The Rise of Nationalism in Europe, summery
SUMMARY OF THE LESSON
During the nineteenth century, nationalism emerged as a force. Nationalism brought sweeping changes in the intellectual and political world of Europe. The final result of these changes was the emergence of nation-states in place of pan-national dynastic empires of Europe. The French Revolution and the Idea of the Nation
The first clear expression of nationalism came with the French Revolution in 1789.
The French revolutionaries introduced many measures and practices that could create
a sense of common identity amongst the French people.
The main purpose of the revolutionaries was to liberate the people of Europe from despotism; in other words, to help other people of Europe to become nations. Through a return to monarchy, Napoleon incorporated revolutionary principles, in order to make the whole system more rational and efficient. 0 The Civil Code of 1804, which was formed by Napoleon, did away with all privileges based on birth, established equality before the law, and secured the right to property. In the mid-eighteenth century. Eastern and Central Europe were under despotic rule and autocratic monarchies, within the territories of which, lived diverse people. The Aristocracy and the New Middle Class
Politically and socially, a landed aristocracy was the dominant class in the European continent.
This powerful aristocracy was numerically a tiny group, Majority of the population was made up of peasants. In Central and Western parts of Europe, the growth of industrial production and trade fuelled the growth of towns and the emergence of commercial classes.
At the beginning of the 19th century, new social groups came into being- a working-class population, and a middle class made up of industrialists, businessmen, and professionals. It was among the educated, liberal-minded middle classes, that ideas of national unity gained popularity following the abolition of aristocratic privileges. Liberal Nationalism
For the new middle class, liberalism stood for freedom for the individual and equality of all before the law. Since the French Revolution, liberalism has stood for the end of autocracy and clerical privileges, a constitution, and representative government through parliament. 0 In the economic field, liberalism stood for the freedom of markets and the abolition of state-unposed restrictions on the movement of capital and goods.
A New Conservatism after 1815 After the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in the year 1818, European governments were driven by a spirit of conservatism. Conservatives believed that established, traditional institutions of state and society like the social hierarchies, property, family, monarchy, and the Church should be preserved.
In 1816, representatives of the European powers-Britain, Prussia, Russia, and Austria who had collectively defeated Napoleon Bonaparte, met at the Vienna congress to draw up a settlement for Europe.
The representatives of Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia drew up the Treaty of Vienna of 1815 with the objective of undoing most of the changes that had come about in Europe during the Napoleonic wars.
Conservative regimes set up in 1815 were autocratic.
The Revolutionaries During the years following 1815, the fear of repression drove many liberal nationalists underground.
Secret societies sprang up in various European states to train revolutionaries and spread One such individual was the Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Mazzini who became their ideas. member of the secret society of the Carbonari.
Culture played an important role in creating the idea of the nation.
The Romantic Imagination and National Feeling Romantic poets and artists generally criticized the glorification of reason and science and focused instead on intuition, emotions, and mystical feelings. Langunge also played an important role in developing nationalist sentiments. According to German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder, the true spirit of the nation was popularised through folk poetry, folk songs, and folk dances. Hunger, Hardship, and Popular Revolt
The 1830s were years of great economic hardship in Europe, marked by increasing population, rising food prices, unemployment, and poverty. In the year 1848. food shortages and widespread unemployment brought the population of Paris onto the roads.
The Revolution of the Liberals When revolts of the poor, unemployed, and starving peasants and workers in many
European countries were taking place in the year 1848, and a revolution led by the educated middle classes was underway Men and women of the liberal middle classes combined their demands for constitutionalism
with national unification, which was based on parliamentary principles like a constitution, freedom of the press and freedom of association. On 18 May 1848, 831 elected representatives marched in a festive procession to take their places in the Frankfurt parliament in the Church of St. Paul. The parliament was dominated by the middle classes who went against the demands of workers and artisans and consequently lost their support, and the assembly was forced to disband
The issue of extending political rights to women was a controversial point within the liberal movement Conservative forces were forced to suppress the revolution in the year 1848.
German unification
Due to the efforts of middle-class nationalists, different regions of Germany and Italy united into a nation-state. Otto von Bismarck took on the leadership of Prussia.
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