation.
Emergence of Nationalism
N
of happiness, with the proper relation between
the American union and the states and with The present day congruence of nation and
development of a liberal capitalist society. By state (emergence of nation-state) is a product of
contrast, in France the nation was conceived as specific development in human history. Arrival
of the industrial era increased this division of
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one and indivisible. The idea of the nation was

labour manifold, thereby ensuring a long life for
inextricably linked up with mass participation,
the state. State, under conditions of industrial
citizenship and collective sovereignty of the
economy, was no longer an option; it became a
people or of a given nationality.
necessity.
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Hobsbawm draws a distinction between the According to Ernest Gellner: nationalism is

revolutionary democratic and the nationalist political principle that holds that national and
conception of the nation. In the revolutionary political units should be congruent. For this
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democratic view of the nation the sovereign coming to state and nation, there are clearly three
citizen people within a state constituted a nation preconditions-there should be a state; there
in relation to others whereas in the nationalist should be a nation; and finally, they should be
view the prior existence of same distinguishing nationalism to tell the other two that they are
features of a community, setting it apart from meant for each other and cannot live without
others, was necessary to constitute a nation. each other.
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Hans Kohn, argues that nationalities are The citizens of the agrarian world lived in
products of the living forces of history and laterally insulated cultural groupings. It was an
therefore always fluctuating never rigid, agglomeration of communities of common people.
Nationalities are not identical with clans, tribes They lived in stable cultural formations, not
or folk-groups nor are they the simple outcome particularly informed about the presence of other
of common descent or common habitat. Kohn groups. Written word was rarely available to
argues: Ethnographic groups like these existed them. They lived their culture without ever
throughout history, from earliest times on, yet articulating it. They could not write and to
they do not form nationalities; they are nothing understand what was written, they relied upon
but ethnographic material, out of which under the clergy or the Ulema or Brahmin.
certain circumstances a nationality might arise. Compared to agrarian society an industrial
Even if a nationality arises, it may disappear society was a society based on perpetual growth-
again, absorbed into a larger or new nationality. both economic and cognitive. The industrial

society showed a tremendous commitment to Smith divides this rupture-ridden route into
continuous change and growth. It was a literate two sub-routes those of ethnic nationalism and
society. Literacy in the agrarian world was territorial nationalism. The ethnic sub-route is
confined to the exclusive high-culture, in other divided into two lanes-based on renewal and
words to the king, priest and the scholar. secession. Renewal is based on the renewal or
However, the reality was that universal suffrage the revival of a declining ethnic identity like Persia
did not come to West Europe till 1870 and in in the 1890s. The secessionist lane could be
East Europe till 1919. Thus it was mainly the further divided into three by-lanes of breakaway,
E
educated, urbane middle class who pursued the Diaspora and irredentist nationalism. The
Y
ideology of nationalism and liberalism and built breakaway group sought to sever a bond through
movements around them. cessation. Bangladesh that broke away from
Pakistan in 1991 could also come in the same
AD L
The role of social status does not completely
category. The Diaspora nationalism is best
EM
diminish in the industrial society, but it loses the
represented by the Jews. The irredentist
eminence that it enjoyed in the agrarian world. nationalism normally followed a successful
C
A marriage of culture and polity is the only national movement. If the new state did not
precondition to mans dignified survival in such include all the members of the ethnic group, these
a world of dissolving identities. will demand the nation. Territorial nationalism
AC I
His national identity becomes important to occurred when a heterogeneous population was
him and only a state representative of his nation coercively united by a colonial power.
can ensure the preservation of this identity. This
N
Nationalism is a territorial ideology which is
is nationalism. And this is why modern man is internally unifying and externally divisive.
a nationalist. Modern state needs not only trained Authorities as Max Weber and Lenin have argued
men but also committed and loyal men. They that nations and nationalism have to be seen
must follow the instructions of the state in which primarily in political terms in relation to
O
they live, and of no other subdivision within the statehood. Nationalism is an ideology which
territory. Only nationalism can ensure this. links culturally and historically defined territorial
communities called nations, to political statehood.
Different Routes taken by Nationalism
IA R
Three ways in which nationalism has shaped

Anthony Smith has attempted a division of a
the modern state have been identified. In the
world into different types of routes that
older states like England and France the rise of
nationalism takes in its journey towards creation
nationalism was linked to the development of
CH
of nation-states. The creation of nation-states has more democratic relationships between the state
taken two routes; Gradualist and nationalist. The and civil society. Secondly, nationalism furthers
gradualist route is generally conflict free and the internal unification of culturally and
contest free and is one where the initiative was economically diverse regions into a more
taken by the state to create conditions for the homogenous state territory. Finally, nationalism
spread of nationalism. divides one political community or nation from
S
another and even determines the geographical

Nation-states were thus formed either by boundaries of the nation in many cases.
direct state sponsored patriotism or were the
result of colonization (Australia and Canada: Nationalism can support both movements of
they did not have to fight for independence) or unification and separation. In Italy and Germany,
provincialism where cultures/states just ceded nationalism and the state created a new nation
from the imperial power, were granted state. In Scandinavia, nationalism produced the
independence and were on their way towards separation of Norway from Sweden.
becoming nation-states. One feature of the As a result of the growth of industrialization,
gradualist route is that it was marked by the of the rise of the working class and socialism,
absence of conflict, violence, contesting claims and of inter-imperialist rivalries, nationalism
over national hood or any national movement. became associated with conservative and right
The other, nationalist route is characterized by wing ideologies not just with the republican ideas
rupture, conflict, violence and earth-moving. of the French Revolution.

Factors Affecting Spread and Growth of The modern state and its administrative
Nationalism innovations themselves sharpened a sense of
linguistic identity among the general population.
The process of democratization in the first The statisticians and census data collectors from
half of the 19th century was accelerated not only the 1860s onwards sought data on language.
by revolutions but by a gradual process of socio- Hobsbawm observes, In truth, by asking the
economic change; the growth of industries and language question, censuses for the first time
the new social classes of the bourgeoisie and forced everyone to choose not only a nationality,
workers. but a linguistic nationality.
E
Y
As the economy developed new social classes, In older states like Britain and France a state-
of which the emergence of the working class in based patriotism itself encouraged a sense of
particular posed new problems for the 19th nationalism during the course of the 19th
AD L
century modernizing state and the liberal century. The patriotism of the working classes in
EM
bourgeoisie. After the 1832 Reform Act in Britain Europe did not deny the chasm between classes
the struggle of the liberal middle class parted but affirmed its loyalty to the nation state. The
C
company with the struggles of the working most significant illustration of this is the manner
classes. The inclusion of the propertied middle in which the working class and socialist parties
of the Second International which had repeatedly
classes within the framework of electoral
passed political resolutions condemning the idea
AC I
democracy was typically achieved in several
European states by the mid 19th century. It was
of an imperialist war and emphasizing the
international character of the struggle of the
the emergence of the labour and socialist socialist parties very quickly identified with their
N
movement in the late 19th century which affected nations and their national interest once the First
the balance of social forces. The rise of the Social World War broke out. It is evident that Socialists
Democratic Party in Germany during the late and Marxists had underestimated the power of
19th century affected the position of the liberal nationalism and the patriotism of the working
O
bourgeoisie vis--vis the conservatives in the classes, even of these groups who professed
German politics and society. Mass participation socialism and identified with the social democratic
even the participation of a broad based socialist parties.
party - did not successfully democratize German
The gradual extension of the franchise and
IA R
society, though the extent of pre-World War I

the efforts of liberal states like Britain,
German conservatism has been exaggerated.
modernizing states like Germany, or survival
The modernization of states was strategies of autocracies like Tsarist Russia to gain
legitimacy and popular support, produced a form
CH
accompanied by the development of a centralized

administration and a large bureaucracy based of patriotism. National pride and national
identification was also encouraged by overseas
on rational-legal principles. This process was
expansion, by the material and psychological
accompanied by the development of a national
rewards which imperial possessions brought to
language, of a language of administration and countries like Britain, France, and even Holland
not merely local communication. The choice of a and Spain. In Britain a sense of national
S
dialect or language as the medium of official identification was encouraged not only because
communication led to public or state support for of the peculiarities of the English and the
its propagation, especially through the school glorious tradition of free born Englishmen, but
system. The growth of a professional middle class also because of pride in a worldwide empire.
and of modern state bureaucracies were based
on the growth of modern universities, law and The aggressive nationalism of the conservative
journalism. The expansion of secondary school regimes in the late industrializing countries like
Germany helped to rally support for the regime
system and the state choice of the official or
and to encourage nationalist sentiment
national language in schools became a source of
throughout Europe. The speech by the German
great conflict among rival ethnic linguistic groups
Emperor, William II, at Tangiers in Morocco in
within multi-ethnic states like Austria-Hungary 1905, induced widespread fear in France, helped
and in Eastern Europe in general. However, in to create a sense of national unity which was
earlier periods language had been less divisive able to transcend domestic conflicts in times of
because literacy levels were very low. acute crisis.

The period from 1890 to 1914 is often called Although the democratization of France took
the period of armed peace based on the creation place gradually, and the French Revolutions of
of rival military and diplomatic alliances, between 1830 and 1848 and the Paris Commune of 1871
contenders for industrial and military supremacy are part of the gradual process of democratization
and for colonial possessions and profits. of French politics and society, the significance of
Nationalism in the period 1880-1914 was no the radicalism of the years 1792-95 cannot be
longer constrained by the threshold principle denied.
which had limited the demands for nation states
Though, Napoleonic dictatorship was a
E
earlier. Anybody of people claiming to be a nation
retreat from the ideals of the Revolution it is
Y
could claim the right to national self-
equally true that his military exploits and
determination.
conquests simplified the political map of Europe
AD L
The reasons for the increasing readiness of and spread the ideas of nationalism and
EM
real and imagined communities to make claims democracy among the conquered people. The
of nationhood and national self-determination Congress of Vienna not only wished to contain
C
was because of the pace of change, economic France but also, through the Metternich system,
distress and large scale migration of peoples in the conservative European Powers represented
this period. Traditional groups felt threatened by by Prussia, Austria and Russia sought to restrict
the spread of both democratic and nationalist
AC I
the pace of modernization. Educated middle
strata with modest incomes- journalists, school ideas.
teachers and petty officials were the torchbearers
Metternich system
N
of linguistic nationalism. Migration produced
friction and conflicts between groups unused to In 1815, at the Congress of Vienna, the
coexistence with different groups. protagonists of the old European order, inspired
by the Austrian Chancellor, Count Metternich,
The oppressed nationalities of Eastern Europe
O
tried to create a permanent barrier against

did become independent states based on Wilsons national and liberal movements. Popularly
support for the principle of national self- known as the Metternich system, the origins of
determination but it is hardly possible to assert this system of alliances can be traced from the
that significant numbers had dreamed of both Holy Alliance, brought together by Tsar
IA R
social revolution and national independence. Alexander I, and its rival, the Quadruple
Alliance, which was a British creation to
Spread of nationalism counteract the Tsar. These two different systems
CH
Britain can be said to be the first nation state of alliances set the stage for what came to be
in modern sense as we identify the term Nation known as the Congress system, which in the
today. Britain transformed its state and its politics period after 1815, envisaged a series of
from the 1770s to 1830s. The Wilkes agitation of international congresses of the great powers to
1770s and the parliamentary reform of the 1830s decide on European issues and problems. The
are the landmarks of these developments. From power structure of European states was
S
1830, transformation of the state was marked by periodically reviewed after the Napoleonic wars
a firm commitment to increasing intervention by by the European great powers through the
the state that led to the beginnings of a welfare mechanism known as the Congress System.
state and a system made to function by the state This was a periodic conference of the leaders of
according to the rules of the market. The the great powers in Europe to maintain the
development of politics culminated in the outline balance of power between themselves starting
of a pluralist liberal democracy. In this, besides with the Congress of St. Petersburg in 1825.
Congress of Berlin in 1878 was a high point
all the agitation politics by different interest
which dealt with the consequences of the war
groups, the working class played the most
between the Russian and Ottoman Empires.
important role, especially with the Chartist
movement of the 1840s. While Britain went After 1818, following the Congress of Aix-la-
through modernization, it was remarkable for Chappelle, there was a growing inclination
having done so without a deliberate revolution towards great power intervention in the domestic
as in France. politics of a country threatened by liberal

movements. e.g. in 1820, when a outbreak successful Greek revolt. Decembrists attempted a
occurred in Naples, the Powers conceded to military coup de tat in December 1825 when the
Metternichs demand for intervention. At the death of the Czar provoked the uprising of the
Congress of Laibach, 1821, Metternich was soldiers in St. Petersburg. The Russian artillery
allowed to intervene in Naples and Piedmont to could easily disperse this uprising while a similar
restore the absolutist regimes. This was the action of a few days later in the Ukraine was
greatest triumph of the Metternich system. suppressed in the same manner. The leaders of
the uprising, including Colonel Pestel were hanged
Even though the landed aristocracy and the
E
and many more exiled to Siberia.
Church felt rejuvenated by the Restoration of
Y
the traditional dynasties, it was still impossible Russians succeeded in imposing the treaty of
for the restored monarchies to ignore popular Adrianople on Turkey by which Turkey agreed
AD L
political sentiments. These strands were to the autonomy of Serbia, the Danubian
EM
moderate constitutionalism, that would accept a principalities and Greece. Later in 1830, by the
monarchy in a popular guise, radical Treaty of London, Greeces complete
republicanism which verged on democracy, and
C
independence was recognized.
an inchoate egalitarianism that anticipated
socialist ideas of the future. The result of all this was the complete collapse
of the Metternich system even though Austria
Between 1815 and 1848, the character of the
AC I
opposition to the restored regimes, however,
underwent a significant transformation. What
managed to retain its sphere of influence in Italy
and the Balkans. Despite his obsession with
legitimism, Metternich was unable to prevent a
N
in the 1820s, looked like an elitist, somewhat European combination against the Turkish
conspiratorial opposition without any roots in a Monarchy.
larger society became linked by 1848, with a
range of popular political movements. In the The July revolution in France was a brief and
process, however, the opposition also became quick affair. The restored monarchy failed to
O
divided. The main elements in the opposition defend itself against the popular combination of
were the liberals who were tolerant about liberal parliamentarians, the Parisian mob and
monarchy but were keen to see absolutism disgruntled soldiers. The provisional government
reformed into a constitutional monarchy. was established and on 30 July, the kings cousin,
IA R
the Duke of Orleans was asked to take over as

Secret Society Movement the head of the state. In the first week of August,
The secret society movement was a powerful a crown of the French people was offered to the
European phenomenon in early 19th century. Duke of Orleans. In France, the 1830 revolution
CH
Everywhere, such secret conspiratorial formations was completed with the establishment of a
developed partly because of the restrictions on constitutional monarchy.
organized politics imposed by the Restoration
regimes. Radical secret groups with their initiation Radicals in Germany and Italy saw the
ceremonies, hierarchical chain of memberships, monarchial governments as obstacles to the
secret symbols and codes were sometimes direct politics of integration; to them, their overthrow
S
offshoots of Masonic lodges. was the precondition for a unified nation-state.

Radical nationalism in Italy found its greatest
Very often the secret societies represented the exponent in Guiseppe Mazzini (1805-1872).
more radical sections of a fairly widespread
liberal movement in Europe with the main This was also the period when smaller, mostly
political objective of constitutional government. Slavic nationalities, of the Austrian empire in
In the larger European context, the secret society the eastern reaches of the continent the
activities of course became a part of the nascent Czeches, Slovaks, Croats, Slavs, Ukrainians and
nationalist politics, the full implications of which Romanians began to assert their identities as
were realized during the 1830s. nations by reviving their historical and folk
traditions.
Turbulent 1820s and 1830s
Age of Masses
Around the middle of the 1820s, a fresh bout
of the revolutionary fever came with the failed In 1848 Europe made its cautious entry into
Decembrist uprising in Russia and the relatively the age of the masses. Political mobilizations

began to acquire a popular following in an remained only political unification till the coming
attempt to overcome the limitations of the politics of French Revolution. Political debates provided
of secret societies that had dominated the the theoretical structure of the French nation-
different phases of political unrest earlier in the state formation was continuous and the economic
century. Economic distress certainly contributed integration was as much the product of state
to this process of mobilization. direction as of the activity of business groups
and manufacturers.
In 1845 the potato blight caused acute food
shortages, followed in 1846 by worse grain crop The rise of the British nation-state was the
E
result of the English union with Wales, Scotland
Y
in a several hot summer. The consequent steep
rise in the prices of foodstuffs resulted in food and Ireland thereby creating a multi-national
riots in many places. Such distress was state. The initial problem of separate identities
AD L
aggravated by economic recession, which was greatly resolved by the process of capitalist
EM
produced urban unemployment. development and economic growth. However,
the French state had to become a vehicle of
C
The European revolts in 1848 began with the capitalist development.
Swiss Civil War in which the radically inclined
Separate class identities merged in the British
Protestant cantons were locked in a battle with
state though representative institutions like
the conservative Catholic cantons. In this battle
AC I parliament and political parties. In France the
the radical Protestant Cantons were ultimately
class identities and class conflicts manifested itself
victorious as Metternichs attempt to bail out the
in the state and determined the nature of French
N
conservative Catholic Cantons failed. The events
nation state which remained involved in social
in Switzerland clearly demonstrated that the
issues.
defenders of the established order were incapable
of stopping the tide of the revolution. Despite the systematic efforts to suppress
O
democracy in Europe the spread of liberal ideas

Despite the revolutionary euphoria all over could not be held back indefinitely. The
Europe, and a significant move towards revolution of 1848 which engulfed most of Europe
parliamentary government, the revolution led to an accelerated movement towards
ultimately stopped at the foot of the throne. democracy and nationalism. It brought Napoleon
IA R
Except in France, in most parts of the continent, III to power in France, hastened the unification
monarchial government remained in place with of Germany and Italy and stirred national
very little changes in even their administrative sentiments in the multi-national Austrian empire.
structure.
CH
New states like Greece, Belgium and Serbia

From mid-1848, the revolution began to stage came up as a result of the revolutions of 1830
its retreat. In a series of dramatic confrontations, and 1848. After 1848, the Unification of Italy
the revolutionary forces were overwhelmed. and that of Germany were significant political
Moderate factions within the liberal movement events and a total vindication of middle class
S
worked out compromises with conservatives and nationalism.

monarchists, and together played a crucial role
The simplification of the political map of
in suppressing the second round of revolutionary
Europe by the reduction in the number of states
insurgency in 1849.
within the German Empire; the quickening of
The European revolts in 1848 despite focusing the pulse of Spanish nationalism during the
on parliamentary government failed to change military campaigns of the Peninsular War; and
much the character of monarchical government. the rise of Italian and German nationalism based
Even in France the revolutionary forces failed to on the inspiration of the French armies, the
check the rise of Louis Napoleons dictatorship. Napoleonic role in nation-state building and the
contagion of revolutionary and democratic ideas
The process of centralization began in the helped to spread the gospel of nationalism in
sixteenth century in both Britain and France but Europe. It appealed to the intelligentsia and the
in England the nation of national unity was more bourgeoisie which spearheaded the movement
advanced and continuous while in France it for Italian and German unification. Mass politics

in the late 19th century was to give an additional popular mobilizations around the issues like
fillip to nationalism especially in Eastern Europe, language and empire-building which
a region which was relatively backward strengthened the feeling of nationalism among
compared to the more industrialized parts of people. The modern states also played crucial
Western Europe. Tilly observed, The European role in giving shape to nationalist feelings and
state-making process minimized the cultural forging the nation-states. In Eastern Europe,
variation within states and maximized the except Russia, the cultural issues proved to be
variation among states. more important in giving rise to national
E
sentiments.
Gerschenkron argued in his book Economic
Y
Backwardness in Historical Perspective that in Gellner and Typology of Nationalism
countries like Germany and Russia which began
AD L
Gellner, writing exclusively about Europe,
to industrialize later than Britain the first
EM
divided Europe into four zones travelling from
industrial nation the role of the state was much
west to east and formulated four different types
greater. To compensate for a late start the state
C
played an active role in creating appropriate of nationalism applicable to each zone. Gellner
conditions for rapid industrialization by creating understood nationalism in terms of a marriage
a system of tariff protection and aiding a process between the states and a pervasive high-culture
of cartelization of industry. and saw four different patterns of this marriage
AC I
The doctrine of free trade liberal capitalism
in the four European zones. Zone I, located on
the western belt consisting of England, France,
as propounded by Britain was challenged by the
N
Portugal and Spain witnessed a rather smooth
German economist Friedrich List to enable the and easy marriage of the two, because both the
German economy to develop behind protectionist ingredients (state and high-culture for the defined
walls and to catch up with Britain. The territory) were present prior to the arrival of
businessmen and industrialists favoured political
O
nationalism.
unification because their self-interest as a class
was linked with the creation of a national marked Zone II (present day Italy and Germany),
for German entrepreneurs. In Italy the weakness situated on the territory of the erstwhile Holy
of the bourgeoisie gave greater salience to the Roman Empire, was different from zone 1 in the
IA R
role of the landlords and urban professionals in sense that the bride (high culture for the territory)
the movement towards economic unification. was ready (among the Italians from the days of
early Renaissance and among the Germans since
The study of nationalism in the small states
the days of Luther) but there was no groom (state
CH
of Eastern Europe by Miroslav Hroch yielded the

for the exclusive territory).
notion of three phases in the development of
national movements. In the first stage or phase Here also, as in zone I, nationalism was
A there was primarily an emphasis on culture, benign, soft and relatively conflict-free. There
literature and folklore; in phase B pioneers of the were no claims and counter-claims for the
national idea and its publicists occupied centre-
S
territory. Culturally homogeneous territories did

stage. It was only in the third stage phase C not have to be carved out; they already existed.
that the national movements acquired mass The high-culture also existed; it only needed to
support on any significant scale. reach out to peasants and workers.
It was only after the growth of a sense of It is in zone III (territories east of Germany
cultural nationalism based on a sense of language, and west of Russian Empire, areas of present
culture and history that nationalism as an idea day Poland, Ukrane, Yugoslavia, Greece, Albania,
influenced the smaller nationalities of Eastern Balkans etc.) that nationalism ceased to be benign
Europe. The break-up of the Hapsburg Empire and liberal and had to necessarily be nasty,
of Austria-Hungary led to the creation of new violent and brutal. The horrors, generally
nation states of Czechoslovakia, Romania and associated with nationalism, were inevitable here
Yugoslavia. In most cases the nationalist idea as neither of the two preconditions (state and
preceded the growth of the nation-state. The high-culture) existed in congruent fashion. Both
democratization of polity in Europe helped the a national state and a national culture had to be

carved out. The nationalist imperative was kept of aspirant nationalism- forces for Khalistan in
ruthlessly under check by the Tsarist Empire, the Punjab, Azad Kashmir in the state of Jammu
marriage of state and culture followed the and Kashmir and the Tamil demand for a
disintegration without causing it in any way. separate state in Sri Lanka. These may be called
potential nationalisms. The experience of potential
Nationalism and Indian Experience nationalism (or nationalism which are not likely
Essence of Indian nationalism was rebellion to ever culminate in the formation of new nation-
against the state. Indian people acquired a states) is not specific to India but is a world-
E
modern state in the form of British imperialist wide phenomenon.
Y
state for the entire territory, but refused to live
Modern State
under it. The bulldozer of industrialization was
In the 1750s, Britians political, social and
AD L
not operative in India. The pre-existing
socio religious identities were therefore not economic life was dominated by the landed
EM
flattened out. aristocracy and agriculture was the basis of the
economy. Government had little active role in
C
India experienced four different kinds of the lives of the people. But by the 1760s Britain
nationalism. The major Indian nationalism was became the first nation which brought about
territorial, anti-colonial and led to the creation significant changes in her polity, society and
AC I
of a nation-state through a national movement. economy, thus beginning the process of
industrialization. New shades of political
It acquired not only one but three distinct ideologies developed in Britain and became
N
high-cultures during the colonial period. Indian modern through a liberal and democratic
National movement remained, throughout its life, transformation. Britains rising middle class and
linguistically and culturally remarkably plural. ruling aristocracy through reforms managed to
Since cultural unity is the hallmark of all restrict the working class movements within the
O
nationalist projects, Indian national movement broader framework of parliamentary politics.

evolved the unique slogan of unity in diversity
and remained committed to both. Paradoxically Politics refers to the struggle for power. Those
the plural and non-coercive elements of the who have power try to maintain it while those
who are out of power may resist or try to capture
IA R
Indian national movement became its greatest

strength and weakness at the same time. it. In a sense, this tussle pervades all forms of
social relations and institutions. Secondly,
The focus on cultural and linguistic plurality ideological conflicts also play a significant role in
enabled the movement to maximized
CH
the politics which centres around the state.

mobilization, but it also rendered Indian
nationalism somewhat handicapped when The rulers may seek to justify the existing
confronted with a rival nationalism. The second system in terms of religious or secular ideals while
major nationalism was a rival to Indian those out of power may look forward to changes
nationalism. This led to the creation of Pakistan. which may be radically new or reactionary in
S
their aims. In general terms, such political

Pakistani nationalism was based on the famous
impulses may be described as centrist, leftist and
two-nation theory, which implied that Indian
rightist respectively. But their content can vary
Muslims were not a part of an Indian nation but
according to context. And, it may be useful to
were a nation in themselves.
view them as relative positions only.
Pakistani nationalism was strangely based on
In modern times, however, the notion of the
religious unity and territorial disunity. The east
left has been associated more with egalitarian
and the west wing of the new nation-state were
movements of/for the working classes while
separated from each other by over 900 miles.
centrist politics has been mostly ascribed to the
The new state took religious unity for granted
bourgeoisie which champion individual rights but
and imposed linguistic and cultural unity without
not social equality. Rightist politics has further
being able to achieve economic parity.
assumed various forms in recent times ranging
The result was the emergence of a breakaway from different types of revivalist movements to
nationalism in 1971. The fourth category is that secular dictatorships and fascist states.

