The raise of

nationalism in Europe:

Revision notes:

Key words_

• Frederic Sorrieu: He was a French artist famous

for prints prepared in 1948 that
visualized the dream of a world consisting
of Democratic and Social Republics.
• Nineteenth Century: Associated with the rise of
nationalism and nation states.
• Nationalism: A feeling of oneness with the

society or the state, love and devotion for

the motherland and belief in the political
identity of one's country are the basic
attributes of nationalism.

•Nation State :A state that establishes itself

as a separate political and geographical
entity and functions as a complete and
sovereign territorial unit. This concept
emerged in 19th century Europe as a result
of the growth of nationalism.

• Modern State: A state in which sovereignty

is exercised by a centralized power over a
specific territory and population.

•Absolutist Government: A system of

government wherein limitless powers are
vested in a single person or body. It is a
monarchical form of government in which
the ruler is the absolute authority and is not
answerable to anybody.

•Aristocracy:The land owning class. Numerically

small, but dominated Europe, both socially and
politically. Spoke French which was considered the
language of the high society. Families were
connected through marriage.

•Peasantry: Tenants and small land owners who

worked as serfs. Cultivated the land of the
aristocratic lords.
Notes:

1. In 1848, Frederic Sorrieu, a French artist, prepared a

series of four print visualizing his
dream of a world made up of ‘democratic and social
republic, as he called them.
2. Artists of the time of the French Revolution
personified Liberty as a female figure.
3. According to Sorrieu’s utopian vision, the peoples of
the world are grouped as distinct
nations, identified through their flags and national
costume.
4. This chapter will deal with many of the issues
visualized by Sorrieu.
5. During the nineteenth century, nationalism emerged
as a force which brought about
sweeping changes in the political and mental world of
Europe.
6. The end result of these changes was the emergence
of the nation-state in the place of the
multi-national dynastic empires of Europe.
7. A modern state, in which a centralized power
exercised sovereign control over a clearly
defined territory, had been developing over a long
period of time in Europe.
8. But a nation-state was one in which the majority of
its citizens, and not only its rulers,
came to develop a sense of common identity and
shared history or descent.
9. This chapter will look at the diverse processes
through which nation-states and
nationalism came into being in nineteenth-century
Europe.

The French Revolution and the idea of the

Nation:

1. The first clear expression of nationalism came with

the French Revolution in 1789.
2. The political and constitutional changes that came in
the wake of the French Revolution
led to the transfer of sovereignty from the monarchy to
a body of French citizens.
3. The ideas of la patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen
(the citizen) emphasized the notion of
a united community enjoying equal rights under a
constitution.
4. The Estates General was elected by the body of the
active citizens and renamed the
National Assembly.
5. Internal customs duties and dues were abolished and
a uniform system of weights and
measures was adopted.
6. The revolutionaries further declared that it was the
mission and the destiny of the French
nation to liberate the peoples of Europe from
despotism.
7. Students and other members of educated middle
classes began setting up Jacobin club.
8. Their activities and campaigns prepared the way for
the French armies which moved into
Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and much of Italy in the
1790’s.
9. The French armies began to carry the idea of
nationalism abroad.
10. Through a return to monarchy Napoleon had, no
doubt, destroyed democracy in France,
but in the administrative field he had incorporated
revolutionary principles in order to
make the whole system more rational and efficient.
11. The Civil Code of 1804 – usually known as the
Napoleonic Code - did away with all
privileges based on birth, established equality before
the Law and secured the right to
property.
12. Napoleon simplified administrative divisions,
abolished the feudal system and freed
peasants from serfdom and manorial dues.
13. Transport and communication systems were
improved.
14. Businessmen and small-scale producers of goods, in
particular, began to realize that
uniform laws, standardised weights and measures, and
a common national currency
would facilitate the movement and exchange of goods
and capital from one region to
another.
15. In many places such as Holland and Switzerland,
Brussels, Mainz, Milan, Warsaw, the
French armies were welcomed as harbingers of Liberty.
16. It became clear that the new administrative
arrangements did not go hand in hand with
political freedom.
17. Increased taxation, censorship, forced conscription
into the French armies required to
conquer the rest of the Europe, all seemed to outweigh
the advantages of the
administrative changes.

The Making of Nationalism in Europe:

1. Germany, Italy and Switzerland were divided into
kingdoms, duchies and cantons whose
rulers had their autonomous territories.
2. They did not see themselves as sharing a collective
identity or a common culture.
3. The Habsburg Empire ruled over Austria Hungary.
4. In Hungary, half of the population spoke Magyar
while the other half of the spoke a variety of dialects.
5. Besides these three dominant groups, there also lived
within the boundaries of the
empire.
6. The only tie binding these diverse groups together
was a common allegiance to the
emperor.

