The Rise Of Nationalism In Europe - Class 10 History - Extra Questions

Otto von Bismarch played a key role in the unification of the German Empire.

The Act of Union (1707) between England and Scotland resulted in the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. After this England was able to impose its influence on Scotland.

The primary ethnic groups of Britain who inhabited the isles were English, Welsh, Scot or Irish. All of these ethnic groups had their own cultural and political traditions.

In the 18th century, Irish society was deeply divided between the two religious sects of Catholics and Protestants.

The symbols of the newly formed Britain which were actively promoted were; the British flag (Union Jack), the national anthem (God Save Our Noble King), and the English language.

Metternich said, "When France sneezes, the rest of Europe catches cold." He said this because events in France had consequences beyond France. They influenced the events in the rest of Europe. For example, the July Revolution of 1830 in France sparked an uprising in Brussels which led to Belgium breaking away from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Italians were scattered over several dynastic states as well as the multi-national Habsburg Empire. During the middle of the nineteenth century, Italy was divided into seven states, of which only one, Sardinia-Piedmont, was ruled by an Italian princely house. The north was under Austrian Habsburgs, the centre was ruled by the Pope and the southern regions were under the domination of the Bourbon kings of Spain.

During the 1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini had sought to put together a coherent programme for a unitary Italian Republic. He had also formed a secret society called Young Italy for the dissemination of his goals.

The image known as "Germania guarding the Rhine"
In 1860, the artist Lorenz Clasen was commissioned to paint this image. The inscription on Germanias sword reads: The German sword protects the German Rhine.
Germania was Allegory of German Nation.

In the year 1848, a revolution led by the educated middle classes was under way. Events of February 1848 in France had brought about the abdication of the monarch and a republic based on universal male suffrage had been proclaimed.

In 1845, weavers in Silesia led a revolt against contractors who supplied them raw material and gave them orders for finished textiles but drastically reduced their payments.

The French revolutionaries took many important steps to create a sense of collective identity among the French people which were:

•  Ideas of la patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen) emphasising the notion of a united community enjoying equal rights under a constitution.
•  A new French flag, a tricolour replaced the royal standard.
•  The Estates General was renamed the National Assembly and was elected by a group of active citizens.
•  New hymns, oaths and martyrs commemorated in the name of the nation.
•  A central administrative system made uniform laws for the entire nation.
•  Discouraging regional dialects and promoting French as a common language of the nation.

Marianne and Germania were respective female allegories for the French and the German nation. They stood as personifications of ideals like 'liberty' and 'the republic'. The importance of how they were portrayed lay in the fact that the public could identify with their symbolic meaning, and this would instill a sense of national unity in them.

The role of women in nationalist struggles: The issue of extending political rights to women was a controversial one within the liberal movement, in which large numbers of women had participated actively over the years. Women had formed their own political associations, founded newspapers and taken part in political meetings and demonstrations. Despite this, they were denied suffrage during the election of the Assembly. When the Frankfurt Parliament convened in the Church of St. Paul, women were admitted only as observers to stand in the visitors’ gallery.

The Frankfurt Parliament: It was an all-German National Assembly formed by the middle-class professionals, businessmen and prosperous artisans belonging to the different German regions. It was convened on 18 May, 1848 in the Church of St. Paul, in the city of Frankfurt. This assembly drafted a constitution for a German nation to be headed by a monarchy subject to a parliament. However, it faced opposition from the aristocracy and military. Also, as it was dominated by the middle classes, it lost its mass support base. In the end, it was forced to disband on 31 May, 1849.

Giuseppe Mazzini born in Genoa in 1807, was an Italian revolutionary. He was a member of the secret society of the Carbonari. At the age of 24, he was sent into exile in 1831 for attempting a revolution in Liguria. He founded underground societies named ‘Young Italy’ in Marseilles and ‘Young Europe’ in Berne, whose members were like-minded young men from Poland, France, Italy and the German States.

The history of nationalism in Britain unlike the rest of Europe because:

• In Britain the formation of the nation-state was not the result of a sudden upheaval or revolution.
• The primary identities of the people who inhabited the British Isles were ethnic ones - such as English, Welsh, Scot or Irish.
• The Act of Union (1707) between England and Scotland resulted in the formation of the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain' meant that England was able to impose its influence on Scotland. Scotland's distinctive culture and political institutions were systematically suppressed.
• The Scottish Highlanders were forbidden to speak their Gaelic language or wear their national dress and large numbers were forcibly driven out of their homeland.
• The English helped the Protestants of Ireland to establish their dominance over a largely Catholic country. Catholic revolts against British dominance were suppressed. Ireland was forcibly incorporated into the United Kingdom in 1801.
• The symbols of the new Britain - the British flag, the national anthem, the English language were actively promoted and the older nations survived only as subordinate partners in this union.