Political changes that occurred from 18th few as seven. Narrow social base of parliament
century onwards can be traced to the experiences was actually defended by most ideologues of the
in British Polity. Reason being that Britain was eighteen century. Even reformers such as
one of most important originating place of most Edmund Burke had considerable contempt for
far reaching changes in economic, social and the poor and feared any mass action instead of
political sphere. One should note that most of viewing it as a resource for reform efforts.
modern democratic procedural instruments were
While it is apparent that representative
invented, practiced and sharpened over a
institutions played a unique role in Britain both
E
considerable period of time and today are taken at the central and local levels in fixing taxes and
Y
as granted. A study of British polity will make regulating state expenditure as well as poor relief,
one realize the importance of these procedural it is also worth remembering that the dominance
AD L
instruments. of the landed aristocracy at all levels. At the top,
EM
there was powerful group of some 350 families
Changes in British Polity
who owned huge landed estates, usually with
C
In Britain, after the revolutions of the titles of nobility.
seventeenth century, the lower house (House of
Commons) managed to introduce some important Below this exclusive group of peers or nobles
checks on the monarchs political powers and in Britains ruling elite, came the 4000 odd
AC I
acquired a crucial role in governance. For
families constituting the gentry. They were again
owners of substantial landed estates. A few
example, the crowns finances, including its right
amongst them had wealth comparable to those
N
to raise fresh taxes and spend on all state
of the lords but their title was that of a knight or
departments were controlled by the House of
a baron and the offices they generally aspired to
Commons through the mandatory annual
were those of the unpaid Justices of Peace or a
budget. Similarly, all new laws had to be passed
seat in the House of Commons. Another feature
O
by parliament first and only then sent for royal

of the British aristocracy was its fairly compact
assent. character.
The Monarch who was in practice compelled Parliamentary checks on the executives right
to appoint his ministers largely from those who
IA R
to impose new taxes, the sanctity of private

had a following in the House of Commons. This property, the independent tradition of the English
significant convention opened the path to the common law and the force of legal provisions
future development of the modern cabinet such as Habeus Corpus along with a relatively
CH
system in which the council of ministers is held free press guaranteed some important rights to
collectively responsible to parliament and holds the upper and middle classes in Britain as a time
office as long as it can command a majority in when similar liberties were unknown elsewhere.
the House of Commons. At the same time it is important to remember
that these freedoms could be enjoyed in practice
The Whigs and the Tories were the principal
S
only by the wealthy who could take recourse to

political groupings in British parliament since the
the lengthy procedures of law.
Glorious Revolution of 1688. The Tories were
political conservatives and firmly geared towards Demand for Reforms
the ruling Anglican aristocracy while the Whigs
Britain had tradition of liberal thought going
supported the organized body of religious dissent
back to the revolutionary decades when
in England as well as Scotland and were more
philosophers such as John Locke espoused a new
open to middle class demands for greater political
theory of state bound to safeguard persons and
equality and freedom.
property. The controversies generated centering
Still, the electoral base of the Commons itself on the freedom of press and protection against
was extremely limited and the landed interest arbitrary arrest during 1760s and 1770s brought
dominated both the houses. Some large centres the issues of civic rights to the fore to British
like Westminster had several thousand voters politics. The arrogance of George III, who ruled
while a few ghost towns like Old Sarum had as Britain from 1760 to 1820, the fight for liberal

rights led during his rule by leaders such as Fox hostile conditions for long hours on meager wages
and Wilkes, and the issues raised by the liberation and with few rights or social security. It is hardly
of British colonies in America after 1776 further surprising that in the face of these brutal
stoked the embers of such discontent. conditions, in several places, the workers
responded by systematically breaking the
The most important concern of the liberal machines which symbolized the new order to
agenda was of high taxation and waste in public them. These early machine breakers have been
expenditure. The parliament as well as the press nicknamed Luddites after their mythical leader
were important fora through which the demand Nedd Ludd. Socialists such as Robert Owen
E
for the economical reforms against these ills was
Y
(1771-1858) further argued that all wealth is
raised. In 1779, influential sections of the gentry created through labour and therefore the laboring
led by Wywill gave further support to such classes should claim the full fruit of their work.
AD L
demands. Consequently, Conservative leaders Owen himself emphasized workers cooperative
EM
such as Edmund Burke as well as liberals such and self help rather than a direct confrontation
as Pitt the Younger embarked upon a series of with the state.
C
reforms which led to the abolition of crown
patronage and the introduction of modern Most brutal state action was visible in 1819
budgeting in Britain. at Peterloo Park, in Manchester, where a crowd
of 60,000 had gathered to listen to Orator Hunt
AC I
The Doctrine of utilitarianism, was coined on Democratic reforms. It was indiscri-
by influential thinker Jeremy Bentham. According minately fired at. Eleven persons lost their
to this doctrine all laws and institutions of society lives and more than four hundred were
N
were to be judged on the basis of their utility to injured in this bloodbath. Peterloo has been
the maximum number and not by their traditional remembered as the domestic Waterloo of the old
sanctity or textual authority. guard which became panicky and passed the
infamous Six Acts putting fresh restrictions on
O
Others causes of public concern during this the press and political assemblies etc.
period were: the issues of public health and
education, crime and morality, the treatment of Reform Act
prisoners, condition of the poor in sprawling
The passage of the Parliamentary Reform Act
IA R
industrial slums and the rights of dissenting

of 1832 was one of the most crucial events in
religious groups. The demand for electoral and
Britains transition to modern politics as it ensured
parliamentary reforms was also gaining
a prominent place to the rising middle classes in
momentum amongst sections of the middle class
British polity and a stake in its stability. However,
CH
as well as artisans and working classes. The

aim of the Act was to preserve the existing
writings of radicals like Tom Paine and Major
Constitution of Britain; not to change it. It tried
Cartwright acted as powerful catalysts in this
to introduce some reforms in the election of the
respect.
House of Commons. While providing for a
The outbreak of the French Revolution in redistribution of 143 seats of the lower House to
S
1789 also had a positive impact on the radical accord with the new demographic pattern of
movement in Britain. During this period, the industrial Britain, the Act also abolished a
British state not only used nationalist sentiment number of rotten boroughs (parliamentary
to buttress its authority but also unleashed constituencies with few members) and extended
unprecedented repression against the radicals as the franchise marginally. The few electorates still
well as the nascent working class movement. This consisted of less than six lakh men or a mere 3%
included the suspension of the Habeus Corpus of the total population of Britain then.
in 1794, the introduction of anti-combination Thus, the Act ensured that the rule of
laws in 1799 as also a series of treason trials and property would continue in Britain. But, alongside
bloody suppression of all radical organizations. the established aristocracy, it granted
Meanwhile the working class movement was representation to the rising middle classes in the
also maturing in Britain. The initial phase of countrys parliamentary government. This went
industrialization was full of misery for the a long way towards forging a compromise
proletariat which worked and lived in extremely between the bourgeoisie and the landed elite,

thus enabling a peaceful transition to a modern century after the Glorious Revolution of 1688,
liberal polity in Britain. was a significant feature of the British polity.
This was accompanied by the growth of the
First, the very manner of its passage
sovereign authority of the King in Parliament
enhanced the significance of the House of
and the subjugation of church, lords and
Commons in relation to the upper House and
autonomous communities within Britain. The
also set an important precedent of extra
growth of a nationalist identity amongst its
parliamentary pressure on legislators. Second, the
citizens (outside Ireland) was of great significance.
reformist agenda within parliament became
E
extremely strong after 1832 as more radicals
Y
Various measures were also required to
entered parliament from the industrial centers establish a free market (another major concern
which had gained representation. of an emerging modern state). It began with a
AD L
series of abolitions from the closing years of
EM
The emergence of modern political parties
geared for electoral competition and the eighteenth century, of price and wage controls,
of state-supported monopolies, and of subsidies
C
mobilization of public opinion also had an
important bearing on politics. Liberal polity and restrictions on business. It also demanded
matured. e.g. resolution of corn controversy. the unification of the internal market and the
tariff reforms of 1786 and 1820s culminating in
AC I
The Corn Laws had been passed in 1815 to
ensure good returns to the landed classes of
the abolition of the Corn Laws in 1846. The New
Poor Law of 1834 played a critical role in
Britain on their staple produce with the help of establishing a free labour by making conditions
N
high tariffs on cheaper grain coming from for local welfare for the poor very strict.
overseas. This was hurting the interest of all who
had to purchase grain from the market, including The beginning of a public education system
the workers and the middle classes. The was made with the Act of 1833 when grants-in-
O
industrialists also viewed them as a serious aid and school inspection were also started. But
burden since they compelled them to pay higher disputes between religious groups slowed the pace
subsistence wages to workers. In 1839, the middle of change on this major issue. Similarly, a public
classes, led by Richard Cobden, founded the Anti- health policy evolved after Chadwicks energetic
IA R
Corn Law League and launched a nation-wide but controversial efforts at enforcing sanitation
campaign for the abolition of the hated laws. schemes through the Public Health Board
The campaign was a remarkable illustration of a established in 1848. The development of public
political movement employing modern means of utilities were assigned to local bodies by the
CH
propaganda for a well defined objective to be Municipal Reform Act of 1835 but it gathered
achieved through parliamentary legislation. The momentum only from the late nineteenth century
abolition of the laws was actually carried out, when gas and water socialism was championed
not by a liberal, but by a pro-landlord Tory by leaders like Chamberlain.
government in 1846. This again established the
spirit of accommodation.
S
Early industrial state was slow to grant even

basic workers rights to form unions or to strike
Emergence of Modern state peacefully. The Anti-Combination Act against
Britain was among the first countries to unionization was passed in 1799 and early labour
emerge as a nation-state in the early modern movements were suppressed violently. The
period. Under the Tudors and Hanoverian existing system of poor relief was also considered
dynasty, it acquired political stability (cessation wasteful and scaled down by the New Poor Law
of wars amongst feudal factions, a strong defence of 1834. The growing misery of the proletariat
against external invasions and pride regarding and pressures from humanitarian groups and
its mixed constitution). The relative decline of the labour movement itself forced the state to
widespread political violence, whether in the form take limited ameliorative measures subsequently.
of factional wars within the ruling classes, large The anti-combination laws were repealed in 1834.
scale popular disturbances, or brutal state The first Factory Act was passed in 1833 only to
suppression (or even organized crime) in the provide some protection to children under the

pressure of the Evangelicals (one of the reforming political power which the British workers evinced
religious groups). Further reforms came in small in 1830s and 40s. It derives its name from the six
doses, e.g. Mines Act (1842), Ten hours working point Charter, it presented before the parliament
day (1847), legalization of union (1870's) and of demanding universal manhood suffrage, secret
peaceful picketing (1876). ballot, annual parliaments, equal electoral
districts, abolition of property qualification for
Apart from labour, other social groups which the members of House of Commons and payment
demanded reforms were religious minorities and of regular salaries to them. In 1839, the first
women. Despite the advocacy of womens rights Chartist Convention met in London but despite
E
by Mary Wollstonecraft and some liberals like
Y
the collection of a million signatures for its
John Stuart Mill, female franchise was conceded petition it was rejected outright by the parliament.
only after the First World War.
AD L
Economic recovery of the mid forties again
EM
Working class and Chartist movement turned the attention of most workers away from
There were radical movements led jointly by radical politics and towards wage improvement
C
artisans and some middle class activists at the through trade union activity. The last flicker of
turn of the nineteenth century. The British state Chartism glew again in 1848-which was the year
adopted repressive measures against them which of revolutions all over Europe. A demonstration
culminated in the Peterloo massacre of 1819. The of five lakh Chartists was called at Kennington
AC I
first attempts to link all laboring men together in commons in the heart of London to present a
general trade union and also to forge unity for a mammoth petition of six million signatures to
N
General Strike acquired momentum during the the parliament.
1820s and 30s. In 1834, the Grand National
confederation of Trade Unions or the GNCTU Overall, in Britain, Liberal rather than
was formed to give concrete shape to a broad revolutionary politics remained the preponderant
working class movement to demand better wages concern of workers. The growth of the Labour
O
and working conditions, including a ten hour Party committed to parliamentary politics at the
working day. Some of the members also looked turn of the present century further ensured this
forward to an Owenite millennium in which pattern. Term labour aristocracy is used to refer
workers would enjoy the full product of their to men whose specialized skills in the expanding
IA R
labour by organizing industries under their own industrial economy coupled with the growing
cooperatives. benefits of Britains large empire enabled them
to maintain a comfortable standard of living. As
State also swung into action and widespread
a result, the labour aristocracy put faith in
CH
arrests were ordered against all unions. For

improvement within the Capitalist order rather
example, the Friendly Society of Agricultural
than its overthrow.
Workers was disbanded and six of its organizers
convicted for seven years transportation simply Reform Act of 1867 which granted voting
on the ground of taking secret oaths. These right for urban workers was a product not of a
became famous as the Tolpuddle martyrs and radical mass movement but of party politics. The
S
only after a prolonged agitation by workers they

urban working class was further accommodated
were repatriated in 1839. Workers were badly
within the liberal polity with further enactments
hit all over Britain. Some working class leaders
to recognize their right to form trade unions
were beginning to question the Owenite stress
(1870) and to go on strike (1876).
on self help and cooperatives and demanding
political rights for workers instead. The principal factors which led to such a
In 1836, the London Working Mens political resolution in the first industrial nation
Association was founded by men like Lovett to were: the unity displayed by its upper classes
demand universal suffrage. Radicals like William vis--vis workers, the economic benefits of the
Morris and Smith O Brien also called for a new expanding British Empire, the relative weakness
awakening amongst workers. of revolutionary politics in nineteenth century
Britain and the subsequent growth of welfare
The Chartist Movement was the most legislation in the country.
significant outcome of the growing focus on

UNIFICATION OF ITLAY CHRONICLE
AND GERMANY IAS ACADEMY
E
Italy and Germany are two important
Y
Idea of A German Nationality
examples of how language, folk culture and
The impetus to the idea of a German Nation
common historical memories led to very strong was provided by the French Revolution and the
AD L
nationalistic feelings helping to build the two Simplification of the political map of Europe and
EM
people into sovereign, united and independent of the German states by the destruction of the
nations states by 1870. Holy Roman Empire by Napoleonic armies.
C
During the early Middle-Ages various Germanic
Both Germany and Italy emerged as nation-
tribes and Celts and Slavs were fused by a
states in the 19th century. Although the idea of
process of conflict and assimilation into the
nationalism in some form or other can be traced
AC I
back in time in both cases, the actual
German people. Even when the German races
felt bound to each other by ties of blood the
development of nation-states took place only in Saxons, Franks, Bavarians and Swabians they
N
the 19th century. The process of unification was did not have the consciousness of being German.
different in the case of Germany from that of
Italy. While in Germany the economic and The connection between Lutheranism and the
political unity was achieved at a much higher rise of German nationalism was slight since their
struggle was primarily against the Antichrist in
O
level, in Italy the unification was achieved mainly

Rome and not limited to national issues. The
at the political and cultural levels. The economic
Protestant translations of the Bible into the
unity in Italy was much weaker in comparison.
German vernacular led to the growth of modern
In Germany, the unity was brought about mainly
German but the growth of German nationalism
IA R
from above. But in Italy, the popular actually took place with the rise of German
mobilizations also played an important role. Apart Romanticism.
from these factors, wars also provided the
impetus which brought the people together and The Renaissance and Reformation in
CH
helped in forging the respective nations. Germany were primarily scholarly and
theological events and so these movements failed
Increasing importance of language as a factor to destroy the medieval idea of World Empire or
in the emergence of nationality conflicts in the to change politics and society as in the West
late 19th century was of special significance in European countries. German nationalism like that
unification of Germany and Italy. Language of the Russians became preoccupied with the
S
became an issue in international politics with soul or mission of the nation since it was
the dispute between the Danes and the Germans not rooted in social and political reality and
and over Schleswig-Holstein and of the Germans constituted a venture in education and
and French over the Rhine frontier during the propaganda rather than in policy shaping and
1840s. The history of German and Italian government. Still, one can say that Martin
Luthers rejection of the authority of the Pope
nationalism can be said to be a struggle to unite
and translation of the Bible into German created
German and Italian speaking people within a
the basis for a national consciousness.
single nation state. The protagonists were Prussia
and Piedmont-Sardinia which forged national Political and Economic Background
unity by skillful diplomacy and warfare on the
At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the
one hand and pragmatic handling of popular
political fragmentation of Germany was partially
national sentiments and occasional revolutionary overcome by the reduction in the number of
upsurges. sovereign German states to thirty-eight from the

three hundred states of the Holy Roman Empire carried these ideal further. Camphausen, Siemens,
which was abolished. The German Bund was Hansemann, List and Harkort were German
created in 1815 in order to preserve the entrepreneurs who believed that they were also
independence and sovereignty of the individual part of a national civilizing mission.
German states. The concert of Europe, created
after the Congress of Vienna, was a system Dahrendorf has argued that Germany
designed by the conservative monarchies of developed into an industrial but not a capitalist
Austria, Prussia and Russia to check to spread society. The presence of a sizable Mittelstand or
of democratic idea in Europe. intermediate stratum of small producers is
E
evidence of incomplete modernization. The
Y
Very limited powers were granted to the German nation state, unlike the French, was not
representative institutions introduced after 1815 founded on the basis of liberal democratic ideas
AD L
in the German states. While after 1848 most and the weakness of the German liberal
EM
German states introduced democratic reforms, bourgeoisie is largely responsible for this.
in Prussia the pace of reforms was slower since
Unification
C
electoral votes were allocated equally to three
groups of income-tax payers, the divisions being The process of German unification during the
made on the basis of income tax revenue 19th century was speeded up by the creation of
payments. Prussian system of representation a national market, a network of railways and
AC I
remained in force until 1918 and constituted an communications and a self-conscious bourgeoisie.
important basis for the perpetuation of a Unification was achieved by an alliance of liberal
backward political system. bourgeoisie with the landowning class in which
N
war and diplomacy played a vital role.
The defeat of Austria in the Austro-Prussian
War of 1866 led to the creation of the North The German Bund or Confederation of 1815,
German Confederation. The defeat of France in with all its deficiencies, served as a preordained
O
the Franco-German War of 1870-71 led to the and legitimate theatre of operations till 1867 for
creation of the Imperial German government. A nationalist forces in Germany. In 1815 East Prussia
national parliament elected on the basis of adult and Schlewig were not a part of the German
franchise the Reichstag and representatives Confederation while Bohemia and Moravia,
IA R
of the 25 German states in the Federal Council predominantly Czech area, were included. The
or Bundesrat were to shape the policy of Imperial Czech liberals refused to take part in the elections
Germany. The Prussian king became the German to the German Assembly in 1848.
Emperor with control over the German armed
The German National Assembly in 1848 was
CH
forces and the Reich Chancellor was also

Prussian. However, the Imperial Reich was not created on the basis of the most substantial and
a unified state like that of Britain or a centralized widespread upsurge in Germany in the 19th
state like that of Frances. In the Federal Council century. Briefly the Frankfurt Parliament of 1848
or Bundesrat the Prussians controlled a plurality indicated the possibility of a democratic and
but not a majority of votes since concessions had untied Germany. But it had limited success,
S
to be made to Bavaria and Wurttemberg to entice evident by the fact that even in 1849 the National
them into the Imperial Reich. Assembly opted for a Kleindeutsches Reich or
Little Germany.
The process of German national unification
was shaped by Prussian conservatism and Rivalry of the two major dynastic powers in
militarism but the process of centralization under Germany eventually led to the Austro-Prussian
the Imperial Reich was affected by local and War of 1866 which ended in Austrian exclusion
centrifugal forces. from the German nation. In 1863 the issue of
German claims over the Duchies of Schleswig-
In Prussia public industrial and technical Holstein, an important issue in 1848, were
schools after 1820 encouraged industry for revived and once these duchies were taken from
national political reasons. Liberal entrepreneurs Denmark, it was not difficult to pick a quarrel
linked the issue of industry for the fatherland to with Austria over tenure. In the Austro-Prussian
expectations of political unity before 1848. The war although the Austrians secured a victory at
engineering associations of the 1850s and 1860s Custozza they were decisively defeated at

Koniggratz. In so far as the creation of the North Hohenzollern candidate for the Spanish throne.
German Confederation in 1867 menaced the This war led to a new nationalist wave sweeping
power or security of France, it has been rightly through the South German states as well. This
remarked that it was France rather than Austria helped in the process of unification. The war
which was defeated at Koniggratz. ended with the treaty of Frankfurt in February
1871 by which Alsace Lorraine was ceded
In July 1863 the Austrian Emperor Francis perpetually to Germany and France also had to
Joseph convened a meeting of all the German pay an indemnity of 5 billion francs.
Princes at Frankfurt to discuss a scheme for
E
Federal reform, by which the reconstituted central Bismarck showed a remarkable ingenuity in
Y
authority was to be placed permanently in the manipulating democratic institutions and
hands of Austria and of her allies, the secondary principles for galvanizing popular support for
AD L
states. Prussias absence (which was the result of the monarchical order in the newly established
EM
strong advice by Bismarck to King of Prussia) German empire after 1871. In a way this political
made the Austrian proposal unworkable. strategy, described as Bismarckism, was the
C
German variant of Bonapartism which
Austrias policy of trying to overthrow the throughout the imperial era remained a principal
Zollverein by using the resentment of the south watchword of the German ruling classes.
German secondary states against Prussias liberal
AC I
customs policy also failed to yield results. Despite Illiberal Shift in Late 19th Century
political sympathies with Bavaria and Austria Towards the late 19th century there was an
Saxony remained within the Zollverein. The illiberal or right wing shift in the nature of
N
south German secondary states were compelled nationalist politics. The reason for this growth in
to accept the Prussian customs policy since they right wing orientation of nationalism was the
were unwilling to join a tariff union with Austria fear of popular participation in politics, especially
without the north German states. by the working class and the left wing or socialist
O
Bismarcks skill lay in securing a favourable parties. The liberal intelligentsia and middle class,
international situation before the waged war with which had championed a republican or liberal
Austria in 1866. Also considerable statesmanship nationalism in the first half of the 19th century
made a compromise with the conservative
was involved in the manner of handling the small
IA R
landowners and dynastic states after the defeat

German states after Prussian victory in 1866 and
of the revolutions of 1848. In Italy the relation
in the creation of the North German
between the national movement for political
Confederation in 1867. The fear of France also
unification and popular participation was so
encouraged the small south German states to
CH
weak that Massimo d Azeglio observed: we

attach themselves to Prussia.
have made Italy, now we have to make Italians.
The failure to create a Southern Confederation
It was the revolution of 1848 that revealed
indicated that the southern states would
the weakness of the liberal bourgeoisies in Europe.
eventually join Bismarcks North German
In Germany and France, middle classes were
Confederation. The conflict with France in 1870
S
willing to side with conservative Prussia or the

led to military victories which in turn led to the
Emperor of the French, Napoleon III, rather than
creation of the German Empire. The four southern
accept a greater pace of change. In Germany,
states, Bavara, Wurtemberg, Baden and Hesse
during the years 1870-1878 the anti-clerical
joined the German Empire in 1871.
element in bourgeois nationalism prepared the
In short the whole process is summarized as basis of the conflict with the Social Democratic
follows; Under Bismarck, Prussia went to war party and movement after 1878. The new right-
with Austria and forced Austria to surrender wing nationalism which emerged in the late
some areas. He also made peace with South 1870s was hostile to left-wing liberals as well as
German states. Austria withdrew from any Social Democrats.
involvement with the German Confederation.
The weakness of liberal democratic
Prussia also went to war with France in 1869 movements in 19th century Germany certainly
when France tried to secure Luxembourg and led to the growth of right wing nationalism and
Belgium and opposed Prussias support for a the containment of Socialist Democracy.