The Aristocracy and the new middle

class:
1. Socially and politically, a landed aristocracy was the
dominant class on the continent.
2. The members of this class were by a common way of
life that cut across regional
divisions.
3. Their families were often connected by ties if
marriages.
4. This powerful aristocracy was, however, numerically
a small group. The growth of towns
and the emergence of commercial classes whose
existence was based on production for
the market.
5. Industrialization began in England in the second half
of the eighteenth century, but in
France and parts of the German states it occurred only
during the nineteenth century.
6. In its wake, new social groups came into being: a
working-class population, and middle
classes made up of industrialists, businessmen,
professional.
7. It was among the educated, liberal middle classes
that ideas of national unity following
the abolition of aristocratic privileges gained popularity.
What did Liberal Nationalism
Stand for?
1. In early-nineteenth-century Europe were closely
allied to the ideology of liberalism.
2. The term ‘liberalism’ derives from the Latin root liber,
meaning free.
3. Liberalism stood for freedom for the individual and
equality of all before the law.
4. It emphasized the concept of government by consent.
5. A constitution and representative government
through parliament.
6. The right to vote and to get elected was generated
exclusively to property-owning men.
7. Men without property and all women were excluded
from political rights.
8. Women and non-propertied men and women
organised opposition movements
demanding equal political rights.
9. The abolition of state-imposed restrictions on the
movement of goods and capital.
10. A merchant travelling in 1833 from Hamburg to
Nuremberg to sell his goods would have to pass through
11 customs barriers and pay a customs duty of about
5% at each one of
them.
11. Obstacles to economics exchanges and growth by
the new commercial classes, who
argued for the creation of a unified economic territory
allowing the unhindered
movement of goods, people and capital.
12. The union abolished tariff barriers and reduced the
number of currencies from over
thirty to two.

A New Conservation after 1815:

1. Following the defect of Napoleon in 1815, European
governments were driven by a spirit
of conservatism.
2. Most conservatives, however, did not propose a
return to the society of pre-revolutionary
days.
3. That modernization could in fact strengthen
traditional institutions like the monarchy.
4. A modern army, an efficient bureaucracy, a dynamic
economy, the abolition of feudalism
and serfdom could strengthen the autocratic
monarchies of Europe.
5. In 1815, representatives of the European powers –
Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria –
who had collectively defeated Napoleon, met at Vienna
to draw up a settlement for
Europe.
6. The Bourbon dynasty, which had been deposed
during the French Revolution, was
restored to power, and France lost the territories it had
annexed under Napoleon.
7. German confederation of 39 states that has been set
up by Napoleon was left untouched.
8. Autocratic did not tolerate criticism and dissent, and
sought to curb activities that
questioned the legitimacy of autocratic government.
The Revolutionaries:
1. During the years following 1815, the fear of
repression drove many liberal-nationalists
underground.
2. Revolutionary at this time meant a commitment to
oppose monarchical forms and to fight
for liberty and freedom.
3. Giuseppe Mazzini, born in Genoa in 1807, he became
a member of the secret society of
the Carbonari.
4. He was sent into exile in 1831 for attempting a
revolution in Liguria.
5. Mazzini believed that god had intended nations to be
the natural units of mankind.
6. Secret societies were set up in Germany, France,
Switzerland and Poland.
7. Metternich described him as ‘The most dangerous
enemy of our social order’.
The Age of Revolution: 1830 –
1848:
1. As conservative regimes tried to consolidate their
power, liberalism and nationalism
came to be increasingly associated with revolution in
many regions of Europe such as the
Italian and German states, the provinces of the
Ottoman Empire, Ireland and Poland.
2. ‘When the France sneezes’, Metternich once
remarked, ‘the rest of the Europe catches
cold’.
3. An event that mobilized nationalist feelings among
the educated elite across Europe was
the Greek war of independence.
4. Greece had been the part of the Ottoman Empire
since the fifteenth century.
5. Greeks living in exile and also from many west
Europeans who had sympathies for
ancient Greek culture.

The Romantic Imagination and

national Feeling:
1. The development of nationalism did not come about
only through wars and territorial
expansions.
2. Culture played an important role in creating the idea
of the nation: art and poetry, stories
and music helped express and shape nationalist feeling.
3. Let us look at Romanticism, a culture movement
which sought to develop a particular
form of nationalist sentiments.
4. Romantic artists and poet generally criticised the
glorification of reason and science and
focused instead on emotions, institution and mystical
feelings.
5. Other romantics were through folk song, folk poetry
and folk dances that the true spirit
of the nation.
6. National feelings were kept alive through music and
languages.
7. Karol Kurpinski, celebrated the national struggles
through his operas and music, turning
folk dances like the polonaise and mazurka into
nationalist symbols.
8. Language too played an important role in developing
nationalist sentiments.
9. Russian language was imposed everywhere.
10. Many members of the clergy in Poland began to use
language as a weapon of national.
resistance.
11. As a result, a large number of priests and bishops
were put in jail or sent to Siberia by the
Russian authorities as punishment for their refusal to
preach in Russians.
Hunger, Hardship and Popular Revolt:

1. The 1830s were years of great economic hardship in

Europe.
2. The first half of the nineteenth century saw an
enormous increase in population.
3. In most countries there were more seekers of jobs
than employment.
4. Population from rural areas migrated to the cities to
live in overcrowded slum.
5. Food shortage and widespread unemployment
brought the population of Paris out on the
roads.
6. National Assembly proclaimed a republic, granted
suffrage to all adult males above 21,
and guaranteed the right to work.
7. Earlier, in 1845, weavers in Silesia had lead a revolt
against contractors who supplied
them raw material and gave them orders for finished
textile.
8. On 4 June at 2 p.m. a large crowd of weavers
emerged from their homes and marched in
pairs up to the mansion of their contractors demanding
higher wages.
9. The contractors fled with his family to a neighbouring
village which, however, refused to
shelter such a person.
10. He returned 24 hours later having requisitioned the
army.
11. In the exchange that followed, eleven weavers were
shot.

1848: The Revolution of the Liberals:

1. The poor, unemployment and starving peasants and
workers in many European
countries in the years 1848, a revolution led by the
educated middle classes was under
way.
2. Men and women of the liberal middle classes
combined their demands for
constitutionalism with national unification.
3. They drafted a constitution for a German nation to be
headed by a monarchy subject to a
parliament.
4. Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia, rejected it and joined
other monarchs to oppose the elected
assembly.
5. While the opposition of the aristocracy and military
became stronger, the social basis of parliament eroded.
6. The issue of extending political rights to women was
a controversial one within the
liberal movement.
7. Women had formed their own political associations,
founded newspaper and taken part
in political meeting and demonstrations.
8. Women were admitted only as observers to stand in
the visitors’ gallery.
9. Monarchs were beginning to realize that the cycles if
revolution and repression could be
ended by granting concessions to the liberal-nationalist
revolutionaries.
The Making of German and Italy
Germany – can the Army be the
Architect of a National
1. After 1848, nationalism in Europe moved away from
its association with democracy and
revolution.
2. This can be observed in the process by which
Germany and Italy came to be unified as
nation-states.
3. Nationalist feelings were widespread among middle-
class Germans.
4. This liberal initiative to nation-building was, however,
repressed by the combined forces
of the monarchy and the military, supported by the
large landowners of Prussia.
5. Prussia took on the leadership of the movement.
6. Three wars overseen years-with Austria, Denmark,
and France-ended in Prussian victory
and completed the process of unification.
7. The nation-building process in Germany had
demonstrated the dominance of Prussian
state power.
8. The new state placed a strong emphasis on
modernising the currency, banking, legal and
judicial systems in Germany.

Italy Unified:
1. Like Germany, Italy too had a long history of political
fragmentation.
2. Italians were scattered over several dynastic states as
well as the multi-national
Habsburg Empire.
3. Italy was divided into seven states.
4. Italian language had not acquired one common form
and still had many regional and local variations.
5. Giuseppe Mazzini had sought to put together a
coherent programme for a unitary Italian
Republic.
6. Young Italy for the dissemination of his goals.
7. The failure of revolutionary uprising both in 1831 and
1848 meant that the mantle now
fell on Sadinia-Piedmont under its ruler King Victor
Emmanuel II to unify the Italian
states through war.
8. Italy offered them the possibility of economic
development and political dominance.
9. Italy was neither a revolutionary nor a democrat.
10. Italian population, among whom rates of illiteracy
were high, remained blissfully
unaware of liberal-nationalist ideology.
The strange case of Britain
1. The model of the nation or the nation-state, some
scholars have argued, is Great Britain.
2. It was the result of a long-drawn-out process.
3. There was no British nation prior to the eighteenth
century.
4. ‘United Kingdom of great Britain’ meant, in effect,
that England was able to impose its
influence on Scotland.
5. The British parliament was henceforth dominated by
its English members.
6. Ireland was forcibly incorporated into the United
Kingdom in 1801.
7. British flag, the national anthem, the English
language – were actively promoted and the
older nations survived only as subordinate partners on
this union.
Visualising the Nation
1. While it was easy enough to represent a ruler
through a portrait or a statue.
2. In other words they represented a country as if it
were a person.
3. Nations were then portrayed as a female figure.
4. The female figures became an allegory of the nation.
5. Christened Marianne, a popular Christian name,
which underlined the idea of people’s
nation.
Nationalism and Imperialism:
1. By the quarter of the nineteenth century nationalism
no longer retained its idealistic liberal-democratic
sentiment of the first half of the century, but became a
narrow creed
with limited ends.
2. The most serious source of nationalists tension in
Europe after 1871 was the area called
the Balkans.
3. The Balkans was a region of geographical and ethnic
variation.
4. One by one its European subjects nationalities broke
away from its control and declared
independence.
5. The Balkan area became an era of intense conflict.
6. The Balkan states were jealous of each other and
each hoped to gain more territory at the
expense of each other.
7. But the idea that societies should be organized into
‘nation-states’ came to be accepted as
natural and universal.

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