Successful overseas expansion was supported by remained insulated from popular intervention.
the right wing to secure economic benefits which The success of this Bismarckian strategy of
would not only benefit businessmen, and middle rallying parliamentary support for the
class colonial officials, but also the industrial conservative through electoral manipulations
working class, at least in the export industries. ultimately depended on his skill 'for running
The German right-wing was able to forge an internal politics on the steam power of foreign
alliance of landowners, industrialists and middle affairs. National prestige was one consideration
class to hold in check the growth of the liberal which could turn critics into supporters. This
middle class, workers and socialism. strategy remained unchanged even after
E
Y
Bismarck's rule came to an end in 1890.
An authoritarian government legitimized by
popular support had to take recourse to imperial The inevitable consequence of this strategy
AD L
expansion as a measure aiming at domestic was a certain kind of ultra nationalist popular
EM
political stability. The man who successfully mobilization along racist lines anticipating in a
outlined the basic framework of this policy was way the basic features of Fascist mobilization of
C
Otto von Bismarck who became the Minister- the early twentieth century. The phenomenon of
President of Prussia in 1863 and subsequently the charismatic leader which was an important
held the position of Imperial Chancellor after feature of Bonapartism continued to inform
the unified German state came into being in 1871. Fascist mobilization at a later date.
AC I
In fact in 1863 Bismarck was summoned from In Nazi Germany, the Fuehrer (title used by
his estate in East Prussia by a besieged Prussian Hitler) demanded complete obedience and
N
monarchy to solve the political and constitutional surrender to the leader. In addition much of the
crisis caused by the rift between the liberal racist ideologies in the Nazi movement were
majority in the Prussian parliament (Landtag) derived from the racial theories that the German
and the government over the extremely ruling classes had earlier deployed (in the late
O
contentious issue of army expansion. 19th century) to bolster the extremist nationalist
sentiments. Central to this racist and ultra-
The confrontation first took shape in 1860 nationalist mentality was Social Darwinism
when a new law was laid before the Landtag which transferred to the human sphere the
for financial approval of the war ministry's plans
IA R
biological theories of natural selection and an

of army expansion. The liberal majority saw this equally volatile notion of, 'survival of the fittest'.
as a step towards the further militarization of
society. They feared that the expansion of the The whole argument implied that competition
regular army at the expense of the citizen's militia between different nations for achieving
CH
would become a weapon of repression in the dominance in the world is endemic in which
hands of Prussians despotism. In such situation only the strongest will survive. The theory fitted
Bismarck, appointed as PM ruled without in well with the imperial ambitions of the
parliamentary approval of budget. Prussian German state. Pan German league popularized
victory in the battle of Sadowa (between Prussia the notion of Germanisation of Europe,
S
and Austria in 1866) fulfilled the liberal dream particularly the continent's eastern reaches
of national integration under Bismarck's inhabited by 'inferior Slavonic people'. Civilising
leadership, the Prussian liberals were even them was looked upon as the great mission of
agreeable to giving retroactive sanction to the Teutonic (Anglo-Saxon, Dutch, German and
Bismarck's budget less regime of the early 1860's Scandinavian) race.
by condoning the excesses of the great leader
The anti-Semitic ideology, which was
who was increasingly looked upon as a white
substantially reinforced by the activities of the
revolutionary in liberal circles.
Pan German league since the 1890's reached a
The compromise that was finally reached bloody climax in Nazi Germany.
between Bismarck and his liberal critics
determined the character of the German Empire. ITALY
The governmental system was basically an
extension of the Prussian system in which the The idea of Italy as an entity, of Italian as a
privileges and power of the military aristocracy noble and beautiful language and of the common

cultural roots of the Italian city and states, by, mid-15th century was upset by the Italian
however, can be traced back to the Renaissance wars of 1494-1559. While France and Spain
period and even earlier. Francisco Petrarch (1304- began to move towards a sense of nationalism,
1374) turned to antiquity for inspiration and the Italians had a strong sense of regional or
solace following the decline of the two great local attachment to Milan, Florence or Genoa;
forces of universalism the Holy Roman Empire but they could also swing to the other extreme
and the Papacy. It was a purely literary to become cosmopolitans.
patriotism. Rienzos proclamations of the
sovereignty of the Roman people and of the unity It was the French Revolution which provided
E
a model for Italian nationalism. The French
Y
of Italy, and his support for the common people
against the aristocracy, also contained weak occupying forces in Lombardy organized an essay
anticipations of ideas of nationalism and competition on the subject of the best form of
AD L
democracy. free government for Italy. This encouraged a
EM
debate extolling the ancient glories of Italy,
The campaign for a unified literacy vernacular admiration for France and its constitution of 1795
C
started in Italy when it became the victim of and schemes for Italian regeneration and
invading armies. But the debate on language unification. Melchiorre Gioia won the essay
reflected the social divisions in Italy and not competition and become one of Italys leading
merely regional differences. The insistence on the economists.
AC I
linguistic cleavage between the ruling class and
the common people and the assumption that Italy
The Kingdom of Italy created by Napoleon
helped to foster Italian national sentiment but it
could have one language only for the dominant
N
also reduced it to a continental colony of France.
social groups reflected a profoundly elitist
The Napoleonic legal codes and prefectural
attitude.
system which was introduced in Italy helped to
In Italy poets played a major role in the define the model of a unified national state. Even
O
development of nationalism. It was humanistic the Italian army, based on conscription and used
literary elite which played a role in the diffusion for Napoleons campaigns, revealed a sense of
of the Italian language. There was no powerful nationalism. It was as a reaction to French
state as in France which could promote the domination and Napoleons identification with
IA R
national language. The absence of a vernacular Imperial Rome that Italian writers choose to reject
reformation as in Germany confined the Italian the Roman heritage.
language to tiny elite of 2.5% who commonly
The Austrians were the dominant power in
used the Italian language even in 1860. Italy and the settlement after the defeat of
CH
In fact the great contributions of Italian Napoleon strengthened Austrian control.

humanism also reflected a bias in favour of the Metternichs proposal for an Italian
elite. The great Italian humanists spoke for and Confederation, on the lines of the German
to the dominant social groups. The literary Confederation, was opposed by both Piedmont
output of the humanists was rooted in a sense of and the Popes advisers. In the period after 1815
S
the responsibilities of the upper classes. Even the the secret societies attracted the supporters of
Renaissance ideal of the dignity of man was the Italian Jacobin tradition. Members of the
linked to the domineering position of urban ruling Carbonari and other secret societies were not
groups in an age of triumph. Italian nationalism exclusively concerned with Italian nationalism.
e.g. Carbonari of southern Italy who enjoyed the
of the 19th century failed to overcome the
greatest public support among the 19th century
cultural elitism of the Italian humanists and
revolutionary organizations were more interested
literary masters.
in democratizing Naples than in unifying Italy.
Political and Economic Background After the failure of the revolutions of 1830-
During the first half of the 16th century, Italy 31, specially in Modena and Bologna, Italians
faced an intermittent conflict between French, felt increasingly the need to rely on their own
Swiss, Spanish and German soldiers for political endeavour and on open methods of agitation.
supremacy on Italian states Venice, Milan, Giuseppe Mazzini, started Young Italy and
Florence, Naples and the Papal states produced rejected the sectarian model of revolutionary

dictatorship and terror. Mazzini was a patriotism. Charles Albert (1831-1840) was a
democratic nationalist who simultaneously conservative monarch who had no compunctious
rejected both the elitism of the moderates and about using Austrian troops to stop revolution
the Jacobin ideal of revolutionary dictatorship. in Italy much like the Metternich system
envisaged.
Radicals in Italy saw the monarchial
governments as obstacles to the politics of Although Piedmont was not quite the
integration; to them, their overthrow was the powerhouse like Prussia in an economic sense, it
precondition for a unified nation-state. Radical was politically and militarily the most active
E
nationalism in Italy found its greatest exponent participant in the process of Italian revolution.
Y
in Guiseppe Mazzini (1805-1872) who had earlier Cavour, Mazzini and Garibaldi have been hailed
joined a branch of the Carbonari in 1827 but in some accounts as the brain, heart and sword
AD L
soon became disillusioned by their lack of clear of unification. While Piedmonts policies had been
EM
purpose. He felt that Italys freedom from timid before 1849, in the 1850s the more resolute
Austrian domination depended entirely on the
policies of Count Cavour in combination with
C
destruction of aristocratic privilege and clerical
the popular movements launched by Mazzini and
authority. With this objective he founded the
Garibaldi led to Italian unification with the
Young Italy (Giovine Italia) in 1832 and
envisioned a republican form of government for popular movements launched by Mazzini and
AC I Garibaldi led to Italian unification. Cavour used
a united Italian state. After a failed armed
uprising at Savoy in 1834 Mazzini went into his friendship and alliance with Napoleon III to
exile in London. wage successful wars for both the liberation of
N
Italy from Austria and political unification. The
As a radical Unitarian, Mazzini believed that territorial ambitions of Piedmont-Sardinia and
all forms of federalism were mere mechanisms the desire to preserve social stability shaped the
for perpetuating the dominance of local elites. attitude of the aristocratic Cavour. Unification
O
Mazzinis nationalism was not exclusive and he

was to depend primarily on the regular army
believed in the eventual emergence of a United
and bureaucracy, not popular movements.
States of Europe after all nations had become
free. Although he believed in a peoples war of The financial costs of the wars of liberation
IA R
national liberation he also believed in a had to be borne by Piedmont Sardinia which

democratic government based on universal adversely affected the programme of
suffrage. Mazzini recognized the importance of modernization started by Cavour in the 1850s.
support from the peasantry for his conception of
Piedmont influence which Piedmont wielded in
CH
peoples war but Italian republicans were never

the unitary state which was created in 1861.
able to bridge the gap between the towns and
Earlier, when Pope Pius IX withdrew support
the countryside.
for a national war against Catholic Austria in
The Italian national movement was not based April 1848 he lost the support of nationalist
on such a strong industrial bourgeoisie as in the opinion in Italy.
S
case of Germany. The level of economic

unification in Italy prior to political unification After the revolution in Rome and the flight
was also on a lesser scale than in Germany, the of the Pope, the Roman Republic was
Italian customs union being no match for the proclaimed. The efforts of the Pope to return
German Zollverein. Another serious economic succeeded in June 1849 with the help of French
problem was the considerable backwardness of and Austrian forces. During the period of Italian
the Italian south. unification, the Pope and the Catholic Church
played a conservative role. After losing temporal
The process of national unification in Italy
power, the Pope forbade the faithful to
was based on the existence of several states which
tried to preserve their autonomy and privileges participate in national politics. The opposition of
in the context of Franco-Austrian rivalry. the Church to the secular state as well as
Piedmont became the Italian state which unified socialism, anarchism and the labour movement
Italy. The king, Charles Albert until 1840, evinced culminated in the merger of anticlericalism with
no sentiments in favour of either liberalism or support for parliamentary democracy.

Unification Process ensuring, says Coppa, that the kingdom of
1861 would be national rather than northern.
Although popular mobilization played a part
in unification process the elites tried to control Although Garibaldi was upset by the handing
the level of popular participation. This is what over of his home province of Nice to the French
led Gramsci to characterize the Risorgimento and he collaborated with Cavour in the invasion of
Italian unification as a form of passive revolution. Sicily and Naples. It was the tremendous success
Secret societies such as the Carbonari, Filadelfi of Garibaldis volunteers which galvanized
or Young Italy were active in the 1830s and 1840s Cavour into uniting the whole of Italy while
E
in fomenting revolutions. There was a chain of earlier he had concentrated on northern and
Y
rebellions in Turin, Naples, Palermo and other central Italy. The 1859 annexations in North and
areas in 1820-21 and a fresh round of rebellions Central Italy had been achieved without much
AD L
during 1828-31 and the 1848-49 revolutions in collective violence, but in 1860 the transfer of
Germany, the revolutionary coalitions collapsed
EM
power in the south was marked by enormous
with workers, peasants, urban poor and socialists violence.
parting company from the liberal upper and
C
middle classes. As far as the unification of Italy was
concerned, the question of Venetia and Rome
The revolutions of 1848-49 were popular remained. Venice was incorporated in Italy after
revolutions but more municipal than national
AC I
revolutions. The real problem was that the
an overwhelming vote in favour of union in a
plebiscite. After several failed attempts to acquire
democrats failed to secure the support of the Rome notably Garbaldis attempt in 1867 it
N
countryside. The 1848-49 revolutions failed but was incorporated after a short war in September
the heroic defense of the republics in Rome by 1870.
Mazzini and Garbaldi and in Venice by Manin
produced the legends of Italian nationalism Economic Unification
O
and the Italian left. The Italian state after unification did try to
Cavour joined the Crimean War in 1855 on force the pace of economic development in order
behalf of Britain and France to gain their support to catch-up with the advanced countries. Unlike
in this future confrontation with Austria. One of the USA and Germany and even France, the
IA R
Cavours military officers predicted that out of industrialization of Italy was not boosted
the mud of the Crimea Italy would emerge. substantially by the railways. Even the utilization
Although Italy did not achieve much it got an of the railways was poor because North and
opportunity to discuss its problems in an South did not complement each other; because
CH
international forum in 1856, Piedmont Cavour the main Italian export-silk-weighed very little;
had consolidated his position by a connubio or and because of the general backwardness of the
alliance with Urbano Rattazzi of the centre-left country. The railway policy of the Italian state
in 1852. was excessively forced in terms of timing as
well as the mode of financing though the
Although the republicans were initially railways sewed up the Italian boot they neither
S
distrustful of Cavour and the Piedmontese they integrated the south with the Italian economy
slowly recognized the pivotal importance which nor boosted overall industrial growth.
Piedmont would have to play in Italian
unification. On the basic of the agreement with In Italy the divisions between the more
Napoleon III at Plombieres in 1858 France, came industrialized north, the less developed central
to the aid of Piedmont in the war with Austria region and the neglected and backward south
which broke out in 1859. Italian National Society actually intensified after the Italian unification.
which played a key role in these plebiscites. The Italian south remained an alienated, almost
Between 1857 and 1862 this Society published a colonized, region. The Italian unification, more
national newspaper, drafted volunteers, due to military success and international
orchestrated revolutions in Central Italy and then diplomacy rather than peoples war or mass
played a role in the plebiscites. This society was struggles, was based on the lowest possible
implicated in Garibaldis invasion of Naples as mobilization of the masses required for achieving
well as Cavours entry into the Papal States thus independence and unification.

In Gramscis words, the process of Italian the Habsburg of their Italian possessions by
unification was a form of passive revolution in promoting the unification of Italy. In 1866, Prussia
which the Italian elite had mobilized the Italian drove the Habsburgs finally out of the German
masses only to the extent necessary to achieve leadership. On the other hand, the Habsburgs
the political objective of national unification and gained territories, chiefly the provinces of Bosnia
independence from Austria. and Herzegovina in the western Balkans at the
expense of the Ottoman Empire,
Disintegration of Empires
But, despite all the nationalist pressures in
E
In the modern international relations system
Hungary and Czechoslovakia, it was only the
Y
any a-national or dynastic state could no longer
defeat in World War I that led to the final
exist. The Habsburg and Ottoman states hoped
disintegration, with the victorious powers carving
to survive by obstructing, suppressing, or
AD L
ignoring, nationalism. But the nation-state did out the new nations of Czechoslovakia, Hungary
EM
not have to be the result, although so many minus the non-Magyars, Romania with
nation-states had come into being. It could as Transylvania, and a south Slav federation called
C
well have been the multi-national state. Yugoslavia, leaving the rump Austria. The process
Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet was more dramatic than the Ottoman as the
Union are examples. The modern state could exist Habsburg central state was more modern and
effective. It could contain local nationalism and
AC I
only on the basis of the promotion of nationalism;
and this nationalism could equally be a single hold off international predators better. But, as
nationalism appropriate to the nation-state, or a usual, international rivalry was the ultimate test;
N
number of nationalisms combined through and the Habsburgs went down like the
imaginative federating arrangements into a multi- Ottomans, and for much the same reasons.
national state.
Russian Empire differed from the other two
In principle the Ottoman and Habsburg Empires in terms of its more effective
O
empires could have evolved into such multi- modernization, relatively lesser losses in wars,
national entities like the Czechoslovak, Yugoslav, the demographic superiority of the Russians in
and Soviet states. But the two empires were relation to other nationalities, the supportive role
defeated in international war and were carved of the Orthodox Church thereby ensuring
IA R
up, as happens with almost unfailing regularity religious loyalty of the majority of its subjects,
throughout history. In this case, the victors used enforced cultural and linguistic unification of the
nationalism as the principle by which to slice minority nationalities and the leading role of
them up as it was the most readily available and
CH
Russian nationalism. Even after the Empire broke

effective instrument. Yet they were not consistent, up under the impact of the World War I, the
if it did not suit them, as the shifting frontiers in
Soviet Union, in a span of twenty years or so,
the Balkans, or finally the Czechoslovak and
was able to re-unite most of its constituent units
Yugoslav states demonstrate. The disintegration
in a single nation-state.
of the two empires was due to both nationalism
S
and military defeat; military defeat gives most For this (emergence of a Supra national
immediate reasons, and nationalism gives an idea structure i.e. USSR), a national territory was
of the form in which it happened. identified on the basis of language, history, and
The Habsburg disintegration corresponded to culture, and it was made into a constituent
the Ottoman with a difference of emphasis. The Republic of the Soviet Union. The language of
primary thrust to the breakup of the Ottoman the Republic was then made the official language
Empire was the pressure by the great powers; for local use, and Russian because the language
nationalism came a distinct second, even if used for communication with the rest of the Soviet
by the great powers. The Habsburg process was Union. Universal literacy campaigns were
similar, but more spectacular. Its early losses in conducted with great energy such that more
the nineteenth century were due to French action. members of that nationality now knew how to
It lost authority over Germany in 1806 when the read, write, and speak a single standardized
Holy Roman Empire was abolished after version of their languages and could use it at all
Napoleonic victories. In 1860 the French deprived levels than ever before in history.

The full apparatus of education, from primary militancy. Security sensitive jobs were controlled
to post-secondary was established, so that by Russians, as in the intelligence and defence
members of the nationality could aspire to even services.
higher levels of scholarship and culture within
their own cultural space. All the national cultural This was followed by the decade of Stalin
institutions were created, that is, museums, which forced industrialization, collectivization,
theatres, publishing house, radio, and many mass purges, labour camps, appalling man-made
newspapers. As much as possible, people of the famines, and the final dictatorship of a security
local nationality were given preference in local apparatus masquerading as the Party. Now
E
nationalism was to be permitted in the form made
Y
employment; this process was known as
nativization or korenizatsiia. notorious by the slogan nationalist in form,
socialist in content. All the non-socialist, or rather
AD L
All these, put together, were major non-party line, thinking of the nationalists was
EM
achievements for nationalist. But the essential denounced. They could promote their culture and
conditions they had to observe in the twenties pursue their careers within their respective
C
were: All citizens had to accept loyalty to the Republics and regions only if they followed the
Soviet state and accept the dictatorship of the Party line in its details. It was a thoroughgoing
Communist Party, including its anti-religious
AC I imposition of uniformity and centralism.

N
O
IA R
CH
S

IMPERIALISM AND CHRONICLE
COLONIALISM IAS ACADEMY
E
IMPERIALISM AND COLONIALISM with the help of local manpower. Population of
Y
Mexico dropped from 25 million to about half a
The term imperialism means the practice of million during the course of the 16th century, on
AD L
extending the power, control or rule by a country account of small pox, influenza and other
EM
over the political and economic life of the areas diseases. This necessitated the search for new
outside its own borders. Imperialism refers to labour which was forcibly acquired from the
C
the process of capitalist development, which leads African coast. As a result full-fledged plantation
the capitalist countries to conquer and dominate colonies of African slaves began to be established
pre-capitalist countries of the world. The in Brazil and the Caribbean islands. The mining
imperialist country or Metropolis (literal meaning of silver brought unprecedented wealth to
AC I
mother country), subordinates another country/ Europe. Asian spices, textiles, silk and indigo
colony for its own economic and political were in demand in the West. Europes trade with
interests. This may be done through military or Asia was greatly facilitated by the availability of
N
other means and particularly through silver obtained from mines in Americas with the
colonialism. Colonialism means the practice of help of African slave labour. But the trade with
acquiring colonies by conquest (or other means) Asia was also not of an equal nature.
and making them dependent. The country which
O
is subjugated by a metropolitan capitalist country Between 1500 and 1800, Western Europe
is described as a colony, and what happens in a acquired 35% of the globes land surface. This is
colony is colonialism. In other words, Colonialism despite the fact that in 1800, Europes population
is the total system of imperialist domination of a was only 190 out of 900 million living on the
IA R
pre-capitalist country. Occupation/direct rule planet earth. Great Britain was the architect of
over a country by another country is not always the biggest overseas empire, an empire over which
an essential feature of imperialism. The essential the sun never set. The population of Great
feature is exploitation, with or without direct Britain in 1838 was only 19 million but this
CH
political control. Until recent years, most countries country acquired large chunks of Asia and Africa
of Asia Africa and other parts of the world were with many millions of inhabitants. The scholars
under the control of one or another imperialist of European expansion agree on the superiority
country. of European political organization and Western
warfare over the various types of non-Western
The story of modern world is of trade,
S
people. Gunpowder arms and modern state

expansion, migrations, settlements, imperialism,
infrastructure of the West Europeans aided
colonialism and challenges to it. Modern World
expansion in the extra-European world. Initial
is the product of a unique type of trading chain
technological edges were transformed into huge
in which Western Europe was clearly at the
centre. This interconnected global trade was political advantages. The superiority of the
carried on, and was dependent upon, three Western navies especially as regards long-range
major developments of these centuries: 1. mining bulk transport was one of the principal factors
of silver with the help of forced labour in the behind the successful establishment of maritime
Americas; 2. forcible transfer of millions of empires in the extra-European world. The
African slaves across the Atlantic Ocean; and 3. unlimited oceanic range of the Western ships gave
levying of tribute by the European powers on them what could be termed as global reach. Afro-
Asian shipping and land. Asian states could not challenge the maritime
supremacy of the Western naval powers. The
Columbuss discovery was followed by the passing of control on the Indian Ocean from
exploitation of the silver mines of the Americas Asian to European hand was a matter of great

political and economic importance. The Arabs Lally in the late eighteenth century, there was
lost control over the spice trade between South no European military competition to the East
East Asia, India, Egypt and Arabia. The maritime India Companys army in the Indian
powers also enabled the European trading subcontinent. The British naval supremacy in the
companies to establish coastal enclaves in most coastal waters of India also shaped land warfare
of the territories whose shores lapped the Indian in favour of the Company. Tipus attempt to get
Ocean. These coastal enclaves became the bases aid from France was unsuccessful. And, the
from which the Europeans expanded. Mysore navy could achieve little against British
sea power. After the defeat of Tipu, there were
E
In 1839, two British frigates defeated 29
Y
no more naval challenges from the indigenous
Chinese war junks near Hong Kong. Besides
powers. In 1848 when Mulraj the Diwan of
technology, in theory also the Afro-Asians were
Multan revolted, the Second Anglo-Sikh War
AD L
lagging behind the maritime European powers.
broke out. And then the Companys navy
One of the characteristics of the theoretical works
EM
practiced what could be categorized as Littoral
produced during Renaissance was the application
Warfare. Naval power came to the aid of the
of geometrical figures and symbols. Diagrams
C
British during the crisis of 1857 Mutiny. Towards
were used for elucidating theories as well as for
the end of May 1857, steamers brought white
analyzing the different stages of particular great
troops from Madras to Calcutta. The Royal Navy
battles. The eighteenth century European states
also brought reinforcements from Britain and
AC I
established naval schools where mathematics
along with Newtons Principia was taught. The
Crimea into India during 1857-58. Sea power
enabled the British government in India to project
Mughals had a riverine navy which conducted
N
power in various parts of Asia. The company
marine warfare against the Zamindars of Bengal
was able to put together a bureaucracy capable
and the Magh pirates in the Chittagong region
of launching distant amphibious operations.
during the sixteenth and the seventeenth
During the Dutch War of 1795, it was decided
centuries. But these ships were no match against
to send troops from India to Malacca. Burma
O
the European men of war. In 1498, Vasco da

teak was highly valued by the Royal Navy and
Gama arrived at Calicut on the Malabar Coast.
the British merchantmen. And this was a
In the same year, eight ships sent by Zamorin
contributory factor for the Second Anglo-Burma
encountered a single Portuguese caravel. A
War during 1852-53. The emergence of shallow
IA R
caravel had a triangular sail and weighed about

draft steamboats equipped with guns enabled
200 tons. The bronze cannons of the Portuguese
European penetration into the interiors of Africa
ship made mincemeat of the Indian ships which
though the rivers. The British penetration into
tried to fight with arrows, swords and lances.
southern Nigeria through the Niger delta involved
CH
Shivaji set up the Maratha navy in 1659. The

use of naval vessels. Bruce Lenman claims that
most famous Maratha admiral was Kanhoji
in the early eighteenth century, the Dutch and
Angre (1669-1729). For modernizing his fleet,
the French by introducing gunpowder among
Kanhoji hired Portuguese deserters.
the American tribes raised the level of organized
In 1739, a single Portuguese frigate defeated violence. The original inhabitants of the New
S
Sambhaji Angrias squadron of 17 vessels. Gheria, World did not use iron. Most of them employed
the Maratha naval headquarters finally fell to Stone Age technologies. Hence, Hernan Cortes
the bombardment of British battleships. with 500 Spaniards and 14 cannon was able to
defeat the Aztek Empire repeatedly between 1519
While the Royal navy protected the British and 1521. At the siege of Cuzco in 1536, 200,000
sea lines of communications, the Companys Inca soldiers were defeated by 190 Spanish
marine took care of coastal security. By 1934 it soldiers. The French towards the end of the
had been rechristened as the Royal Indian Navy. seventeenth century realized that without Indian
When Ceylon and Pondicherry were lost, the allies it was impossible to conduct colonial
French Navy found that Mauritius was too far warfare successfully in North America. In 1712,
away for operating around the subcontinent. The the French allied with the Ottawa and
lack of a maritime base near Indian hampered Potawatomie attacked the Fox tribe. The Indian
French maritime operations. This in turn choked tribes of North America, who were allied with
the supply of men and materials to the French the European powers during the seventeenth
Army under Count de Lally. After the defeat of century, taught the Europeans several tactical

lessons like marksmanship, scouting, looking for Asia, European expansion in Africa really
cover and concealment in the jungles. gathered speed during the late nineteenth
century. Structural contradictions prevented the
Cooperation with the Indians was essential Mughals, Persians and the Chinese from
even in Central and South America. Economic modernizing their army. They also did not
potential and demographic resources did not possess the sea faring culture of the Western
necessarily generate great military power. For maritime nations. All these factors resulted in
explaining European military superiority over the passing away of the big Asian land empires.
Afro-Asia in general and India in particular, most Then the culture of warfare in America and
E
of the historians followed Edward Gibbons
Y
Africa also aided European conquest. State
emphasis on gunpowder weapons. Geoffrey organization was virtually non-existent in most
Parker asserts that the military balance changed parts of the new World and in Africa. All the
AD L
in favour of the West because of the Military non-European polities were fragile entities and
EM
Revolution which unfolded between 1500 and characterized by divisible sovereignty. This made
1750. The military revolution on land actually possible playing off various ethno linguistic and
C
was an amalgamation of two revolutions. The religious groups against each other by the
first involved a Revolution in Siege Warfare due Europeans. It in turn facilitated not only conquest
to the emergence of trace Italians (star shaped but also consolidation of imperial rule over the
scientific fortress architecture) and siege artillery. two American continents as well as in Afro-Asia.
AC I
Then a Revolution in Field Warfare occurred due Thus it was a combination of social,
to the rise of firearms equipped infantry technological, strategic and cultural factors that
supported by field artillery. Another
N
gradually brought about the entire world under
characteristic of the Military Revolution was European domination.
sustained growth in the size of the European
armies. Artillery was so costly that only the Along with human beings, this migration also
monarchy could maintain it. The Europeans were involved movement of animals, plants and
O
well advanced in the field of international finance. diseases. Long before Columbus, the Vikings in
The international credit network sustained the their long ships discovered Greenland and also
Western military activities across the globe. The made a landfall in Newfoundland. The Germans
Afro-Asia armies lacked any regular cohesive attacked the Western Roman Empire due to rising
IA R
organization. Soldiering was a part time demographic pressure and the riches that could
occupation of the cultivators and pay was be obtained by plundering the rich Roman
irregular. Professional standing armies were provinces of Gaul (France), Spain and Italy.
absent in pre-colonial Afro-Asia. Hence, the Afro-
CH
Asian soldiers were indisciplined. In battles, the The lure of fertile land, pillage and plunder
Africans and the Asians fought as aggregates of as well as prospect of trade also encouraged
individuals and not as cohesive bodies of soldiers. migrations and settlements. The gradual
Warfare in South-East Asia was also lagging desiccation of Central Asia pushed the steppe
behind the type of organized violence practiced nomadic tribes into Southern Asia and Eastern
by the West. Bloody conflict resulting in total Europe. Due to the drying up of the heartland of
S
destruction of the enemy force and permanent Eurasia and falling water table, the horse riding
conquest were trends introduced by the nomads attacked the sedentary civilization.
Europeans. Increasing cold in Scandinavia also encouraged
Viking migration in the late medieval age. The
While by the 1850s most of Asia was under Vikings settled in Denmark, England, Normandy
the Europeans, even as late as 1876 less than province in France and also in south Italy.
10% of Africa was under the Europeans. This Besides economy, climate, demography and
was due to lack of surface communication in the technology, culture has also been an important
jungle-filled continent and the prevalence of determinant of migration and settlement. The era
diseases which hampered operations of the of mass migration of the Europeans in the extra-
European armies in the dark continent. In West European world was preceded by what could be
Africa, half of the white soldiers died within categorized as the Age of Discovery. The latter
three months of their arrival. While the term refers to intensive maritime exploration of
eighteenth century witnessed the conquest of the oceans by the European mariners. For the

first time, Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigated In the tropics most Europeans died or could
the globe during 1519-22. not sustain self-replicating populations. But, in
temperate America where few Europeans went
The principal motive behind Europes they flourished demographically. Tropical
expansionist drive was the search for trade. diseases like malaria and yellow fever checked
Africa and Asia exported gold, jewel, silk, the Portuguese migration in Africa. Disease
carpets, spices and porcelains to Europe. All these brought by the Europeans devastated the
created the notion among the Europeans about indigenous population of the New World. After
luxury, wealth, skilled artisans and thriving craft 1704, influenza and smallpox caused rapid
E
industries in Afro-Asia. Instead of the Italian decline of the Maya people. During 1743-9, half
Y
cities which were most interested in maritime of the indigenous population of the Amazon
trade, it was the West European powers which Valley fell victim to measles and smallpox.
AD L
took the lead in oceanic voyages. Initially the Smallpox wiped out half of the Cherokee in North
EM
European enclaves in the newly discovered lands America in the late 1730s. British cattle were
were forts and ports. In Asia the indigenous introduced into Virginia. They multiplied rapidly
C
potentates were quite powerful. The Ottoman and the agricultural lands of the Indians were
Empire, the Ming Empire and the Mughal Empire changed into grazing and pastoral land. Horses
were formidable entities. In such a scenario, the spread throughout North America through trade
Europeans found themselves in the role of and theft. Instead of allowing the Indians to grow
AC I
supplicants and observers rather than as
conquerors and settlers. Since indigenous
their vegetable crops, the Spanish introduced
sugar plantations, cotton, tobacco and vineyards.
resistance in the New World was weak, the The Europeans introduced timber and dyewood
N
European coastal enclaves quickly expanded into in Brazil which were exported. Citrus fruits
big territorial empires. Columbus found gold in bought from Spain were introduced in the new
Hispaniola which in turn attracted more World in the early sixteenth century. The
European settlers. The search for labour resulted Spaniards brought banana in 1516 to West Indies
O
in the conquest of Puerto Rico in 1508, Jamaica from the Canary Islands. Actually the Portuguese
in 1509, and Cuba in 1511. The North American had introduced banana in the Canary Islands
tribes practiced rudimentary hunting and fishing. from tropical Africa. Catastrophic mortality
The British in North America after settling down among the native Americans following the
IA R
became fishermen, farmers, traders, etc. The early arrival of the Europeans generated search for
English settlements in Americas were at cheap labour for working in the estates,
Jamestown and Virginia. In 1760 fight broke out plantations and mines. The resulting slave trade
between the British and the Cherokee whose altered the demography by initiating a major
CH
hunting land in east Tennessee and west North movement of the Africans from Africa to South
Carolina were under pressure due to the America, West Indies and the southern states of
advancing frontier of British American control North America. Between 1680 and 1860, the loss
and settlement. The rise of European population of population due to slavery from West Africa
in British North America was greater than in was a little over 10%. Slaves were acquired from
Africa either by raiding or through contacts with
S
New France because the British were willing to

accept people of all religious backgrounds. By the African rulers. The slaves were sold to the
contrast, the French colonial policy was to European traders in return for guns, gunpowder
establish catholic colonies in North America. and European clothes. And the African
potentates used the guns for acquiring more slaves
Among the early migrants there were more for selling the Europeans. Thus a vicious gun-
men than women. So, many Spaniards and slave cycle developed. During the fifteenth
Portuguese took Indian women as wives or century, African slaves were transported to Lisbon
concubines. Their offspring were known as for sale. Founded in 1575, Luanda in Angola
mestizos and they settled mostly among the became the leading port through which slaves
coastal regions. The Germans and the Dutch were shipped to Brazil. Congo was a vital source
were minor players. The Russians unlike the West of slaves. In 1515 African slaves for the first time
European maritime powers expanded the were sent to the Americas. Spain sent the African
frontiers of Europe in East Asia by overland slaves to Hispaniola in the Caribbean and started
migration. receiving slave grown American sugar. Direct

large scale trans-Atlantic traffic in slaves started Competition between advanced capitalist
from 1532. The British transported more slaves countries
than the French. Between 1691 and 1779, British There were many empires in history but
ships transported 2,300,000 slaves from the
empire in the era of capitalism is imperialism. In
African ports. In the sixteenth century about
earlier eras the motive was exaction of tribute.
367,000 African slaves were sent to the
Under capitalism the economies and societies of
Americas. Angola supplied 2 million slaves in
the conquered or dominated areas were
the eighteenth century mostly to Brazil. Most of
transformed, adapted and manipulated to serve
the Africans transported as slaves in the
E
the imperatives of capital accumulation in the
Y
eighteenth century went to Brazil and West
imperialist countries placed at the centre of the
Indies, and less than a fifth went to North
economic hierarchy. Imperialism is a specifically
America. The Portuguese moved slaves into the
AD L
European phenomenon whereas colonialism is
sugar plantations of Northeast Brazil and from
EM
1710s into the gold and diamond fields of Mionas the system prevalent in the colonies. Imperialism
Gerais. In the late eighteenth century the slaves can be both formal and informal. Formal
C
were used in the sugar and coffee plantations imperialism involves annexation and direct rule
near Rio De Janeiro. In most cases the number of while informal empire means indirect rule by
black slaves exceeded the number of white local elites who are independent legally but
colonists. The extensive scope of slavery in the politically dependent on the metropolis.
AC I
New World becomes clear. Brazil between 1800
These types are:
and 1850 had between 1,000,000 to 2,500,000
slaves. The slaves amounted to 33% of the
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(1) Trading empires which took the initiative in
population of the country. Slavery was rampant early conquests but eventually lost out in the
in the southern states of USA. Individuals were era of industrial capitalism, such as Portugal
taken away from their communities and families and Spain.
in Africa. Many died while being captured. In
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the port towns and in the ships while being (2) Industrial empires with full-fledged colonies,
transported across the Atlantic, they were such as Britain and France.
crowded together in hazardous circumstances. (3) Industrial empires without, or with few,
About 10% of the slaves died while being
formal colonies, such as Germany.
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transported across the Atlantic. Hacking down

sugarcane was a backbreaking task. Slaves lived At the same time, it is important to remember
in deplorable conditions. They were less well fed, different historical stages through which
housed and clothed than the white population. capitalist expansion took place leading to the
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Some white settlers were also coerced by the state formation of empires. The changing nature of
to migrate overseas. Between 1720 and 1763, the capitalism may be said to have gone through the
British Parliament passed another 16 Acts that stages, mentioned below:
established transportation as a penalty for
crimes of perjury and poaching. Imperialism (1) End of 15th to mid 17th Century-rise of
is the system of political control exercised by commercial capital and rapid growth of
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the metropolis over the domestic and foreign world commerce.

policy and over the domestic politics of another
(2) Mid 17th to later 18th Century-commercial
polity, which we shall call the periphery
capital ripens into a dominant economic
(countries at the margins of the economic
force.
hierarchy). Four important characteristic features
of imperialism are: (3) Late 18th Century to 1870s-the era of
industrial capital.
Sharp increase in international flow of
commodities, men and capital, (4) 1880 to World War I rise of monopoly
capital, division of Globe, etc.
Interdependent set of relations between
countries at different levels of industrial (5) Post World War I-socialism, decolonization,
development, rise of multinational corporations.
Advanced and superior technology in (6) In this sense, stages of imperialism coincide
imperialist countries, and with stages of capitalism.

Stage of capitalism Imperial powers out of this impasse. A whole range of theories
and explanations have been offered for
(1) Merchant capitalism Portugal and Spain.
imperialism and are now available with us. These
(2) Industrial capitalism Britain, France and can broadly be classified into economic and non-
Netherlands. economic explanations. The economic
(3) Finance capitalism Britain, USA and explanation include the factors pertaining to
Germany. overproduction and under consumption
(Hobson), requirements of finance capitalism
The theories of imperialism can be grouped (Hilferding), unequal exchange between the
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into two broad types, economic (J.A. Hobson,
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imperial powers and the colonies (Rosa
Hilferding, Rosa Luxembourg and Lenin) and Luxembourg), and the highest stage of capitalism
political (Schumpeter, Fieldhouse, Gallagher and (Lenin). The non-economic explanations have
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Robinson). They can also be distinguished as looked at imperialism as a pre-modern atavistic
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metro centric (Schumpeter, Lenin, Hobson) and force (Schumpeter); or have offered a pericentric
pericentric (Gallagher and Robinson, Fieldhouse). view concentrating on the developments in the
C
colonies rather than the metropolis (Gallaghar
In Imperialism (1902) Hobson explains and Robinson); or have seen it merely as an
imperialism as an outcome of the capitalist expression of political struggle within Europe
system. The key concept used is under (Fieldhouse). In 1500 Europes dominant position
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consumption. Industry looked for foreign markets
as it could not find domestic markets for its
could not be taken for granted. The Ottoman
Empire, China under the Mings and India under
goods, wages being low. With major industrial
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the Mughals were at the same stage of
powers competing for foreign markets there was development. They suffered from one major
a race for colonies which would serve as captive drawback, however, and that was their
markets. Under consumption also leads to over domination by a centralized authority which did
saving as domestic investment does not make not provide conditions conducive to intellectual
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sound economic sense when there is little growth. Improved cartography, navigational
purchasing power. Thus Hobson concluded that tables, the telescope and the barometer made
the dominant directive motive behind travel by sea safer. This strengthened Europes
imperialism was the demand for markets and technological advantage further. The discovery
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for profitable investment by the exporting and of America and of the route to the Indies via the
financial classes within each imperialist regime. Cape of Good Hope had great consequences for
Dismissed other motives as secondary, be it Europe. It liberated Europe from a confined
power, pride and prestige or trade follows the geographic and mental cell.
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flag or the mission of civilizing the natives. For

Schumpeter, Imperialism is the objectless The old colonialism had its natural limits.
disposition on the part of a state to unlimited Flow of precious metals declined. By the late 18th
forcible expansion. Political expansion was a century Spanish and Portuguese power declined
function of commercial expansion- trade with and they lost their colonies. Dutch monopoly on
informal control if possible; trade with rule when shipping ended. Britain was now the world leader
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necessary. Gallagher and Robinsons explanation in empire, finance and trade. Europes conquest
of imperialism was pericentric. In their view of America, Africa and Asia from the sixteenth
imperialism was a process driven by pressures century was possible only because of her mastery
from the peripheries-Asia, Africa and Latin of the seas. In this the countries on the Atlantic
Africa. The scramble for colonies was a seaboard, Portugal, Spain, France, Britain and
preemptive move by European powers to occupy Holland, had an obvious advantage because of
whatever territory they could in Asia and Africa their geographical location. Europes domination
so as to keep out rival nations. Fieldhouse was disastrous for other people: the indigenous
advanced a political explanation for imperialism. populations in the Americas were wiped out and
The new imperialism was the extension into the twelve million Africans were made slaves between
periphery of the political struggle in Europe. At 1500 and 1860. Europe benefited vastly in this
the centre the balance was so nicely adjusted era when merchant capital controlled the world
that no major change in the status or territory of economy. Institutions such as the modern state
any side was possible. Colonies became a means and bureaucracy and the scientific revolution in

knowledge laid the foundations of the modern Britain had 4000 million pounds worth abroad.
world. Hobsbawm describes the Industrial Most international trade was routed through
Revolution in Britain as that unusual moment in British ships at the turn of the twentieth century.
world history when the worlds economy was After World War I Britain lost this position to
built around Britain. The early British industrial the US. The US became the major dominant
economy relied for its expansion on foreign trade. capitalist economy. She was now the worlds
Overseas markets for products and overseas largest manufacturer, foreign investor, trader and
outlets for capital were crucial. The cotton banker and the US $ became the standard
industry exported eighty per cent of its output at international currency. The drain of wealth or
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the end of the nineteenth century. The iron and the unilateral transfer of capital from India after
steel industry exported forty per cent of its output 1765 amounted to two to three per cent of the
in the mid nineteenth century. In return Britain British national income at a time when only about
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bought specialized local products such as cotton five per cent of the British national income was
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from the US, wool from Australia, wheat from being invested. In the 19th Century India
Argentina. etc. The age of mercantilism was over emerged as a major market for British
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and with it tariff barriers stood dismantled. The manufacturers and supplied food grains and raw
new watchword was free trade. With the spread materials. Opium from India was sold in China,
of industrial capitalism the need grew for colonies enabling Britains triangular trade with China.
as markets for manufactured goods especially Railways were a major area of investment of
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textiles and suppliers of raw materials such as capital. Britains international balance of
cotton and food grains. The colony emerged as payments deficit was handled by the foreign
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a subordinate trading partner whose economic exchange got from Indian exports. British
surplus was appropriated through trade based shipping grew in leaps and bounds on the back
on unequal exchange. This international division of its control over Indias coastal and
of labour condemned the colony to producing international trade.
goods of low value using backward techniques.
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India played a crucial role in the development

By the 1860s other countries like Germany and
of British capitalism during this stage. British
United States, were catching up with Britain in
industries especially textiles were heavily
industrialization. In 1900 Britain was the
dependent on exports. India absorbed 10 to 12
unquestioned world leader. Her empire extended
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per cent of British exports and nearly 20 percent

to twelve million square miles and a quarter of
of Britains textile exports during 1860-1880.
the worlds population. The race for colonies After 1850, India was also a major importer of
speeded up from the 1880s with the entry of engine coaches, rail lines and other railway store.
Germany, Italy, US, Belgium and Japan into the
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Moreover, the Indian army played an important

race for colonies. These imperialist rivalries which role in extending British colonialism in Asia and
carved up the world into colonies, semi colonies Africa. Throughout this stage the drain of wealth
and spheres of influence also divided Europe into and capital to Britain continued. The Home
blocks armed to the teeth, the logical corollary of Charges (Indias payments for receiving good
which was World War I. The informal empire administration from Britain) and the interest
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of trade and finance was added to the empire of payments on the Indian Public Debt were
industrial capital. Capital accumulation on a important in financing Britains balance of
large scale took place because of the development payments deficit. Thus the pride and glory
of trade and industry at home and extended underlying the slogan of 'the sun never sets on
exploitation of colonies and semi colonies. The the British Empire' were used to keep workers
stranglehold of monopoly capital can be gauged contented on whose slum dwellings the sun
from the statistic that by 1914 European nation seldom shone in real life. The British Indian army
controlled over 84.4 per cent of the world. Capital was the only large scale army contingent
was concentrated in and channeled through first, available to Britain. It was therefore not a surprise
the City of London and then New York, the that the British Empire in Asia and Africa
centre of the international network of trade and collapsed once Britain lost control over the Indian
finance. army and finances.
Between 1870 and 1913, London was the If imperialism is what happens in the
financial and trading hub of the world. By 1913 metropolis, then colonialism is what happens in

the colonies. The same system of capitalism that Colonialism is a social formation in which
produced development in the Western world different modes of production coexist from
created under development in the colony. In this feudalism to petty commodity production to
sense imperialism and colonialism are two sides agrarian, industrial and finance capitalism.
of the same coin. Unlike capitalism, where the surplus is
Typology of colonies: colonies of settlement appropriated on the basis of the ownership of
and of exploitation, inland colonies and overseas the means of production, under colonialism
colonies, colonies under direct rule and colonies surplus is appropriated by virtue of control over
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controlled only indirectly. South Africa, Australia, state power. One basic feature of colonialism is
Y
Canada were colonies of white settlers whereas that under it the colony is integrated into the
India and Indonesia were colonies exploited world capitalist system in a subordinate position.
economically and politically over centuries. Neo-
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Colonialism is characterized by unequal
colonialism is the continuation of colonialism by
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Exchange. The exploitative international division
non-formal means. Economic policies were
of labour meant that the metropolis produced
dictated and military might was harnessed by
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goods of high value with high technology and
the imperial power. The US was the foremost
neo-colonial power in the later phase. Andre colonies produced goods of low value and
Gunder Franks major contribution was followed productivity with low technology. The colony
by those of C. Furtado, Theodore Dos Santosa, produced raw materials while the metropolis
AC I
Paul Prebisch, Paul Baran, Samir Amin,
Immanuel Wallerstein, Arghiri Emmanuel and
produced manufactured goods. Unequal
exchange, external integration and internal
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F. Cardoso. According to the dependency school disarticulation, drain of wealth, and a foreign
(Andre Gunder Frank, Samir Amin etc.). A colony political domination may be understood as the
would continue to be economically dependent
four main features of colonialism. The colonial
even after achieving political freedom, as long as
state is integral to the structuring and functioning
it remains a part of capitalism-as the capitalist
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class was incapable of undertaking the task of of the colonial economy and society. It is the
development. Wallerstains world systems mechanism by which the metropolitan capitalist
approach divided the capitalist world into the class controls and exploits the colony. The colonial
centre, periphery and semi-periphery, between state serves the long term interests of the capitalist
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which a relationship of unequal exchange class of the mother country as a whole, not of
prevailed. The core economies of the centre any of its parts. Under colonialism all the
produced high value products and had strong indigenous classes of the colony suffer
states. The periphery was constrained by low domination. The colonial state guaranteed law
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technology and low wages, the state was weak

and order and for its own security from internal
as was the capitalist class and the economy was
dominated by foreign capital. The countries on and external dangers. It suppressed indigenous
the semi-periphery, like India, were marked by economic forces hostile to colonial interest. The
greater control of the state in the national and colonial state actively fostered the identities of
international market. Economic nationalism was caste and community so as to prevent national
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the hallmark of such States. Cultural aspects of unity. The colonial state relied on the whole on
colonialism were highlighted by Amilcar Cabral, domination and coercion rather than leadership
Franz Fanon and Edward Said. Colonialism is and consent. There were three distinct stages of
as modern a historical phenomenon as industrial colonialism. The stages were the result of the
capitalism. It is a well structured whole, a distinct
following factors:
social formation in which the basic control of
the economy and society is in the hands of a The historical development of capitalism
foreign capitalist class. Colonialism is a specific as a world system;
structure. Colonial economy was neither pre-
capitalist nor capitalist, it was colonial, i.e., a The change in the society, economy and
hybrid creation. Colonialism was distorted polity of the metropolis;
capitalism. Integration with the world economy
The change in its position in the world
did not bring capitalism to the colony.
economy and lastly;
Colonialism did not develop social and productive
forces, rather, it underdeveloped them. The colonys own historical development.

First Stage: Monopoly Trade and Plunder that the colony was not able to absorb metro-
politan capital or increase its exports of raw
The first stage had two basic objectives. In
materials because of overexploitation in the
order to make trade more profitable indigenously
earlier stages. A strategy of limited moderni-
manufactured goods were to be bought cheap.
zation was implemented to take care of this
For this competitors were to be kept out, whether
problem. The conquest of Africa took place in
local or European. Territorial conquest kept local
the last decades of the nineteenth century. Till as
traders out of the lucrative trade while rival
late as 1880 only 20 per cent of Africa had come
European companies were defeated in war. Thus,
under European rule. The first phase, 1880-1919,
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the characteristic of the first stage was monopoly
was one of conquest and occupation. The colonial
Y
of trade.
system was consolidated after 1910. The second
Secondly, the political conquest of the colony phase, 1919-35, was that of the independence
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enabled plunder and seizure of surplus. For movements. The third stage was from 1935
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example, the drain of wealth from India to Britain onwards. The impact of colonialism in Africa
during the first stage was considerable. It was tremendous. The self sufficient African
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mounted to 2 to 3% of the National Income of economies were destroyed, transformed and
Britain at that time. Colonialism was super- subordinated by colonial domination. Class
imposed on the traditional systems of economy differentiation in African society occurred as a
and polity. No basic changes were introduced in result on the impact of colonial domination. The
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the first stage. links of African countries with each other and
with other parts of the world were disrupted.
Second Stage: Era of Free Trade European powers reduced the economies of
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Africa to colonial dependencies through the
The interest of the industrial bourgeoisie of
power of finance capital. The loans for the Suez
the metropolis in the colony was in the markets
Canal enmeshed Egypt in debt.
available for manufactured goods. For this it was
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necessary to increase exports from the colony to The imperialist school of thought would have
pay for purchase of manufactured imports. The it that Africans welcomed colonial rule. Social
metropolitan bourgeoisie also wanted to develop Darwinism justifies colonialism by arguing that
the colony as a producer of raw materials to the domination over the weaker races was the
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lessen dependence on non-empire sources. inevitable result of the natural superiority of the
Increase of exports from the colony would also European race. The positive effects of colonialism,
enable it to pay for the high salaries and profits if any, were byproducts; they were clearly not
of merchants. The industrial bourgeoisie opposed consciously intended. The negative impact was
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plunder as a form of appropriation of surplus on huge and in all shares, with long lasting legacies.
the ground that it would destroy the goose that For example, ethnic conflicts which paralyzed
laid the golden eggs. In this stage changes in the many parts of Africa today are rooted in the
economy, policy, administration, social, cultural arbitrary superimposition of territorial boundaries
and ideological structure were initiated to enable on an essentially tribal society.
exploitation in the new way. Capitalists were
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Colonialism in South-East Asia lasted five

allowed to develop plantations, trade, transport,
centuries, from the late fifteenth to the mid
mining and industries. The system of transport
twentieth century. Even after the heyday of the
and communications was developed to facilitate
spice trade, South-East Asia remained important
the movement of massive quantities of raw
as a supplier of basic raw materials like oil,
materials to the ports for export.
rubber, metals, rice, coffee, tea and sugar. The
Third Stage: Era of Finance Capital impact of colonialism in this region was
considerable, even on countries like Thailand,
Large scale accumulation of capital in the which did not formally become colonies.
metropolis necessitated search for avenues for Traditional forms of government disappeared,
investment abroad. These interests were best trading patterns were disrupted and the rich
served where the imperial powers had colonies. cultural tradition of these regions were destroyed.
This led to more intensive control over the colony
in order to protect the interests of the imperial Wallerstein would have it that there was a
power. A major contradiction in this stage was basic paternalism which ran through the

philosophies of all the colonial powers. But this has pointed out. In short, far from a planned
basic paternalism expressed itself in very withdrawal from empire, there was the
different forms, depending on the history and irreversible erosion of position as imperial powers
national character of the colonial powers. From struggled to retain power by one means or
the beginning there was a sparseness and another, conciliation or repression.
economy about British colonial policy. The British
used trading companies to acquire colonies, According to the approach highlighting the
insisted that colonies be self sustaining and varied international context of decolonization, empires
the political structure in each of the colonies to could not survive in the new world order after
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the Second World War. The changed
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suit local needs. This, then, is the classic contrast
between Africas two colonial powers, Britain international climate was reflected in the Atlantic
and France: Britain-empirical, commercial, Charter issued by the Allies during the War
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practicing indirect rule, keeping Africans at a which called for the independence of colonial
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distance, verging on racism; France- Cartesian people. The United Nations General Assembly
in its logic, seeking glory, practicing direct went a step further in 1960 in its Declaration on
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administration, acting as apostle of fraternity and the granting of independence to colonial countries
anti-racism. In practice the differences were not and people. It sharply condemned colonial rule
so clear in fact, there were parallel degrees of as a denial of fundamental human rights in
political, social and economic discrimination in contravention of the UN Charter.
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two settler territories like Kenya and Algeria.
There was also parallel absence of legal
This international approach attributes the end
of empires to the opposition of the US and USSR
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discrimination. In Britain civil servants were to old style imperialism. The US and USSR had
nonpartisan whereas in France junior civilians nothing to gain from the older imperial powers,
were political. such as Britain and France, retaining their
colonies. They had everything to gain from the
There were broadly four types of decolonization:
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end of empire as this enabled these two emerging

(1) Self government for white settler colonies as superpowers to establish their influence over the
it happened in Canada and Australia. newly independent countries of Asia and Africa.
The metropolitan or domestic constraints
(2) Formal end to empire followed by
approach focuses on how the colony became too
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independent rule as in India.

big a burden on the mother country. In this
(3) Formal empire replaced by informal empire explanation the end of empire is seen as a
or neo-colonialism as in Latin America. political choice made under pressure of domestic
constraints and calculations of national interest.
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(4) Mere change of imperial masters- in Indo-

China when the French reluctantly left, the The mother countrys will to rule slackened once
empire became too much of a nuisance,
US move in.
financially, militarily and in international
The explanations of decolonization have been relations. Historians John Gallagher and other
classified as follows: scholars in the imperialist tradition argued that
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British imperial interests in India were declining,

The nationalist approach
that India no longer fulfilled its role in the
International context approach maintenance of imperial interests in the fields of
Domestic constraints approach either defence or commerce or finance and that,
in fact, over the years it had become a liability
In the nationalist view indigenous resistance for the British.
and anti imperialist struggle led to independence.
According to D.A. Low, the primary factor Another factor was the post war expansion
behind the end of empire was anti-imperialist of the welfare state. Decolonization gathered
movements-the metropolitan response only pace once social reform became a priority and
influenced the nature of this confrontation, not empire began to be perceived as a drain on
the outcome. The British imperialists presented resources. The twentieth century was the era of
the unraveling of empire as an orderly and decolonization. At the end of the twentieth
rational process but the messy reality was much century the world was no longer Eurocentric.
less consistent and unavoidable, as John Darwin The twentieth century had seen the decline and

fall of Europe, which had been the centre of economic. Within years of the end of the War
power, wealth and western civilization at the many colonies gained independence, but often
beginning of the century. In the first decade of after protracted disagreement, encouraged by the
the twentieth century the nationalists posed a imperial power, on the contentions issue of
challenge in Asia and Africa. They were distribution of power, leading to partition and
encouraged by the ability of Japan, a small Asian civil war. Various areas of troublesome conflict
country, to inflict a crushing defeat on Russia, a in the 1970s and 80s, Middle East, Cyprus, South
European power, in 1905. Some of the well Africa, Kashmir, Sri Lanka, were legacies of
known leaders of the national movements were British decolonization.
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Sun Yat Sen in China, Arabi Pasha in Egypt and
Bal Gangadhar Tilak in India. These movements There are also significant differences between,
were led, in this stage, by English educated for example, French and British decolonization.
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middle class elites whose demand for a say in For example, if the British maintained strategic,
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the running of their countries was changing into political and cultural interests in its erstwhile
a demand for independence. colonies through the Commonwealth, the cultural
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integration was the mode of association preferred
The First World War further fuelled by the French. The French had no mechanism
nationalist discontent. The War effort had meant like the British Commonwealth to ease the
increased exploitation of colonies for raw transition of colonies to independence. Whereas
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materials, manpower and taxes and nationalists the liberation of India from British colonial rule
naturally questioned why the colonies should set off a chain reaction of independence in other
bear this burden. In 1919 when a new British colonies, such as Burma and Ceylon,
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international order was emerging in Europe the France continued to cling to its colonial
national movements in the colonies underwent a possessions. France refused to see the writing on
transformation in a mass direction. In India this the wall in Indo-China. By 1945 there were
change was brought by Mahatma Gandhi; China popular revolts against the French in many parts
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had the May 4th Movement; in Turkey Kemal of Vietnam, which then came under communist
Ataturk rose to power, and in Indonesia the
control, with the help of the quite remarkable
national movement reached a membership of 2.5
Vietnamese guerrilla army. The French were
million. Difference emerged between the old
conclusively defeated in the battle of Dien Bien
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imperial powers like Great Britain and the newer

Phu in 1954.
ones like the US and Japan, on whether the old
order should continue at all, and if so in what Indian independence in 1947 was followed
form? This stance of the newer world powers by independence in Burma in 1948 and Ceylon
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encouraged nationalists greatly. In the years after in the same year. Malaya gained independence
the Russian revolution the process of colonial nine years later. Ghana gained independence
emancipation and decolonization went much under Kwame Nkrumah in 1957. Togo,
further. Anti-imperialist activity was fuelled Cameroon, Somalia and Nigeria became
because of the world wide depression of 1929. independent in 1960. In 1964 all seven British
Sharpening of conflict as in Egypt and India and East and Central African colonies, Somaliland,
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victory of Republican ultras under De Valera in

Tanganyika, Uganda, Zanzibar, Nyasaland and
the Irish elections of 1932 were belated anti-
Northern Rhodesia became independent.
colonial reactions to the economic breakdown.
Botswana and Swaziland followed in 1966.
The impact of the depression was the loosening
Britain was not willing to hand over power in
of links between the colony and the metropolis,
Kenya because of white settlers there and hence
which encouraged independent capitalist growth
got embroiled in suppressing a protracted and
in the colony.
violent revolt, such as the Mau.
World War II showed up Great Britain as a
second fiddle to the US in the Anglo American The French colonies of Morocco and Tunisia
alliance. After 1945 the US and Russia became gained independence in 1956. In contrast,
the two superpowers. independence was completely ruled out for
Algeria as it was seen as an integral part of
In the third world, the Second World War France. This short sighted policy was to lead to
had caused great upheavals, political and a bloody war, as in Vietnam. In Africa local

autonomy was granted in 1956 but the colonies Westminster model of parliamentary government
were placed in a union, termed the French with its multi party system. The French did not
Community, strictly controlled by France. Eight care what form of government was adopted,
colonies in French West Africa, four in French their concern was with cultural rather than
Equatorial Africa and Madagascar gained political influence. The British and French
independence in 1960. Thus there were three opposed federations in French West and
different policies followed by the French in Africa. Equatorial Africa as the nationalists were behind
In the words of Immanuel Wallerstenin, as a them whereas the British worked towards
federation as they would be useful in the post-
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result of their special Framework of thinking
independence situation. There were differences
Y
concerning the colonies, the British were the first between the British and French perceptions of
to begin the process of decolonization. They the role of the civil service. In Britain, civil servants
accepted national independence as a legitimate were nonpartisan whereas in France junior
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objective. They were anxious to avoid a repetition civilians were political. However, this made little
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of what happened in America in their other difference after independence. Yet, the outcome
settler colonies, Canada, Australia and New of these very different policies of the British and
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Zealand. The French concept of constitutional French was the same. Widespread economic and
advance was to draw colonies closer to France, political discontent in Africa led to the uniform
not push them farther away. French Africans collapse of empire across British and French
colonies. This seriously questions the view that
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were elected to legislative bodies. The British
associated Africans with local bodies whereas French and British Africa were poles apart.
the French associated Africans with French Indian independence had an amazing
N
bodies. The British sought to maintain influence demonstration effect. The achievement of
in their colonies after the end of empire by independence in India triggered off a wave of
encouraging their ex-colonies to follow the similar developments across Africa and Asia.
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CH
S

WORLD WAR - I
CHRONICLE
IAS ACADEMY
E
World War Changed the World Imperial and colonial rule came to an end
Y
with the expulsion of the British from India, the
The theatre of war in World War I was mostly French from Indo-China and finally the Ameri-
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Europe. But the rest of the world was forced to cans from Vietnam, besides numerous decolo-
EM
contribute as colonies, or others like the USA nization processes in Africa and the Middle East.
entered the war for their own reasons. They were
The Wars were in every sense a struggle for
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total wars (fought not merely by professional
the mastery of the planet. At the beginning of
armies, but as much by civilian populations
the century, the world saw six contenders for
engaged in war efforts and being targeted as
domination of the earth, the USA, UK, France,
combatants). Mobilization of resources was
AC I Germany, Russia, and Japan. The two Wars
colossal, and the level of destruction left observers
reduced the six to two; USA and USSR.
speechless.
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It is still not yet clear what form the power
The capacity and nature of destruction now
structure will assume in the twenty-first century,
acquired new features. The first was genocide,
whether the USA will retain its supremacy,
or the killing of an entire group of people. This
whether the European Union and China would
was first attempted between 1915 and 1923 on
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become challengers, whether Russia would revive

the Armenians by Turkish nationalists, and then
and in what form, and whether India would
by the Nazis on Jews and Gypsies (Roma) during
play a leading role at all. But one thing can be
World War II. Never before in history had killing
said for sure is World wars changed the World
on this scale been attempted. More significantly,
for ever.
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it was not carried out in bursts of anger, as in

communal riots, nor even by small organizations, Growing Rivalries
but by the modern state. The genocides were
modern, and belonged entirely to the modern The world economy of capitalism from mid
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world. That was a singular aspect of the crisis of 19th century onwards was a conglomeration of
modernity in the twentieth century. national blocs or national economies which had
emerged with the growing number of nation
The other notable feature is that modern states. These states protected their industrializing
civilization had, during the war, acquired the economies against competition from other
capacity for the annihilation of the human nations. Thus these nations also became rival
S
species. This was revealed when atomic bombs economies.

were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in
1945. Modern class society, built around the The period inevitably saw the hunt for more
central drama of the struggle between capital profitable investment and more markets. This led
and labour, became obsolete in Europe and to the clamor for colonies outside the areas
America, as new technologies and organization traditionally dominated by Britain. Economic
systems led to new social relations, collectively competition and economic rivalry between nation
called the postindustrial. states led to imperialism of the 20th century and
to the genesis of the 1st World War.
The wars put an end to the nation-state
system, with supra-national agglomerations Germanys strength was increasing more so
taking shape. The sovereignty of the nation-states after the unification. France was defeated in the
of Europe was now subordinated in the Cold Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Under the
War to the power blocs of East and West, led subsequent Peace of Frankfurt in 1871 France
respectively by the USSR and USA. had to pay an indemnity of 200 million pounds

and agreed that thirty thousand German troops region prospect of a Russian takeover of
would remain in Paris until the amount had been Afghanistan, which was a buffer state within
paid. Bismarck evolved the "system of the great the Britain sphere of influence. In 1885, Russian
European alliances." forces occupied a part of Afghan territory. The
British Prime Minister asked Parliament to vote
Apart from the growing strength of Germany, him eleven million pounds for resisting the
another important development in this period Russians. But once again the Tsar, Alexander III,
was the expansionism of Russia. As the Ottoman realizing that it was better to exercise discretion,
Empire weakened and the nationalist aspirations decided to withdraw and to turn his energies
E
of the Balkan peoples became stronger, the instead towards expansion in China.
Y
Russians could not restrain themselves. Many of
the subject nationalities of the Ottoman Empire Power Combinations
AD L
were Slav and therefore had a strong ethnic
Austria-Hungary was steadily losing its
affinity with the Russians. Hence Russia gave
EM
importance during this period. However, for
support to the secessionist moves of these various
Balkan peoples, especially the Rumanians and Germany it was a natural ally, especially against
C
Serbians. This went against the interests of Britain Russia. Though the alliance of the Three
which did not want a dismemberment of the Emperors (Russia, Germany and Austria-
Ottoman Empire.
AC I Hungary) known as the Dreikaiserbund had been
forged in June 1881 and renewed in 1884, it
France was also unhappy. From as early as finally broke down in 1887. As differences
the time of the Crusades, France had been between Russia and Germany increased, Austria-
N
regarded as the protector of Christian rights in Hungary as well as Italy drew closer to Germany.
the East. But now the Russian Tsar, by posing as This process culminated in the formation of the
the champion of Orthodox or Eastern Triple Alliance in 1882. By the 1890s Russia was
Christianity, which was the version of experiencing great isolation. So was France. This
Christianity largely followed in the Balkans
O
brought the two together in a Dual Alliance in

region, was challenging the French claim.
1893. Thus, in the 1890s, two sets of European
French imperialism in Africa made rapid alliances existed.
strides in the 1880s. Tunis was occupied in 1881.
In 1904 the Entente Cordiale or Anglo-French
IA R
Madagascar was brought under control in 1884.

It desired to advance into the Sahara region for agreement was signed. It settled all their main
which it would have to control Morocco. But differences over colonies. France recognized
Germany and Spain were also interested in the British interests in Egypt while Britain in turn
CH
Morocco region. French expansion into the endorsed French interests in Morocco. This
Sudan region led to conflict with Britain and agreement was only a "friendly understanding",
confrontation on the Niger and at Fashoda. not an alliance. But Germany's aggressive
Moreover, by 1882 France had to forego its postures, especially in Morocco, brought the
control over Egypt to Britain. French and the British closer to each other. It
also brought Germany and France very close to
S
The Treaty of San Stefano (which concluded war in 1906 and it was only an international
the Russo-Turkish war) was placed before a conference at Algericas, in which the
Congress of all the major European powers
independence of Morocco was reaffirmed, which
Britain, France, Turkey, Russia, Italy and
defused the issue.
Germanyin June 1878 at Berlin. Russia's gains
were reduced while Austria stood to gain by In 1905 Russia suffered an ignominious defeat
being allowed to occupy and administer Bosnia at the hands of Japan. This humbled Russian
and Herzegovina. Britain got Cyprus and France aspirations and the Anglo-Russian Agreement
was promised a free hand in Turkey's North of 1907 settled the long-standing rivalries between
African territory of Tunisia. However, Italy and the two powers over Afghanistan, Persia and
Germany did not gain any territories as a result
Tibet. Thus a Triple Entente of Britain, France
of this Congress.
and Russia, to rival the Triple Alliance of
But what was even more alarming for Britain Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, had
was Russia's expansion in the Central Asian materialized.

Balkan Problem the Ottoman Empire lost all its European
possessions except the region adjacent to the
The outbreak of a revolution in Turkey in
Straits of Dardanelles.
1908 by a group of liberal patriots, who called
themselves the "Young Turks", overthrew the In the immediate run-up to the First World
Sultan's rule. As fallout of these developments, War the growing strength and aggressive designs
Austria decided to annex Bosnia and of Serbia were an important contributory factor.
Herzegovina, which it had been administering This small country was determined to add to its
since 1878. This brought protests from Russia. It territories. Immediate cause of the First World
E
demanded that Austria's action be brought before War was the assassination of Archduke Francis
Y
an international conference. The Serbians, who Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne at the
had nurtured hopes of acquiring Bosnia- Bosnian capital of Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. A
AD L
Herzegovina some day, joined the Russians in secret society of Serbian nationalists called the
their protest.
EM
"Black Hand" was responsible for the killing. Even
though the Serbian government did not have any
But Germany and Austria held that they
C
hand in the assassination, Austria was
would not agree to a conference unless the
determined to punish Serbia for the murder. On
annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina was
28 August 1914, it broke off diplomatic relations
recognized beforehand. Ultimately, they had their
with Serbia and declared war on it. Russia,
way largely because Russia, after its defeat at
AC I
anxious about Serbia's fate, also prepared for war
the hands of Japan, was in no position to go to
against Austria.
war against Austria-Hungary and Germany at
N
this juncture. This incident revealed the might of Germany, on seeing this, sent an ultimatum
Germany and its growing ability to strongly assert to Russia demanding that it cease its preparations
itself, though on this occasion on behalf of for war. On receiving a reply from the Tsar that
Austria. This tendency had ominous forebodings this was impossible, Germany declared war on
O
for the future. Italy entered into a secret Russia on 1 August 1914. It followed it up with
understanding with Russia in 1909 whereby it a declaration of war on France two days later.
promised to support Russia's interests in the Straits The idea was to strike France at its most
of Dardanelles in return for Russia's support for vulnerable spot, at the border between France
Italian designs in Tripoli (Libya).
IA R
and Belgium. It was Germany's invasion of

Belgium which brought Britain into the war.
Run Up to the War Behind Serbia was the long-standing conflict
In 1889 England had adopted a "two-power between the Russians and the Austrians. Austria
CH
standard" whereby the British would have a had Germany as a strong ally and Russia had
naval fleet 10% stronger than the combined France. If France was threatened with invasion,
navies of the two next-strongest powers. Britain felt vulnerable and was therefore
Germany had in 1898 embarked on a course of compelled to come to the rescue of France.
naval expansion which made it the second-
strongest naval power in the world by 1914. This Reasons of World War 1
S
was galling for England which felt that Germany The beginning of the century witnessed the
did not really require a navy, especially since it division of the world into major international
already had such a powerful army. A naval forces based on distinct ideologies. Since their
build-up could only mean that it wished to conflicts and rivalries could not be resolved
challenge Britain's naval supremacy sometime in
through any peaceful mechanism, they resulted
the future. The naval rivalry worsened relations
in the outbreak of the two world wars. The two
between Germany and Britain considerably.
wars were caused by a variety of factors. Some
1912, Italy suddenly decided to take the of the most important ones are discussed below.
plunge and annexed Tripoli. It had secured the
consent of all the major powers in this campaign Industrialization & Economic Rivalries
and hence there was no major Moroccan-type The opening years of the nineteenth century
crisis this time. In October 1912 Greece and Serbia saw the industrial manufacturing techniques
invaded the Ottoman Empire and decisively extended beyond England to more and more
defeated it. By the Treaty of London of May 1913, states, such as Belgium (1815-30), Sweden,

France, United States and Prussia (1840-60), In 1894, France and Russia agreed to mobilize
Norway, Russia and Japan (1870-90). Rapid troops if any nation in the Triple Alliance
growth of the American and German economies mobilized forces. They agreed to help each other
began to displace England from this position of if either were attacked by Germany. In 1904,
pre-eminence from the 1880s. The growth of alarmed by German naval buildup, Britain ended
Japan after the Meiji restoration (1868) and their "splendid isolation". It not only settled the
industrialization of Russia further altered the past differences over colonies but also signed the
global economic environment. Entente Cordiale (friendly agreement) with
France. Although the agreement contained no
E
A crisis seemed imminent as the expanding
Y
pledges of military support, the two countries
industrialization tended to globalise the economy. began to discuss joint military plans. In 1907,
In fact, the world system of capitalism was still Russia joined the Entente Cordiale, and it became
AD L
working in the form of competing "national known as the Triple Entente. These alliances left
EM
economies". The closing years of the nineteenth Europe divided into two hostile camps.
century did see the crystallization of this trend.
C
The First and Second Hague Conferences
The latecomers in the field of industrialization (1899 and 1907) failed to achieve anything
(such as Prussia, Russia and Japan) were staking concrete on the issue of armament reduction.
claims beyond the "national territories". The Pan-
AC I The Court of Arbitration set up at Hague to deal
German League, founded in 1893 and with inter-state conflicts also proved futile. The
representing right-wing conservative forces armament race and military build-ups by the
wanted economic and territorial control over European powers, in anticipation of this war,
N
Central Europe. They claimed Belgium, the continued at a frenzied pace.
French iron ore district, the French channel coast
to the Somme and a Mediterranean base at In the end, on one side stood a united
Toulon, along with Poland and the Baltic states. Germany, already the most powerful land power
O
They also envisaged a Central European militarily and economically, allied with the large
federation comprising Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and outwardly confident empire of Austria-
Romania, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Hungary as also with Italy. On the other side
Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland under stood France, bitter in enmity over its defeat and
IA R
the leadership of Germany together with German, loss of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany in 1871,
French and Belgian colonies attached to it. seeking security by allying with Russia in 1892
and forming an entente cordiale with its
Hitler not only wanted a union (Anschluss) traditional rival Great Britain in 1904.
with Austria but also aimed to get sufficient
CH
living-space (Lebensraum) for the German Both sides amassed armaments, which were
'people'. The Italian right-wing similarly used becoming more lethal as advancing technologies
class-concepts of 'proletarian' (have-nots) and of explosives, metal design, petroleum fuel, and
'plutocratic' (have) nations to redefine shipbuilding were applied to them. Military chiefs
international relations and to claim colonies for (notably Alfred Von Schlieffen of Germany)
S
a 'proletarian' Italy. In Japan, similarly, the right- planned strategies that relied on swift
wing militant nationalists (Black Dragon Society mobilization, rapid offensive strike, and inevitable
1901), Empire Foundation Society (1926), and escalation, which compressed the time for
Japan Production Party (1931), demanded an political decision making and diplomatic control
"equitable distribution of world resources". They of crises. Newspapers stimulated feelings of
even favoured military action to establish "A Co- danger, deprivation, and patriotism in public
prosperity Zone" in the East under the Japanese opinion, which came to think of war as possible,
leadership. even desirable.
Camp Formations and Arms Build Up World War 1 Begins

In 1879, Germany and Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on
agreed to go to war if either country was 28th July, 1914. Germany declared a war on
attacked by Russia. Italy joined the agreement in Russian on 1st August and on France on 3rd
1882, and it became known as the Triple Alliance. August. Belgium was invaded by German forces

on the same day and France was invaded on 4th philosopher of war had defined War as "an act
August. German violation of Belgium neutrality of violence pushed to its utmost bounds". The
gave the British a convenient excuse to enter the phrase 'home front' acquired wider usage during
war on the side of France and Russia. British World War I. The supply line of opponent became
world-wide interests made the war a global the first natural target of military strategy. The
conflict, drawing into it the dominions of economic warfare was symbolized by naval
Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa blockade and unrestricted submarine warfare
and the greatest British colonial possession, India, during World War I.
and later the United States, because of close British
E
Naval Blockade
Y
links with it.
The Allies attempted naval blockade on the
Austria-Hungry attacked Russia on 6th
Central Powers (Germany, Austria, Hungry) and
AD L
August and France and Britain declared war on
their co-belligerents Turkey and Bulgaria. The
EM
Austria-Hungary on 12th August. Italy,
blockade proved unsuccessful as the Central
diplomatically aligned with Austria and
Powers continued to get their supplies through
C
Germany since the Triple Alliance of 1882,
neutral countries. Germany launched attacks on
declared its neutrality on 3rd August. In the
following months it was avidly pursued by France Allied commercial shipping in October, 1914
and Britain. On 23rd May 1915, the Italian through its submarines-the-U-boats. Such attacks
AC I
government succumbed to allied temptations and intensified in 1915-1917. By mid-1915, average
declared war on Austria-Hungary in pursuit of monthly sinking of Allied ships was 116,000 gross
territorial expansion. tones and touched 866,000 tonnes by April, 1917.
N
However, the political disadvantages outweighed
Trench Warfare any logistical damage, since there was strong
American reaction to these sinking.
Expectations that war will be swift and short
were belied. Soon, it got deadlocked into Technological Innovations
O
positional trench warfare along the Western

Front; a massive seize of 600 miles from By the end of the nineteenth century, black
Switzerland to the North Sea. This continuous powder was supplanted by nitrocellulose based
front marked the end of local, small, isolated propellants popularly known as 'gun-cotton'.
IA R
and restricted warfare. Now millions of men faced Alfred Krupp (1851) built an all steel gun drilled
each other across the sand-bagged, parapets of out of a single block of cast metal. Breech-loading
trenches, under which they lived like, and with mechanism used in 1860s and 1870s helped in
rats and lice. The opposing systems of zigzag, cutting spiral grooves into the bores of artillery
CH
timber-revitts, sand-bag reinforced trenches were pieces or solved the problem of rifling. Its
fronted by tangles of barbed wire and scattered advantages were immense. By imparting spin to
covered dugouts for providing shelter for troops. the projectiles, rifling produced greater accuracy.
Another technical device solved the recoiling
The heavy artillery and machine gun fire used
problem by absorbing the shock of discharge and
by the opposing armies made it almost impossible
leaving the gun in approximately same position
S
to achieve any breakthrough. In order to break

the stalemate, each side tried to expand its war- after firing as before. The trench warfare of
production. This necessitated total mobilization World War I gave an impetus to the production
of human and industrial resources. e.g. The battle of heavier guns in greater number with longer
of Verdun (February-July, 1916) in which the ranges and better fire-control. Shooting became
Germans attempted a breakthrough was a battle based on map coordinates and carefully
of 2 millions, with one million casualties. The calculated ballistic parameters without a forward
British offensive on the Somme, designed to force observer. Artillery communications also improved
the Germans to break off the Verdun offensive aided by field telephones and radios.
cost Britain 420,000 lives.
The World War I witnessed development of
In this battle, British artillery was provided heavy machine-guns. The first successful
with 23,000 tons of projectiles whereas the French automatic machine-gun was invented by Hiram
Artillery in the celebrated battle of Waterloo had Stevens Maxim. These were first used by the
used only 100 tons. Karl von Clausewitz, the British army in 1895. After 1915, lighter machine-

guns such as British Lewis guns, French new document, a certificate delivered by national
Chauchat and US Browning automatic rifle authorities on the recommendations of League
(BAR) were used for greater mobility and of Nations High Commissioners for Refugees in
portability. In 1918, a German named Louis 1920s, the so-called 'Nansen passport' was
Schmeisser first developed a sub machinegun. accepted as a travel document by over 50
countries.
Some new forces of mechanized warfare such
as tanks, aircrafts (fighter and bombers), Post War Developments
submarines, aircraft carriers were discovered
E
US President Woodrow Wilson was a
during World War I but their destructive potential
Y
dominating figure of the peace conference so that
was realized only in the Second World War. First
his moralistic fourteen points were incorporated
tanks- 'Little Willie' and 'Big Willie' were designed
into the resulting treaties, which transformed the
AD L
in Britain in 1915. French developed the
map of Europe on the principle of self-
EM
Schneider. Submarines became a major factor in
determination of nations, and established a
World War I. Germany employed U-Boats to
League of Nations to uphold the peace on the
C
destroy surface merchant ships by using a self-
principle of collective security.
propelled underwater missile or torpedo. German
Zeppelins were early military aircraft used during Germany was punished territorially and
World War I. Their use did not prove very financially. Alsace-Lorraine was restored to
AC I
effective. France. The port of Danzig was made a free city
and a Polish Corridor ran through the eastern
Germany used chlorine along a six kilometers
provinces of Germany. Rearmament of any kind
N
front at Ypres on 22 April 1915 against French
was forbidden, as was fortification of the
and Algerian Territorial Army. Later phosgene
Rhineland or union with Austria. Colonial
and mustard gas were also used during the
possessions were detached and unspecified
World War I. However, introduction of better
amounts demanded in reparations.
O
gas masks, protective clothing reduced the effects

of chemical warfare. The Habsburg Dynasty was dismissed and
its Austria-Hungary Empire dismantled.
End of War Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland became
IA R
The Great War, as it was known before the independent. Austria ceded South Tyrol, Istria,
Second World War made this the First, carried the Dalmatian, coast and some Adriatic Islands
on for more than four years, with neither side to Italy, and its southern Slav provinces of
on any front willing to accept defeat or negotiate Slovenia, Croatia, Dalmatia, Bosnia and
CH
peace. The Russian Revolution of 1917 brought Herzegovina to Yugoslavia. Other territorial
a cease-fire on the eastern front in December transfers took from Bulgaria and added to
with Russia losing substantial territory and Romania. The Ottoman Empire too was abolished
monies to Germany in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. with the Treaty of Sevres, 1920; Turkey became
The US declared war on Germany only on April a republic, its Arab provinces were placed under
6, 1917 but the entry of American troops, aero British/French mandate.
S
plans and fresh supplies in 1918 nullified German

gains on both fronts. An armistice was declared Outcome of the War
on November 11, 1918 and a peace conference
Territorial changes failed to solve the basic
opened in Paris on 18 January 1919.
problems of insecurity in Europe, dividing the
In the World War I, the total number of continent into satisfied but weakened powers
people killed and dead for other war-related such as Britain, and dissatisfied or revisionist
reasons was well over 8 million. It was also an states, including Germany and Russia. The
age of mass flight. The aftermath of World War economic consequences of the peace compounded
I saw a large number of homeless and stateless the high cost of the war to cause inflation and
people, including the two millions who fled from unemployment, undermine currencies, and
the Russian Revolution and accompanying civil disrupt trading patterns, leading to the Great
strife. 13 million Greeks were repatriated to Depression of the 1930s. At the core of a complex
Greece mainly from Turkey. In all, the period process lay the problem of allied war debts to
1914-22 created roughly 4-5 million refugees. A the US. A weak League of Nations could take no

effective action against Japan in 1931, Italy in determination, sovereignty and justice. Wilson's
1935, or Nazi Germany in successive violations idea was to provide for a new programme stability
of the Treaty. All this ultimately led to World for the modern state system. While Wilson's was
War 2. a liberal programme speaking of a new world
Versailles conference was dominated by three order, world government (the League of Nations),
major actors: President Woodrow Wilson of the Lenin's was a radical cry to overturn the old
United States, Georges Clemenceau of France and state system through a world revolution.
Lloyd George of Britain. The real debate was
E
between Wilson's liberal vision over the post-war The harshness with which the victors treated
Y
settlement and Clemenceau's nationalist Germany, and the unwillingness to give freedom
insistence on extracting harsh terms from to the colonies gave considerable weight to Lenin
Germany.
AD L
and the Bolshevik's assertion that World War I
EM
Wilson's vision was a broader one. His was essentially a war among imperial powers to
Fourteen Points stressed the ideals of self- re-divide the world among themselves.
C
AC I
N
O
IA R
CH
S

RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
CHRONICLE
IAS ACADEMY
E
The Russian Revolution took place in 1917, urgent questions of land, rents, wages and rights
Y
during the final phase of World War I. It removed over commons remained that between the landed
Russia from the war and brought about the aristocracy, which still held the major portion of
AD L
transformation of the Russian Empire into the the land, and the peasantry as a whole.
EM
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Expropriation of landed estates and land for the
replacing Russias traditional monarchy with the peasants was a demand that neither the Tsarist
C
worlds first Communist state. The revolution autocracy nor any other political group, except
happened in stages through two separate coups, the Bolshevik, was prepared to endorse. At the
one in February and one in October. The new same time, timing and nature of Russian
government, led by Vladimir Lenin, could solidify industrialization also created scope for a workers
AC I
its power only after three years of civil war,
which ended in 1920.
N
movement that was both very militant and
political.
Although the events of the Russian Revolution Freedom from national oppression in the
happened abruptly, the causes may be traced Tsarist Empire coincided with the victory of the
back nearly a century. The Russian Revolution socialist revolution. Apart from the alienation felt
of 1917 centers around two primary events: the by the peoples of the Baltic region, Central Asia,
O
February Revolution and the October Revolution. Transcaucasia and other areas as a result of
political and cultural discrimination, the
Conditions for Revolution economic backwardness that Tsarist economic
First socialist revolution was made in policies entailed for these regions ensured that
IA R
'backward' Russia, a society that was capitalist they remain predominantly agricultural with a
with strong remnants of feudal social and strong stake in the land question.
economic power intact, a working class still linked
with land, and a peasantry that primarily aspired The Bolsheviks supported land for the peasant
CH
to individual land ownership. Essentially, it was as well as the right to secession and a voluntary
the increasing contradictions of late and growing union. The peasantry in these areas, therefore,
capitalism that created the social premises for played a crucial role in the victory of the socialist
the revolutionary outbreaks in Russia. alternative to the tsarist autocracy, completely
bypassing all liberal solutions to nationalist
In Western Europe the growth of capitalism aspirations.
S
had led to the evolution of liberal-

constitutionalism and parliamentary democracies. The Russian Revolution: In Stages
The Russian autocracy oppressed all the other Lenin was the most important leader of the
nationalities of the Empire, and stood firmly Bolshevik party. The Bolsheviks did not simply
against all democratic movements in Europe,
transfer Marxism to Russia. They found viable
earning for itself the label 'Policeman of Europe'.
answers to their specific revolutionary
The nature of the Russia state, therefore, became
problematic in Russia within the framework of
increasingly incompatible with the new demands
Marxism. The 'hegemony of the working class'
that the new and changing social and economic
forces engendered. was necessary in the first bourgeois-democratic
stage of the revolutionary, strategy was the
Serfdom was abolished in 1861. Even as 'alliance of the working class and the peasantry'
peasant agriculture became commercialized and in the context of a two stage revolution and the
there emerged a 'kulak' rich peasant strata, the leading role of the working class, while
fundamental conflict in the countryside on the transforming their strategy to bring them about.

The Russian Revolution may be said to have measures was the abolition of private resources
gone through three distinct stage and took almost in industry, and the establishment of workers'
twelve years to complete. The first stage led to control. A second major intervention was in
the creation of a parliament, called the Duma. agriculture. By the Land Decree of November
The second stage, known as the February 1917 landlordism was abolished, and the entire
revolution in 1917, led to the establishment of a land nationalized and given over to peasants for
Provisional Government at the centre though the hereditary use under individual production. The
rule of the tsar still prevailed. Finally, the land communities, the village gatherings and
Revolution completed its third and final stage in peasant soviets acted as autonomous organs of
E
Y
October 1917 when the rule of the tsar was social and political transformation in the
overthrown and a peoples' republic was countryside. Within the space of a few years
established. millions of acres of land changed hands and was
AD L
divided among the peasants.
EM
The first major assault on the autocracy
occurred in 1905, sparked off by firing on a On 28 December 1917 all private banks were
C
peaceful demonstration of workers on 9 January nationalized, and in February 1918 all
1905. This day came to be known as Bloody shareholders in banks expropriated and all
Sunday. The workers and peasants began to foreign debts repudiated. Within a few months
demand a 'democratic republic'. They also created of the revolution the government published all
AC I
the first soviets, grass-root, elected political the secret treaties of the old government, and
organizations of workers, peasants and soldiers, proclaimed that all treaties and agreements
which Lenin later called the 'embryos of between Soviet Russia and other countries will
N
revolutionary power' and which eventually be open and public.
formed the basis of the post revolutionary state,
and from which the socialist state derived its By Decree on Peace, peace was offered
name USSR. without any annexations, conquests or
O
indemnities. Govt. withdrew claims over areas;

The February Revolution of 1917 began with took a public stand against colonialism, and in
a demonstration of women workers over shortage support of all national liberation struggles.
of bread in Petrograd. Later, it spread to other
IA R
cities and to the countryside. Strikes by all sections War Communism

of society, peasant uprisings, and revolutionary Then, this entire process of revolutionary
action by the soldiers sealed the fate of the
change was brought to a crisis by mid-1918. The
autocracy. The Russian autocracy was
revolutionary forces were confronted by Civil war
CH
overthrown and replaced by a provisional

in the form of armed hostility of the forces of the
Government dominated by the liberal bourgeoisie.
former landed aristocracy and the bourgeoisie,
The Revolution achieved political freedom for which merged with an equally determined armed
the first time. Fundamental and civil rights were intervention by the capitalist countries to dislodge
created. New post-February revolution regime the new socialist regime. The Bolsheviks
S
could not continue for long. The peasants were responded in Jun 1918 with a series of economic
disappointed that they did not get any land, and and political measures that have subsequently
the entire working people and soldiers were been designated as War Communism. Loss of
disappointed that the war still continued. The economically rich resource areas during war, and
Bolsheviks easily emerged as closest to the popular the emphasis on production for war effort and
mood with their slogans of: Land for the peasant, machinery to broaden the production base, led
immediate end to war, Workers' control over to decline in production of consumer goods.
industries, Right of nationa-lities to self- The Soviet Government responded with
determination, and above all Bread. forced requisition of grain surplus from the
peasants in order to feed the urban poor and
Early Changes soldiers, and state control of all enterprises in
The early legislation aimed at destroying the order to revive industry. Nationalization of
legal and economic bases of capitalism and in industrial enterprises was accelerated for
laying the foundation for socialism. One of earliest maximum mobilization of resources. By a March

1918 decision the railways were taken away from Internationalism
'workers' control and place under semi-military
For the Bolsheviks the Russian revolution was
command. While the failure on the economic front
always inseparable from the world socialist
led to peasant wars and urban disaffection, the revolution. This, together with the cardinal
growth of black market encouraged an ethos Marxist principle of the unity of the interests of
inimical to socialist ideals. working classes all over the world, and their
The spirit of voluntarism came under severe socialist vision of an oppression-free world, was
strain even as the 'world socialist revolution' in the basis of their internationalism. This
E
Europe failed to materialize. Recruitment for the internationalism was given shape in the form of
Y
Red Army became a problem. Workers opposition the Socialist international.
to the principle of sate control and the uprising When the social-democratic parties of
AD L
of kronstadt sailors in February 1921 was the Western Europe refused to oppose their own
EM
final straw after the wide spread peasant ruling classes in the interest of the working classes
rebellions. Lenin was forced to announce that in Europe, as the Bolsheviks saw it, the Bolsheviks
C
change of policy had become necessary. broke away from them, changed their name to
communist party, and accordingly formed a new
NEP Communist International. Initially, for the
The New Economic Policy (NEP) was a Bolshevik their revolution had to spread
AC I
response to a political and economic crisis, though
at its core were economic changes that marked
elsewhere, as, backward Russia did not have the
productive capacity to sustain advanced
a change in the strategy of transition to socialism. socialism. However, it was Russia that gave the
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Grain requisition was replaced by a fixed tax. In first Socialist State.
1924 the tax in kind was replaced by a money
The Communist International was envisaged
tax, followed by legalization of private trade. On
as the vanguard of internationalism of revolution.
17 May 1921 the decree nationalizing small scale
O
As soon as the Bolsheviks proclaimed in

industry was revoked and smaller units were
November 1917 the right to secession as part of
actually de-nationalized, some of them being
self determination, the Allied powers made this
restored to their former owners.
issue a part of their armed intervention. The
IA R
Just as War Communism had enabled the Comintern, at this stage modified their right to
Bolsheviks to tide over the immediate difficulties be that of the workers and peasants in the
and to consolidate the Revolution, the NEP (New different areas. It developed the idea of a United
Economic Policy) changes made possible Front between national liberation movements and
CH
economic recovery in the ensuing years and also the Communist Parties in Europe and Soviet Russia.
won the confidence of the majority of peasants.
The strategy of the communists in these areas
However, potential for conflict again between was strongly influenced by the Comintern, where
town and country, the peasant and working class the national-liberation struggles were seen as not
remained in a long term sense. Reason was that only against the imperialist powers and the feudal
S
private sector was predominant in agriculture landlords in their own country, but also against
throughout NEP, and a lot of industry was still the bourgeoisie in their own country. The agrarian
a state monopoly. NEP changes could not resolve revolution was seen as the basis of the national
the problems and social contradictions that liberation struggles with the workers playing the
derived not merely from the war situation or leading role.
specific polices but from the larger social
In the 1920s as the Bolshevik's struggle with
contradictions that arise when the revolutionary
their peasantry seemed muted with the NEP
working class is called upon to build socialism in
changes, a similar accommodation occurred in
the midst of a vast peasant majority.
the Comintern policy towards the co-relation of
The early socialist state heroically social forces in the national liberation struggles.
experimented with guaranteeing full employ- The Comintern recognized and supported the
ment, free and equal education for all, free 'positive' role of the bourgeoisie in these countries
healthcare, equal access to culture and cultural against Imperialism. This policy continued well
advance, and equality for women. into the 1920s and Communist Parties were

formed in many Asian countries. The links with While the state had succeeded in extending
China were particularly strong, and early and consolidating control over the greater part
strategies of the communist groups in China, of industry by nationalization, the predominance
India, Turkey and Afghanistan were strongly of private peasant farms meant that production
influenced by Comintern polices. Communist and marketing decisions in agriculture remained
members of these countries were also represented beyond central planning and therefore state
in Comintern. control. Lenin had argued that the government
would have to gradually persuade peasants to
Planning for Industrialization give up their private farms and join together in
E
collective farms. This would have to be done by
Y
Soviet economic development from 1926 to
1941 constitutes the first global attempt at providing peasants with modern equipment,
comprehensive state planning and is therefore credit and agronomic support. During the 1920s
AD L
important in the history of world agronomists and land-consolidation experts
EM
industrialization. Marxists like the Soviet occasionally succeeded in persuading the
households involved in the consolidation of
Bolsheviks had always believed in 'planning' of
C
landholdings divided into strips to set themselves
the economy. Marx had argued that a socialist
up as collective farms. But such collective farms
society would be free of the arbitrary control of
tended to be small and few. Peasant farming
market forces, or the self-interested control of
methods and technology under NEP had
AC I
the capitalist class to maximize profit. Instead
remained extremely backward. The small size
socialist society would control resources directly
and fragmentation of farms prevented modern
and plan production to meet the real needs of
farming methods and the use of better
N
the people. implements. One third of land was not sown at
As the dominant Soviet leader Stalin became any given time. Although grain production had
more and more impatient with the rates of growth recovered to pre-war levels by the mid-1920s,
within the market economy of the NEP, careful much less grain was marketed in the 1920s than
O
planning gave way to the demands of polities. before the First World War. This was partly a
consequence of the increase in rural population.
Instead of a planned economy running according
The problem for the state was to attract a greater
to carefully formulated estimates of economically
share of the marketed harvest to its own
practicable targets, there appeared a 'command'
IA R
collection agencies rather than to private traders.

economy, running according to the political orders
and priorities of the government. Despite a good harvest in the autumn of
1927, peasant marketing and state procurement
Stalin nursed certain obsessions that were
CH
of grain fell far below expectation to a level that

detrimental to planning as a process of balanced
was insufficient to feed the towns and the army,
and realistic economic growth. Demand to build
and export grain in order to pay for the import
gigantic industrial complexes on a scale beyond
of machinery. If the state had chosen to raise its
the available resources to construct or operate.
procurement prices for grain, to match private
This obsession was accompanied by an
market prices, funds available for industrial
S
unrelenting insistence on haste, captured in the

expansion would have suffered.
slogan, "tempos decide the whole thing." The
First Plan had mixed results. Consumer goods, The rapid rise in industrial investment during
agriculture and, temporarily, military strength 1927-28 was a major factor leading to the grain
were sacrificed to a rapid growth in heavy crisis from October 1927. Consumer goods
industry. became even more scarce(the "goods famine") as
investment shifted to heavy industry; and, they
In the decade after 1928, Soviet industry cost more to buy as state procurement prices for
developed at a rate and on a scale entirely grain remained low.
without precedent in world economic history.
Industrial production in 1937 reached 446 per In answer to this goods famine, the peasant
cent of the 1928 level according to official Soviet went on what the regime called a "production
figures, and 249 per cent according to the most strike" by refusing to market at state-determined
conservative Western estimate; the corresponding prices the quotas of grain set by the state. Instead,
annual per cent rates of growth were 18 and 10.5. the peasants chose either to sell to private traders

at higher prices or to meet their tax obligations no control over the grain and cash crops that
by selling higher priced industrial crops or were produced on the collectivized land. His
livestock products. second need was not only to defeat the opposition
but to attack and root out the source of all
Soviet leaders faced two alternatives. They potential opposition and criticism in the
could continue with the New Economic Policy democratic traditions of party leadership. Third
balanced industrialization, gradual collectivi- need, was to move from a single-party to a
zation, and adjust agricultural delivery prices to single-ruler state. "Trial of the Sixteen" (August
induce the peasants to market more grain; this 1936), "Trial of the Seventeen" (January 1937),
E
was the policy advocated by leaders like the military chiefs, were arrested, accused of
Y
Bukharin. Or they could institute a radical new treasonable collaboration with Germany and
policy of accelerated collectivization and forced Japan, and shot. It was known as "The Trial of
AD L
industrialization. Stalin opted for the second the Twenty-one" (March 1938). This was only
EM
alternative. the tip of the iceberg. The Great Purge decimated
between 35 and 50 per cent of the entire officer
C
The peasants met forced collectivization with corps of the Soviet armed forces. Most estimates
large-scale passive resistance and sporadic armed agree that about five per cent of the population
resistance. Rather than hand over their animals, was imprisoned during the period, making a total
to the Kolkhoz, many peasants slaughtered them, of some eight million persons, of whom perhaps
AC I
the attack on the peasant economy was
accompanied by a fierce campaign against the
ten per cent were killed. Three crucial aspects of
the Russian economy and polity between the
Orthodox Church, the centre of traditional period 1928 and 1941: indus-trialization through
N
peasant culture. In March 1930, in an article planning, collectivization of agriculture and the
called "Dizzy with Success", Stalin blamed local purges of the 1930s. Planned industrialization
officials for excesses he had authorized. He called meant setting targets for industrial production
for a temporary halt the collectivization drive for a period of five years and systematically going
O
resumed but with clearer guidelines this time. about achieving the targets. Collectivization of
Tens of thousands of communists and urban agriculture stood for a transformation of plots of
workers were urgently mobilized to work in the agricultural land under individual possession into
countryside as Kolkhoz organizers and large collectives which could be exposed to
IA R
Chairmen. Villagers were steadily persuaded or modernized farming though state initiative. Large
coerced by discriminatory taxation to return to scale opposition to Stalin's policies both within
the collectives. By 1937, 86 per cent of sown and outside the party coupled with a desire to
area had been brought within the Kolkhozes and convert Russia from a single party rule to single
CH
collective farms accounted for 89 per cent of the ruler state led to the purges of the 1930s. In
grain harvest and 87 per cent of grain these purges a number of trials took place in
procurements by the state. Collectivization, which old Bolsheviks, members of Lenin's
sometimes called the "Second Revolution", politbureau, a number of army officers and many
changed the peasant way of life more radically state officials were executed. Virtually anyone
than did the Bolshevik Revolution. The fact that who did not agree with Stalin's policies was put
S
it was not carried out by peasants voluntarily, to death. All dissent was suppressed. Whereas
but by a largely urban and proletarian Party, the victims of collectivization were invariably
and by force, meant that it was authentically a members of the rural population, the purges of
'revolution from above'. The lynchpin of the the 1930s targeted mainly the urban population,
difference between peasant life before and after the military and the political elites and the
collectivization was that the collective farmer had educated sections of the population.


WORLD BETWEEN CHRONICLE
TWO WORLD WARS IAS ACADEMY
E
Germany passed on money to the French and
Y
Security Threats
the British as part of reparation payments. The
The League of Nations was Wilson's great
French and the British for their part re-routed
internationalist project for the new era. The
AD L
money back to the US as part of repayment for
League was to provide the foundations for order
EM
war loans. The world economy was flush with
in the post-war scenario, to remake the
money supply, most of it US-dominated. The
international state system which had been
C
atmosphere was ripe for speculation.
successively undermined by conflicts among
European powers. The league's main project was The crisis actually began over the rapid drop
'collective security'. But in reality, different in agricultural prices in North America. With
AC I
countries in Europe perceived their security needs European recovery the world agricultural surplus
differently. For instance, Britain perceived Soviet began to rise, and the North American producers
Russia to be the main enemy, France saw the (who had vastly increased production during the
N
main threat from the neighbouring Germany. war period) were convulsed by rapid drop in
prices. Bankruptcies began in US agriculture and
French moved towards a policy of
saw a rapid drop in expenditure. It was only a matter
bilateralism and concluded a series of
of time before the stock market would be affected.
independent pacts with states surrounding
O
Germany. Locarno treaties of 1925 were born The actual events began to unfold in October
out of a previous German request that France 1929. On 24th and 29th of October 1929, thirteen
and Germany conclude a pledge of not resorting and sixteen and a half million shares were sold.
to war between each other, something which In that month US investors lost 40 billion dollars,
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would also involve Britain and Belgium. By 1925 a huge sum at that time. The meltdown had
the British agreed to guarantee such a treaty, begun. The crash was followed by the world-
which would also include the Belgium-German wide fall in agricultural prices. Given the fairly
frontier. The sum total of the Locarno treaties
CH
advanced integration of the world economy for

was as follows: Britain would guarantee the agricultural products, millions of primary
frontier of Belgium against future (German) producers were affected.
aggression while France would do the same in
the east-protecting Poland and Czechoslovakia. This crisis had earlier been predicted by
Germany would join the League of Nations. writers like Karl Marx who had spoken about
S
the cyclical nature of capitalism: how its chaotic

The Locarno treaties were followed up by and unplanned character would lead to periodic
the Kellog-Briand pact of 1928 also known as crises of over-productions. In fact, the tendency
the Pact of Paris. The pact was universal in scope towards over-production in capitalism is blamed
and the signatories renounced the use was as an by many writers for its cyclic nature.
instrument of international relations. Ultimately
Sixty Five States signed the treaty. However none of the previous downturns
of the world economy had such serious
Economic Crisis consequences as that beginning in 1929. The
To a great degree, the 'recovery' in Europe in downturn of 1871 was significant in that it
the years after World War I was built almost undermined British hegemony in the world-
entirely on US loans. The process also ensured a economy, but in no way did world-wide
constant supply of liquidity back to US lenders. depression occur. The only country that was
To take an example, the US lent money to relatively unaffected by the crisis was the Soviet
Germany in the 1920s for her recovery. In turn Union.

Fascism corporatism. At the same time it also made use
of anti-semitism and an embryonic militant group
Fascism emerged in Europe as a synthesis of
of young activists.
organic nationalism and anti-Marxist socialism.
Organic nationalism means a belief in the Another trend toward the crystallization of
harmonious collectivity of Nations superseding the fascist right was symbolized by an
all other forms of human identification. Its organic instrumental, modernizing radical right which
nationalism accounts for its deep-rooted hostility combined domestic modernization with militant
to internationalism and organizations and nationalism. It is important to understand the
E
movements based on internationalism such as ideological range that is covered by the right-
Y
communism, freemasonry, the League of Nations, wing regimes. All of them are not similar, and
finance capital and the multi-national Jewish can cover a broad spectrum starting from
AD L
community. conservative regimes to extreme fascist ones.
EM
Fascism emerged as a radical movement based Fascism in Italy
on the rejection of nations of liberalism,
C
democracy and Marxism. The Fascist synthesis Fascism in Italy was created by the
symbolized the rejection of a political culture convergence of certain existing trends. The split
inherited from the Enlightenment and its ideas in the radical syndicates Confederation of Trade
such as rationalist materialism, individualism and Unions took place in 1914 over the issue of Italian
AC I
pluralist autonomy. participation in the war. The syndicates believed
in the 'self-emancipation' of the 'producers',
The other major cultural variables of fascism which could be achieved through 'regulation at
N
were: activism, vitality and social-darwinism. factory level', and not through 'seizure of state
Sorel's philosophy of action was based on power'. The state would be replaced at an
intuition, energy and elan. Its activism was used appropriate time by worker's syndicates or
to mobilize the masses. Social Darwinism believed associations, which would act as the instruments
O
that people in society compete for survival and of self-government of the producers.
only superior groups and races succeed.
The Syndicate wing which moved towards
The war did provide sociological and fascism embraced extreme nationalism, and
IA R
psychological conditions for the crystallization nations were described by it in class terms as
of Fascism. It revealed the capacity of nationalism proletarian or plutocratic. The futurists who
in the mobilization of masses and economic rejected traditional norms and existing institutions
resources. It further demonstrated the importance and exalted violence, and were fascinated
CH
of unity of command, of authority, of moral by speed, power, motors and machines, or all
mobilization and of propaganda in the service of the modern technological possibilities, were
the modern state. Its perfect expression being another major ideological factor. Mussolini's
the quasi-sacred figure of the leaders like the socialistic views, and ideas on leadership, mass-
Duce (as in Italy) or the Fuehrer (as in Germany). mobilization and national revolution contributed
yet another strand.
S
A party militia was often used to reinforce

the sense of nationalism and constant struggle The growth of fascist squads led by ex-military
as well as to wipe out opposition. The exaltation personnel and supported by the local police and
of youth and the specific tendency towards an army especially in northern and central Italy-
authoritarian, charismatic, personal style of the Po Valley and Tuscany was directly linked
command (whether elective or non-elective) were to the actual or perceived threat of the left. The
other features related to this militarization of King appointed Mussolini as the Prime Minister
politics. on 29th October 1922, who temporarily observed
all the constitutional norms after the assumption
The ideas of corporatism (as a community of of power.
people, of producers free from class strife)
emerged in reaction to individualism, social In February 1923, a fusion of Fascist Party
atomization and new centralizing states. Its two and Nationalist Association of Italy (ANI) took
distinct forms were societal corporatism (based place. This fusion with a conservative, elitist,
on autonomy to corporations) and state monarchist right-wing was essential to gain

broader support among army officers, academics, Dictatorship in Spain
civil servants and businessmen. The traditional
The first phase of authoritarian government
right groups co-operated with fascists in passing
in Spain was established during 1923-30 by
the Acerbo Bill in 1923 which proposed that the
General Miguel Primo de Rivera. It emerged as a
party receiving a quarter of votes in an election,
kind of military reaction to the socialist pressure
should be automatically given two-thirds of seats
for democratic reforms and above all the attempt
in the parliament.
of Spanish Parliament to fix 'responsibilities' for
Using force and fraud, Fascists swept the disastrous military campaign in Morocco. Initially
E
1924 election. Mussolini went ahead with his the overthrow of the Spanish Cortes or parliament
Y
institutionalization of dictatorship. In October was intended to be a temporary step. But a
1926, all opposition parties were banned. The dictatorship was institutionalized gradually.
AD L
press was shackled, and the Public Safety Law
The demise of Rivera's dictatorship
EM
(1926) made the security of state take precedence
inaugurated a new phase of mass democracy
over personal liberty. The Syndical Laws (1926)
and led to the radicalization of Spanish politics-
C
brought labour under the control of state, in the
along both left and right lines. CEDA or the
interest of production. The law confirmed the
Confederation of Spanish Right groups was the
fascist unions in their monopoly of negotiations,
main conservative authoritarian party during
set up tribunals for compulsory arbitration and
1933-36. Its youth movement (JAP) underwent a
AC I
banned strikes and go-slows.
certain vertigo of fascistization but remained
The 'Corporate State' was formally created ambivalent.
N
in 1934 with 22 new combined corporations of
The failure of militant nationalistic ideology
employers and employees, Mussolini also tried
in Spain stemmed partially from the influence of
to appease the church. Large grants were made
intense regional nationalism (or sub-nationalism)
for the repair of war damaged churches. In 1923,
of Catalans and Basques, directed against the
O
religious education was made compulsory in

unified Spanish nation-state. Moreover, Spanish
secondary schools.
Civil war (1936-39) produced a polarized
A military type Militia developed out of the revolutionary-counter revolutionary conflict in
fascist squads. It was trained to use all kinds of which leadership passed completely in the hands
IA R
weapons and centered around a core of profe- of the insurgent Nationalist Army which created
ssional soldiers. Its cadres were indoctrinated and the Franco regime.
used against opponents. The semi-military
Fascism in Germany
propaganda-type organization included Balilla,
CH
young vanguards and the young fascists. The regime that took over in Germany in 1933
represented the most extreme form of fascism.
However, unlike the Nazi German state, Crisis of parliamentary democracy in Germany
Fascism in Italy never achieved a day-to-day in the 1920s created conditions for the rise of fascism.
institutional control. The state intervention in the
In the realm of ideology, there were strong
S
economic life of the nation was marginal in the

early part or regime. The Direct state investment precursors to the doctrines of the Nazi era.
during the Depression was only an emergency Racialism and imperialism were powerful themes
measure. The Fascist State also introduced certain in the aspirations of the Wilhelmine German elite,
welfare schemes for workers in 1930s. e.g. family for whom the phrase Weltpolitik signified their
allowances were given in 1934. search for great-power status and a world
mission. In Vienna, the Christian Socialist mayor
The Italian state also lacked any policy of combined social and administrative reform with
racial anti-Semitism, at least, up to 1937. In virulent scapegoating of the Jews for all social
November 1938, however, under the influence ills. The repeated attempts by the communist to
of Nazis, racial laws were passed which banned bring about a soviet-like seizure of power
marriage with Jews, denied jobs to them in public sharpened tensions, spread fear among the
services, debarred them from joining the Fascist middle classes and conservative elements, and
Party and from owning more than 50 hectares contributed to an atmosphere of extreme
of land. polarization.

German Politics & Failure of Weimar The Enabling Act (Law for Removing the
Republic Distress of People and Reich) was passed on 23
March 1933. This became the legal basis for
The Weimar Republic underwent a crisis in
Hitler's dictatorship. Legislative power was
1922-23. The collapse of the monetary system
resulted in hyperinflation, with one pound transferred to the executive, politically undesirable
exchanging for 15 million marks in September and 'non-Aryan' civil servants dismissed. After
1923. In January 1923 the French army occupied the Reichstag fire of 27 February 1933 a state of
the Ruhr in response of Germany's defaulting on emergency was proclaimed the following day.
E
reparations payments. There was high On 2 August 1934 Hindenburg died and Hitler
Y
unemployment, far too great a dependence on assumed the office of President. Henceforth all
foreign investment and stagnation in German armed forces personnel were required to swear
agriculture. Political instability was endemic, and oath to the Fuehrer and the Chancellor.
AD L
with no single party majorities, as many as 15
EM
Anton Drexler in Munich founded the
ministries between 1919 and 1928.
German Workers Party in 1919) In 1920-21 Hitler
C
The Weimar Republic refers to the political has emerged as the leader of the party, which
system that came into place in Germany after soon after became the German National Socialist
World War I and continued till the Nazi take- Worker's Party (NSDAP). On 14 July 1934 the
over in 1933. The name comes from the town of NSDAP was declared the only political party in
AC I
Weimar in Germany were the Republic's
constitution was promulgated. The threat from
Germany, with attempts at forming other parties
punishable under criminal law. After the
revolutionary socialism, which became the
N
Enabling Act was passed, major changes were
Communist Party, was to be a constant feature introduced which rapidly altered the juridical
in the Weimar period till the rise of the Nazis. basis of the state.
Stresemann was the most important political
leader in the country. He vigorously opposed the Thus, the legal lights of the Third Reich
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French occupation of Germany's Ruhr valley. He proudly proclaimed that "Hitler is the Law", and
got the Dawes plan of 1924 for the economic produced theories transforming the principle of
reconstruction of Germany ratified in the the legal state into that of the leader state, or
Reichstag of Parliament. He gained German Fuhrerstaat. The extra-legal notion of the Leader,
IA R
admission to the League of Nations in 1926, and to whom the civil service and the Army swore
also encouraged and helped stimulate German "unconditional obedience" by "sacred oath",
economic recovery by rationalizing German assumed crucial importance in administrative
industry through a series of cartels, and an functioning and signified a decisive break with
CH
aggressive export drive. constitutionalism.

Despite all efforts, Weimar experiment The fascist bureaucracy in Germany formally
collapsed under the weight of the economic crisis submitted to the "leader-principle", that is, a
after 1929. The Wall Street Crash of October 1929 single charismatic leader controlled the entire
had a terrible impact on Germany, with the movement, the party, and the state.
S
withdrawal of American loans, loss of export

markets, and collapse of industrial production. Ascendency of Nazism
Unemployment rose to 5.6 million in 1932. A
The new regime's attitude to women and the
series of political intrigues in January 1933 led to
family was an admixture of ultra-conservative
an agreement to a conservative coalition to be
patriarchal sentiment and the racialist biological
led by Hitler as Chancellor.
characteristic of Nazi ideology. The slogan
There were to be only three Nazis in a twelve- "Kinder, Kirche, Kuche" (kids, church, kitchen),
member government, and the conservatives became the favourite mode of referring to the
believed that they could use Hitler to suppress social role of women. The production of "racially
the left. In a series of ruthless political move Hitler pure" babies became the Nazi's obsession, and
proved them disastrously wrong, as he various financial and ideological incentives were
consolidated his hold on power, crushed all real offered to females to give birth to more children.
and potential opposition, and created a highly These incentives ranged from marriage loans and
centralized state. child subsidies to parents with large families,

towards such as the Honour Cross of the German Nuremburg Laws of 15 September 1935 deprived
Mother in bronze, silver and gold, for mothers of Jew of German citizenship, confining them to
four, six, and eight children. "subject" status. Marital or extra-marital relations
between Jews and 'Aryans' were forbidden.
The Nazis were highly antipathetic to liberal Three more laws over the next few years outcast
and cosmopolitan culture. Chambers whose them completely.
decisions had the validity of law were set up for
every sphere of cultural life, including the fine The first concentration camps came up in
arts, music, theatre, literature, press, radio and 1933 under the SA. After the Roehm purge of
E
films. The Press was completely controlled by June 1934, the camps were turned over to the
Y
standing directives and oral instructions issued. SS, with guard duty being assigned to the
All education from primary school curricula to Death's Head units. Thus did the names such
AD L
university instruction was Nazified, Textbooks as Dachau, Auschwitz, and Buchenwald
EM
were re-written and Mein Kamf was elevated to acquire notority. The actual process of
the status of unfailing pedagogical guiding star. extermination was begun with the so called
C
euthanasia practiced on 70,000 mentally infirm
Teachers were required to join the Nazi
Germans between 1938 and 1941. In late 1941
Teachers League and swear allegiance to Hitler.
this method was applied to concentration camp
Jews were forbidden to teach. "Racial Science"
victims unfit to work- camouflaged gas vans were
AC I
was introduced in curricula, which required
teaching the racial theories of the Aryan-German employed to gas Jews.
master race and the Jews as the breeders of all Mass extermination in gas chambers began
N
evil. Hitler was nominally a Catholic. However, in Belzec, in Lublin district of Poland in March
his stance toward the churches of various 1942. Jewish slave labours were also
denominations was hostile, and at best utilitarian. systematically machine-gunned. The largest camp
Nazi party program spoke of the need for a was Auschwitz-Birkenau, where between 2 to 3
O
"positive Christianity", Within the Protestant million Jews, along with gypsies, Poles, and Soviet
tradition too, there was conflict, but Nazism fed prisoner of war were murdered.
upon the anti-semitic prejudices of the Lutherans.
(Martin Luther was ferociously anti-Jewish and Conclusion
IA R
a staunch believer in absolute obedience to Fascism has been interpreted in multiple

authority.) On the whole however, the churches ways. According to the Marxist position, Fascism
remained loyal to the regime and fulfilled its is a violent, dictatorial agent of finance capital.
needs by ordering all pastors to swear allegiance It has been billed as a unique expression of Middle
CH
to the Fuehrer. During the war the 30 point Class Radicalism or product of a cultural and
program for the national Reich Church of moral breakdown. It was the result of Extreme
Germany outlined Nazi church policy, which Neurotic or pathological impulses.
included the elimination of Christian teaching,
the cessation of the publication of the Bible and Some theorists have tried to understand
S
the placement on altars of nothing except a copy Fascism as product of the rise of amorphous
of Mein Kampf and a sword. masses with the breakdown of traditional
identities based on kinship, church, guild and
Genocide residence, etc. and a form of Bonapartism or an
The most oppressive aspect of Hitler's regime autonomous authoritarian government indepen-
was a systematic persecution of the Jews. The dent of specific class-domination.


WORLD WAR - II
CHRONICLE
IAS ACADEMY
E
The Second World War was a total war, or living space for them, and cancellation of
Y
unprecedented in its destruction of military and the 1919 peace treaties.
non-military assets and people, and truly world-
The US was at fault for not participating in
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wide in its scope. Its outbreak in Europe in
the League, for being isolationist and ambivalent
EM
September 1939 was preceded in August 1937
about Germany in the 1920s and 1930s, and then
by the Sino-Japanese War and succeeded in
for encouraging Britain, France and Poland to
C
December 1941 by the entry of the US against resist without clearly warning Hitler. Poland was
both Japan and Germany. at fault for not forming a common front with
The peace treaties of 1919, coupled with the the Soviet Union and then for not submitting
peacefully to German demands. Mussolini was
AC I
Russian Revolution of 1917 and a fundamentally
weak League of Nations, did not resolve the basic
blamed for support and encouragement of Hitler,
before joining the Western allies in 1943.
problems of security of Europe. Deep seated
N
ambitions, fears, insecurities, and mistrust there The Soviet Union was responsible for
were bound to clash politically and militarily in propagating the idea of an inevitable conflict
the absence of habits, institutions, and between communism and capitalism/fascism,
mechanisms to facilitate the peaceful resolution but most of all for entering into a non-aggression
O
of conflict. pact with Nazi Germany in August 1939 and so

giving it a green light for attack on Poland while
Nazi Germany in general and Adolf Hitler simultaneously annexing several territories itself.
in particular was primarily responsible for the This temporary alliance was reversed when Hitler
war and deliberately prepared for it, whether or ordered an invasion of the Soviet Union on 22
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not he intended the exact timing of its outbreak June 1941 and his armies advanced towards
or expected its ultimate scope. Britain and France Moscow and other cities before being halted at
were equally responsible for the war because Stalingrad in the winter of 1942-43.
their leaders had appeased Hitlers ambitious
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demands instead of checking them, had neglected In East Asia and the Pacific militarist Japan
took on an aggressive role with all its neighbors
to build an anti-fascist alliance, and had
to build on Economic Co-Prosperity Zone,
encouraged an eastward expansion of Germany
antagonizing the US, another Pacific Ocean
so as to draw the Soviet Union into war.
power that tried to deny Japan access to oil and
other raw materials. When Japan destroyed part
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Germany was penalized by the 1919 peace

treaties but not destroyed; it remained potentially of the US fleet anchored at Pearl Harbour in
the strongest power in Europe. Germany Hawaii on 6 December 1941, and Hitler declared
harboured many grievances that some people in war on the US on 11 December 1941, the US
Britain and the US considered legitimate and entered a new global war against both Japan
was the leading proponent of revisionism even and Germany, which ended only with their
while it strove in the 1920s toward acceptability unconditional surrender in 1945.
in world councils and democracy at home under
the Weimar Constitution. That constitution could
Reasons of World War 2
not withstand the strain of coping with economic The treaties (of Versailles, Riga, Lausanne,
depression The Nazi Party had eliminated all Locarno, etc.) simply, redrew the map of Europe.
opposition, especially of the Communists and the Four great empires, the Russian Romanov, the
Socialists. Hitler led a resurgence of Germany Hohenzollern, the Habsburg, and the Ottoman
on an explicit ideology of Aryan racial purity, faced defeat and collapsed. Germany became a
virtue and superiority, reunification by self- republic, suffering from the stigma of defeat and
determination of the German race, lebensraum burdened by allied reparations. The victorious
western democracies gained territories. France, wished to preserve peace at all costs, by meeting
for instance, gained Alsace-Lorraine which was Hitler's demands and following a policy of
with Germany since 1871. Discontent over the appeasement.
severity of the Allied peace terms and squabbles
over the newly drawn frontiers contained seeds In September 1938, British Prime Minister
of future conflicts. Neville Chamberlain and French Premier
Daladier agreed to turn over the Sudeten-land
The idea of a world organization for to Germany and forced Czechoslovakia to accept
maintaining peace in the globe was proposed by the agreement (which became known as the
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Woodrow Wilson, the American President. But Munich Agreement). The failure of appeasement
Y
it did not generate much hype as the treaty of soon became clear. Hitler violated the Munich
Versailles, the cornerstone of this organization- Agreement in March 1939 and seized the rest of
the League of Nations-was not ratified even by Czechoslovakia. Similar treatment was meted out
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America. Moreover, the defeated powers were to Poland later on.
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also not invited to become members. Germany
was allowed to join the League only in 1926. In Spain in 1936, a 'popular front' of
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League sponsored Disarmament Conference in republicans, socialists, anarchists and syndicates
Geneva (1932-34) failed to reach any agreement. assumed power. The army leaders and right-wing
Cracks began to appear in global peace in the parties, socialists, anarchists and syndicates
early 1930s. The League lacked the executive assumed power. The army leaders and right-wing
AC I parties feared the program of this front and
powers to impose peaceful solutions. Japanese
Militarism, Italian Fascism and German Nazism rebelled under General Franco. The situation thus
became increasingly strident in their demands. became ripe for other world military powers to
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show their powers. The divisions were quite
In 1931, Japanese forces seized Manchuria, a apparent. The Fascist and Nazi regimes provided
region of China rich in natural resources, and military support to General Franco while the
made in a puppet state called Manchukuo. Italian Soviet Union helped the Republicans. The
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forces invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and Republican forces also received "volunteers" from
conquered it by May 1936. In Germany, Hitler many countries though liberal democracies
started a program of military build-up-in desisted from a direct national participation at
violation of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. this time.
In March 1936, he notified to the western powers
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the existence of a German Air Force (Luftwaffe). Division Of World In Ideological Camps
In the same year, Germany and Italy formed an In the Second World War, division of the
alliance, called the Rome-Berlin Axis, which was world into two armed camps followed more or
joined in 1940 by Japan. less same pattern as for the First World War.
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Only a few states such as Italy, Japan, Turkey,

Germany abrogated the disarmament clauses
and Romania switched their sides Germany, Italy
of the Treaty in December 1933 and proceeded
and Japan (Known as the Axis Powers) were
to build an army, air force and navy machine
joined by Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Albania,
oriented to the future that virtually overran
Finland and Thailand. The Allied armed camp
Europe in 1940-41. Germany recovered the Saar
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mainly consisted of Britain, France, Soviet Union,

region by plebiscite in January 1935, overturned
Belgium, Denmark, Turkey and the United States.
the free city status of Danzig between 1934 and
But more important was the ideological camp
1936, and remilitarized the Rhineland in March 1936.
formations.
Months of negotiations and increasing tension
After the World War 1, liberal democracies
culminated in a four power conference of Britain,
re-established their control over the Central
France, Germany and Italy in Munich on 29
European Empires, helped by reformist,
September 1938 renouncing war and permitting
compromising socialist leaders in many cases.
German military occupation of most of
However, using ultra-nationalist slogans, induced
Czechoslovakia.
by economic problems, Fascist and right-wing
In March 1938, German army moved into dictatorships soon gave a stimulus to establish a
Austria to achieve union (Anschluss) with powerful right-wing armed front in countries like
Germany. In 1938, Hitler sought the control of Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Spain
Sudetanland, a region of Western Czechoslovakia and Japan. These dictatorships arose especially
dominated by German speaking people. Britain in countries that lacked traditions of democratic

institutions. The central doctrine of these During World War II, ideological compulsions
variegated dictatorships was the supremacy of again compelled Communist Soviet Union to ally
state as opposed to the liberal democratic ideal. itself with western liberal democracies against
the danger of extreme right-wing dictatorships
Benito Mussolini established a Fascist regime despite inter-war recriminations. The Ottoman
in Italy in October 1921 when dissatisfaction with Empire supported the Central Powers during
parliamentary democracy was high, and the World War I; however, a democratically reformed
peace settlement was unpopular for having Turkey joined the Allies in the Second World War.
brought only limited gains. Italys territorial
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ambitions in southeastern Europe were opposed German Constitution of 1871 entrusted
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by France, an uncompromising upholder of the formal sovereignty to a Federal Council
Treaty settlement, and Italys bit to augment its (Bundesrat) whose members were nominated by
north African colonies by occupying Ethiopia in the executives of member-states. It also
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1935 antagonized Britain as well as created a established a Reichstag or Parliament of 400
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crisis in the League of Nations, which was deputies elected by a direct, secret, adult male
unwilling to enforce meaningful sanctions against suffrage. However, there was complete lack of
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Italy under Article 16. Mussolini had come to parliamentary responsibility in this system as the
admire the more efficient Adolf Hitler and signed Imperial Chancellor, appointed by the emperor,
a pact with him to create a Berlin-Rome Axis in and enjoying enormous powers, was not
1936. Their fist collaboration was to assist accountable to the Reichstag. The German empire,
AC I
militarily General Francisco Franco in
overthrowing a newly formed and fragile
therefore, emerged as a hybrid of Prussian
military hegemony and imperial federation,
Republic in Spain governed by a left-oriented combining modern franchise with ancient
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coalition called the Popular Front. monarchical authority. The Emperor retained
control over the three pillars of absolutism in the
The spectrum of politics had created three dominant Prussian state, the army, the
major hands in the 19th century-left, centre bureaucracy and the foreign affairs. Similarly,
O
(liberal democratic) and right (counter- the Habsburg monarchy of Austria-Hungary and
revolutionary). The War put the squeeze on the Ottoman Empire were also dominated by
ideological space (hegemonic space) available medieval social institutions and military methods.
within a state. It tended to homogenize citizens,
within territorially organized states, at least in During the Second World War, liberal
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their attitudes towards war and national defence democracies of Britain, France and USA, etc. and
and in demonizing enemy states. The left Communist Soviet Union allied together to wipe
spectrum of this divide was mainly inspired by out right-wing dictatorships. The outcome in 1945
socialist ideology. Similarly liberal democratic left the two contending armed camps (Western
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parties represented the centrist politics of democratic camp and Communist camp),
promoting industrial capitalism in their respective antithetical to each other, reviling each other,
countries. but both with the same end in view, that of,
global domination.
Britain, France, America, the main allies in
both wars, had well-established liberal democratic Japanese Aspirations
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traditions. Germany, Austria, Italy, Japan,

Japans modernization drive since the late
Hungary lacked such democratic traditions.
19th century led it to graft what it considered
Although Japan and Italy helped the Allies in
the best of America, Britain, and Germany on to
the First World War, both left them during inter-
its own homogenous and disciplined society, to
war period itself and with their dictatorial,
alliance with Britain in 1902, a victory against
authoritarian regimes found their natural allies
Russia in 1904, the annexation of Korea in 1910,
(the Central Powers) during World War II.
and a self-image of being the leader of Asia.
The Russian autocracy under the Romanovs Though it received the Shantung province of
supported western democracies owing to China (formerly controlled by Germany) in 1919,
economic compulsions as 25% of investments Japans other 21 demands were not met at
from abroad came from France (1914) and Versailles.
Russian banking, railway development and the
Japanese officials felt that they did not receive
Southern Russian Industrial Complex all
equal treatment in the Naval Disarmament
depended on French capital.

Conferences of 1922 and 1927, or in the Council etc, were highly complex and delicate. It required
of the League of Nations. Japans assertiveness an elaborate system of mass production of several
was externally expressed in expanding its million items according to schedules and priorities
commercial and industrial reach into Western which went on shifting with new technical
markets, the Manchurian province of northern developments and the changing emphasis of war
China, through Southeast Asia, and to the strategy. This could be planned only by states at
western Pacific basin where it rivaled the US. a high level of economic development. When the
Internally, Japans civilian and parliamentary war came, all major combatants channeled their
government came under increasing strain, production capacities into the manufacture of
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especially as economic depression deepened, and goods for sustenance of war.
Y
soon passed under the control of a militaristic
clique of army and naval officers. Japan During the World War II, European war
economies also adopted the American system of
AD L
announced its withdrawal from the League in
1933 and joined an Anti-Comintern Pact with mass-production. Standardized interchangeable
EM
Germany and Italy in November 1937. parts were produced in bulk and the end product
was put together on the assembly line.
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Armed Camps
In five war years, USA economy produced
The nature of modern warfare was the result 300,000 military aircraft and 86,700 tanks.
of two simultaneous processes. First was the idea Germany produced 44,857 tanks and assault guns
AC I
of 'nation in arm' or conscription in the French in the same period and also produced 111,767
Revolution. This gave men equality in battle aircraft during 1934-44. It became necessary to
which was denied to them in actual life. This conscript the entire economy and civilian life to
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democratization of war transformed wars into achieve these military targets.
mass-wars or people's war in which civilians and
civil-life itself became the proper and sometimes A high level of armed mobilization, which
the main target of military strategy. The other hovered around 20% for most powers during
the Second World War, and which lasted for a
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was the growth of industrial economy which

provided the resources, the organizational few years, produced a kind of social revolution
techniques and methods of motivation needed in the employment of women outside the
to fight mass-wars, thus remodeling them as household, temporarily in the World War I and
total wars. permanently in the World War II. Only Germany
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avoided this integration of women in the labour

The 19th and 20th centuries witnessed the market for ideological reasons, as the Nazi State
transformation of war from specialized activity did not consider women worthy of employment
of a professional military group. First into the outside their houses.
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total mobilization of industrial resources to

produce weapons, then into total involvement of Another important aspect of war was that it
entire industrial societies in the process of hurling was waged as a zero-sum game, i.e., as a war
concentrated mechanized forces against military which could only be totally won or totally lost.
or civilian targets anywhere on the globe, and Unlike the earlier wars which were fought for
finally into a scientific contest to develop specific and limited objectives, world wars were
S
weapons of mass destruction. The armament race waged for unlimited ends. In the Second World
among major powers continued, fuelled by the War, this found expression in the phrase
profit motives of the private firms such as Krupp "unconditional surrender". The USA removed all
in Germany, Vickers Armstrong in Britain, restrictions on Allied armament contracts,
Schneider-Cruesot in France, Skoda in Austria including those of immediate payment through
and Putiloff in Russia, collectively known as 'the the lend-lease agreements.
merchants of death'.
The new military establishments took on
Massive Mobilization Of Resources many of the features of great industrial
enterprises; Modern business method, office
The character of industrial mobilization organization, system of record keeping. The use
changed markedly during the World War II. of duplicating, sorting and communication
Instead of the mass production of a few key items, equipment and all such paraphernalia for
as in the First World War, the second global carrying on large industrial operations and
conflict drew on virtually every phase of industry. emergence of a kind of corporate leadership in
The new engines of war, tanks, aircrafts, radar the management of military strategy gave military

institutions many characteristics of a large During the Second World War, chemical
business corporation. The army officers became weapons were stockpiled but were not integrated
"the managers of violence". into military planning. Military ineffectiveness
and fear of retaliation prevented their use. During
In most of the belligerent countries, there was the World War II, Germany developed V1 and
suspension of market mechanism in favour of V2 missiles (1944-45) nicknamed in German as
controls and direction designed to ensure the 'Vergeltungswaffen' (or Vengeance weapons)
restructuring of national economies according to which became the precursors of modern ballistic
the needs and priorities of war production. War missiles.
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was no longer a matter predominantly of purely
Y
financial costs-but assumed the form of Nuclear Weapons
mobilization of all economic resources.
US entered the World War II in December
AD L
Technological Innovations 1941 and started the Manhattan Project to make
EM
atom bomb. Colonel Leslie Groves became the
After World War I, fully automatic weapons
head of the Manhattan Engineer District. In
in the rifle weight class or the Assault Rifles were
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October 1942, after reorganization, J. Robert
developed which combined the burst-fire
Oppenheimer became the director of Project Y
capability of the sub-machineguns with the range
(group that actually designed the bomb). A
and accuracy of the infantry rifle. The better
plutonium weapon-Trinity was tested in July 1945
known were German MP-44, and after World
AC I
War II, the Soviet Kalashnikov and AK-47.
in South Central New Mexico. On 6 August 1945
at 8.15 am, local time, a US B-29 bomber named
In World War II, anti-aircraft guns became Enola Gay flew over Hiroshima. The untested U-
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more improved and lethal. The role of field and 235 bomb nicknamed Little Boy was air-burst
naval artillery declined-the tank partly relieving 1900 feet above the city to maximize destruction.
its field role and the tactical bomber aircraft its
bombardment role. Light and mobile guns were The effects were devastating-about two-thirds
of city was completely destroyed and 140,000
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more in demand during World War II. Some

important anti-aircraft guns used during World persons died by the end of the year (out of a
War II were-the Bofors 40 mm gun of US and population of 350,000). A second weapon, a
UK, Soviet M-1939, 37 mm gun and German 88 duplicate of plutonium-239 implosion assembly
mm guns. Arrival of Tanks was countered by which was tested as Trinity, and nicknamed
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the development of armour-piercing ammunition. Fatman was planned to be dropped at Kokura

on 11 August 1945, but schedule was moved up
In the World War II, heavier machineguns two days to avoid bad weather, to 9 August, the
were used. The lighter variety of machineguns US bomber, unable to sight Kokura, dropped it
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such as German MG-34/42, the Soviet Degtyarev, on the secondary target of Nagasaki.
British Bren and US BAR fired 350-600 rounds
per minute. The sub machineguns such as Results of War
German MP-38/40 series, popularly known as World War 2 involved mass destruction of
'burp' guns, Soviet PPD and PPsh, American physical resources, productive capacities and
Thompson and the British Sten were also used human resources of both the victors and
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extensively. vanquished. The estimated deaths in the World

Submarines were used on a larger scale in War II were between 3-5 times the estimated
the World War II in the Atlantic by Germany figures for the World War I. It included about
and in the Pacific by the US. US navy's Agronaut 5.1 million Jews. About 20% of total population
during Inter-war period and Gato and Balao of the USSR, Poland and Yugoslavia was wiped
submarines during World War II played decisive out in the second war.
role in the naval warfare.
The loss of productive capacities was also
German Zeppelins were early military aircraft enormous. About 20% pre-war capital assets of
used during World War I. Their use did not prove USSR 13% pre-war assets in Germany, 8% in
very effective. Later, military aircrafts were Italy, 7% in France and 3% in Britain were
improved. The bombers were also improved, with destroyed during the World War II. The night of
Boeing Aircraft Company producing B-9 bombers 9 November 1938, the night of broke glass
in 1931-the progenitor of all modern combat (Kristallnacht in German) inaugurated the
aircrafts. Holocaust (or the mass murder of about 5.1

million European Jews by the Nazis). On the and France on other side, opposed each other in
night of 9 November 1938, a number of Jews every sphere. The Eastern European countries
were killed and about 20-30,000 were sent to under Soviet hegemony refused to accept
concentration camps. American aid under the Marshall Plan, for
reconstruction of their economies. The Soviet
In the World War II, the number of stateless, Union made the atomic bomb in 1949 and the
the uprooted people in Europe were 40.5 million, situation of hostility further intensified which
excluding non-German forced labourers in was called the Cold War. Peace remained elusive
Germany and Germans who fled before the in this open ideological war.
E
advancing Soviet armies. About 13 million
Y
Germans were expelled from the parts of Certain non-European forces were of great
Germany annexed by Poland and the USSR, from significance within European from World War
Czechoslovakia and parts of South-Eastern 2-end to until the end of the 1980s. These were,
AD L
Europe. Other major byproduct of war, partition for example, the preponderance of American
EM
of India and the Korean War produced 15 million influence in European affairs, the dominance of
and 5 million displaced persons. The Establish- the dollar in the global financial system, and the
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ment of Israel-another war-effect, uprooted about sustained hostility between the two militarized
1.3 million Palestinians. politico-economic blocs that emerged after the
war. The West European powers, especially the
World: Post World War 2 United Kingdom, had been financially depleted
AC I
In the decisive phase of the war the forces of by the war and been displaced from their great
liberal democracy and socialism got together to power eminence; they now opted, with varying
N
defeat and eliminate the third force, fascism. But degrees of reluctance or enthusiasm, for a subor-
sooner, the world was split between a dinate relationship with capital-surplus USA.
Communist bloc, an anti-Communist bloc, and a
small number of neutral states. In February 1945, In Yugoslavia, the situation was complicated
Churchill (British Prime Minister), Roosevelt by the presence of two distinct pressure groups,
O
(American President) and Stalin, leader of Soviet the communist National Liberation Front led by
Union met at Yalta in the Crimea. It was easy Josip Broz Tito on the one hand, and on the
for the Allies to agree in their objective of other, the nationalist and royalist Chetniks under
defeating Germany and Japan. But differences Draza Mihailovich. Yugoslavia was exceptional
IA R
of interests, opinion and ideas surfaced when for the communists having seized power without
the question of future opened up. the assistance of the Red Army; it was therefore
able to join the Soviet Bloc and leave it
Britain and America disliked communism and subsequently of its own volition.
feared its spread in the devastated countries of
CH
Europe. The display of Russian strength during Poland had been bifurcated during the war
the war also alarmed them. The allies had agreed and occupied by both Germany and the Soviet
to free elections in the East European Countries Union: The nationalist Home Army worked in
liberated by the Red Army such as Poland, co-operation with the exiled government in
Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, London. But it was decimated by the Germans
S
Yugoslavia, and Albania. But Stalin imposed after the failure of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.
communist governments of these countries. In Soviet occupied Poland, the communist-led
Eastern Poland was exchanged with German Polish Committee of National Liberation managed
Silesia by Stalin, thus moving the Russian frontier to seize the initiative with the help of the
further west. Britain intervened in Greece and advancing Soviet Red army. Given the
toppled a Communist government there. destruction of the home Army, it was able to
dominate the Provisional Government of National
Germany was initially divided into four Unity that was formed by the merger of the two
zones. Berlin, the capital city under Russian- rival provisional governments based in London
controlled zone was also similarly divided. In and Soviet-held Poland.
1948, three western zones introduced a new
currency, without consulting the eastern zone, However, not all of Europe followed this
resulting in rail and road traffic blockade by pattern. Unlike so many other cases, the resistance
Soviet Union for eight month during which the movements in Denmark, the Netherlands, and
British and Americans air-lifted all supplies to Norway were relatively unified. They posed little
Berlin. The Soviet on the one side and US, Britain difficulty for post-War national political revival.

Of the major European countries outside the Soviet Community of 1957 had larger objectives that
bloc, Spain, Portugal, and Greece witnessed prompted apprehensions of loss of national
prolonged dictatorships: it was not until the sovereignty, notably in Britain. In response,
1970s that electoral democracy was restored. Britain initiated in 1959 the European Free Trade
Association (EFTA).
Stable multi-party coalition arrangements
emerged the most significant and perhaps the The first phase of economic recovery, from
most peculiar of such supra-national projects was 1945 to 1947, was effected though bilaterally
the making of the two Germanies. "Race for negotiated US loans and grants and the food aid
E
Berlin" led to the partition of Germany into four disbursed through the United Nations Relief and
Y
zones, one under each occupying power. The Rehabilitation Agency (UNRRA). These sufficed
initial Franco-US agenda, overriding British to avert the general collapse of the economy that
objections, proposed to de-industrialize Germany. industrial dislocation and poor harvest
AD L
But later, US shifted perspective from the threatened; they were adequate even to raise
EM
relatively isolationist "America First" stance to industrial output to pre-war levels.
the pursuit of an unambiguously interventionist
C
one described as the "leadership of the Free World." During the next phase of recovery, 1948-1951,
European countries willing to participate in the
From this now flowed the Truman Doctrine US-sponsored recovery program received 13
and the Marshall Plan. The Truman Doctrine billion dollars. This was supplemented by a 1
AC I
announced its support for "free people who are
resisting attempted subjugation by armed
billion dollar loan from the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank
minorities or by outside pressure"; and the for Reconstruction and Development (World
N
Marshall Plan, known officially as the European Bank). The largest beneficiaries of this program
Recovery Programme, set out to revive and were Britain, France, Italy, and West Germany.
reconstruct Europe, including West Germany, The
Marshall plan was set within the framework of It established an international body of
recipient nations, the organization for European
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the new monetary and trading system based on

the supremacy of the US dollar and the Economic Co-operation, to which each nation
dismantling of trade barriers. The latter were submitted a national plan every four years. These
envisaged by the Bretton Woods institutions aid-receiving nations were required, under the
(World Bank and International Monetary Fund "counterpart" clause, to make available a fund
IA R
or IMF) and the General Agreement on Tariffs of domestic currency equal to the aid received
and Trade (GATT). and to be spent in ways approved by the US.
They had to agree to use the aid to finance food
The French, British, and American zones were imports only from the US whether or not
CH
merged in 1949 to create the Federal Republic of cheaper alternative sources were available. They
Germany (West Germany). However, sovereignty had to also employ the service of US shipping
was granted to the Federal Republic only in 1955 and insurance for 50% of aid financed purchases,
after its defences were secured by a limited besides also ensuring preferential treatment to
remilitarization and its induction into NATO. The American oil interests.
zone of Soviet occupation, or East Germany, went
S
through the same process of being restructured It led on to a long economic boom that lasted
to ensure integration with the Soviet power until the mid-1970s. Although the deflationary
structure. The new state was established in 1949; policies created some employment, they also led
Berlin, the capital of undivided Germany, having to the economic boom. As a result the period
been likewise divided, continued to remain the after the 1970s witnessed a near full employment.
focus of hostilities, from the Blockade of 1948 to It yielded a "new capitalism" of near full
the building of the wall in 1961. employment, high productivity, high wages, and
extensive social welfare. All these combined to
Economic Recovery Continues blunt class antagonism and to generate
consensual politics.
The Council of Mutual Economic Assistance
(COMECON) was established in 1949 as a trans- However, the results were uneven across
continental military body, and the European Coal West Europe. Less developed countries like
and Steel Community appeared in 1951 with Ireland, Spain, and Portugal were less affected
the specific economic concerns. The European by the quantitative and qualitative transfor-
Economic Community of 1957 and the European mations achieved by the more advanced

economies. However, the long boom came to an was in short supply, except on terms that were
end in 1973 with the first oil shock, when oil- unacceptable to the Soviet system. Capital for
producing countries unilaterally and dramatically the industrialization program therefore had to
raised the prices of oil. European economies be internally generated. In the newly Soviet
suffered inflationary pressures, output decelerated, countries, nationalization permitted rapid
and unemployment rose. They immediately led expansion in heavy industrial capacity. Radical
to restrictive policies within the parameters of agrarian programs of farm collectivization and
the existing system of economic management, nationalization on the Soviet model soon plunged
and more gradually, to a change of economic the agricultural sector into turmoil and led to
E
perspective. food shortages.
Y
From the late 1970s, in country after country, East Europe was thus preoccupied with the
the social democratic consensus broke down. problem of adjusting to a new system of
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New political program proposed to restrict social production and stagnation in the very sectors
EM
welfare to the minimum necessary. They whose boom was the basis of West European
repudiated government intervention and demand prosperity. The plan-driven economies of the
C
management. All these led to the privatization eastern bloc, with the exception of the USSR, began
of nationalized industries, extensive deregulation, with a very low industrial base. Since investment
and the adoption of monetarist and supply side priorities were largely determined by the state,
policies. national plans focused excessively on developing
AC I
heavy industry. The resulting imbalance led to
The idea of the "social democratic consensus" chronic shortages of consumer goods.
itself is valid only in post-war terms. It was based
N
on a substantial and pragmatic dilution of the In the initial stages, trade and economic
pre-war program of social democracy to relations were confined to the region, that is, the
accommodate fundamental tenets of conservatism eastern bloc. However, the shortage of capital
(the sanctity of private property) and of liberalism and of agricultural products, especially wheat,
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(the limited state). Social Democracy thus led to a parallel dependence on western countries.
conceded the possibility of the gradualist reform Poland and Romania borrowed extensively from
of capitalism. the West in the 1970s to finance their
industrialization programs; By the early 1970s,
This consensus allowed stable coalitions of the USSR was compelled to import grain from
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right-centre and left-centre groupings: the USA.

occasionally, in the immediate aftermath of bitter
electoral conflict, even "grand coalitions" of the Imports of food grain and light industrial
left and the right were possible. Except for Britain from the hard currency areas (West), without
CH
in West Europe, the predominant tendency was corresponding exports resulted in a combined
towards the formation of coalition governments balance of payments deficit of 10 billion dollars
even where the electoral system was not based by 1975. These were financed by borrowings from
on proportional representation. western banks. Imports were cut back and the
deficit was eliminated; but, by 1982, East bloc
Economic Recovery in Soviet Block debts stood at 81 billion dollars and its debt
S
service ratio stood at 100 percent, that is it was

In the Soviet bloc, reconstruction was borrowing money solely in order to pay back
hindered by the relatively lower capacity of the debts. Soviet export earnings deteriorated with
leading power, the Soviet Union. External capital the collapse of world oil prices in the mid 1980s.


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WORLD HISTORY

Add : D-108, Sec-2, Noida (U.P.), Pin - 201 301

Chapter 1 : Renaissance ............................................................................................................. 5-7

Chapter 2 : American Revolution .......................................................................................... 8-14

Chapter 3 : French Revolution ............................................................................................. 15-24

Chapter 4 : Industrialisation ................................................................................................. 25-34

Chapter 5 : Nationalism and British Democratic Politics .......................................... 35-48

Chapter 6 : Unification of Italy and Germany ............................................................... 49-57

Chapter 7 : Imperialism and colonialism ......................................................................... 58-69

Chapter 8 : World War - I ..................................................................................................... 70-76

Chapter 9 : Russian Revolution ........................................................................................... 77-81

Chapter 10 : World between Two World Wars ............................................................. 82-86

Chapter 11 : World War - II ................................................................................................. 87-94

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but the raw materials of truth, which has to be

universe is a machine governed by inflexible laws

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His slogan was 'crush the infamous thing' with Enlightenment.

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deal to the minds of the Enlightenment. They Rousseau:

his ideas. His ideas left an indelible effect upon

the eighteenth century. impossible.

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culture which contained the strands of various

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emerged in the economic field since the later half

Seven Years War, the colonies no larger feared

the mercantilist trade regulations. It gave customs

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The Stamp Act declared that stamp duties

resistance to British authority. This idea was

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This appeal to natural rights above the King or

East India Company for damages. The Acts also

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loyalty to King George III and beseeched him to

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In 1787, delegates from twelve of the thirteen

(Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Samuel Adams,

six years; representatives in the House would be

It quickly became clear to the Philadelphia had extreme opinionsAlexander Hamilton

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the presidenta two-thirds majority vote could

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Causes of The Revolution: cost of maintaining an army, the court, running

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the peasants were soon to follow. All of these

These ideas envisaging a society based on

together for a conference, during which Calonne

executive and the judiciary. This model of

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be made good by a revolution. The success of a Estate.

supposedly demanded, and many resented being

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The Declaration of the Rights of Man and

that it contained a large armoury, citizens on

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assessed equally on all citizens in

a legally established public necessity