In the 1800s, nationalist feelings were strong in the hearts of the middle-class Germans. They united in 1848 to create a nation-state out of the numerous German States. But the monarchy and the military got together to repress them and they gained support from the landowners of Prussia (the Junkers) too. Prussia soon became the leader of the German unification movement. Its Chief Minister Otto von Bismarck was the architect of the process with support from Prussian army and Prussian bureaucracy. The unification process was completed after Prussia won wars with Austria, Denmark, and France over seven years time. In January 1871, the Prussian king, William I, was proclaimed the German Emperor in a ceremony held at Versailles.

The principles of liberty, equality and fraternity of the revolutionary period influenced Indian nationals. Indian nationals developed a democratic outlook and tried to imbibe these principles into the national movement.

In 1862, Otto von Bismarck was appointed Prussia's Prime Minister under King Wilhelm I and he devoted himself to the task of uniting the German states under Prussian leadership.

Nationalist tensions emerged in the Balkans because of the spread of ideas of romantic nationalism as also the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire that had previously ruled over this area. The different Slavic communities in the Balkans began to strive for independent rule. They were jealous of each other and every state wanted more territory, even at the expense of others. Also, the hold of imperial power over the Balkans made the situation worse. Russia, Germany, England, Austro-Hungary all wanted more control over this area. These conflicts ultimately led to the First World War in 1914.

Kaiser William I was proclaimed German Emperor in a ceremony held at Versailles in January 1871.

Germany became united under Bismarck.

The 1848 revolution of the liberals refers to the various national movements pioneered by educated middle classes alongside the revolts of the poor, unemployed and starving peasants and workers in Europe. While in countries like France, food shortages and widespread unemployment during 1848 led to popular uprisings, in other parts of Europe (such as Germany, Italy, Poland, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire), men and women of the liberal middle classes came together to voice their demands for the creation of nation-states based on parliamentary principles. The political, social and economic ideas supported by the liberals were:

•  Politically, they demanded constitutionalism with national unification, nation-state with a written constitution and parliamentary administration.
•  Socially, they wanted to rid society of its class-based partialities and birthrights. Serfdom and bonded labor had to be abolished.
•  Economically they demanded freedom of markets and right to property. The abolition of state-imposed restrictions on the movements of goods and capital.

The three features of the Spartacist League were:

• The Spartacist League was another political party in Germany that opposed the Weimer Republic.
• They supported Soviet style governance.
• They were opposed by the Socialists, Democrats, Catholics and were crushed by the Free Corps.
• Later the anguished Spartacists formed the Communist Party of Germany.

The main aim of French revolutionaries was: 
To create a sense of collective identity amongst the French people by banning the estate system.

The development of nationalism did not come about only through wars and territorial expansion. Culture played an important role in creating the idea of the nation: art and poetry, stories and music helped express and shape nationalist feelings. Romanticism was a cultural movement which sought to develop a particular form of nationalist sentiment. Romantic artists and poets generally became strong critics of reason and science in their glorified forms. The Romanticists dwelt more on emotions, intuition and mystical feelings. They were aiming at creating a sense of shared collective heritage and common cultural part to serve as the basis of a nation.

During the years following 1815, the fear of repression drove many liberal-nationalists underground. Secret societies sprang up in many European states to train revolutionaries and spread their ideas.
The Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Mazzini became a member of the secret society of the Carbonari. He subsequently founded two more underground societies, first, Young Italy in Marseilles, and then, Young Europe in Berne, whose members were like-minded young men from Poland, France, Italy and the German states. Following his model, secret societies were set up in Germany, France, Switzerland and Poland.

i) They choose a new French flag, the tricolour, to replace the royal stand.

Nationalism developed through culture in Europe for the following reasons:
1) Culture played an important role in creating the idea of the nation, art and poetry, stories and music helped to express and shape nationalist feelings.
2) Romanticism a cultural movement which sought to develop a particular form of nationalist sentiment. Romantic artists and poets generally criticized the glorification of reason and science and focussed instead on emotions, intuition and mystical feelings. 
3) German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder claimed that true German culture was to be discovered among the common people- das volk. It was through folk songs, folk poetry and folk dances that the true spirit of a nation was popularized.
4) The emphasis on vernacular language and the collection of local folklore was used to carry the modern nationalist message to large audiences who were mostly illiterates.

• The most serious source of nationalist tension in Europe after 1871 was the area called the Balkans. The Balkans was a region of geographical and ethnic variation comprising modern-day Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro whose inhabitants were broadly known as the Slavs.
  
• A large part of the Balkans was under the control of the Ottoman Empire. The spread of the ideas of romantic nationalism in the Balkans together with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire made this region very explosive. 
• The rebellious nationalities in the Balkans thought of their struggles as attempts to win back their long-lost independence. As the different Slavic nationalities struggled to define their identity and independence, the Balkan area became an area of intense conflict. 
• The Balkan states were fiercely jealous of each other and each hoped to gain more territory at the expense of the others.
  

Romanticism, a cultural movement, sought to develop a particular form of nationalist sentiment. It generally criticised the glorification of reason and Science and focused instead on emotions, intuition and mystical feelings. Its effort was to create a sense of a shared collective heritage, a common cultural past, as the basis of a nation
Romanticism is a cultural movement which sought to develop a particular form of nationalist sentiment. The emphasis on vernacular language and the collection of local folklore was not just to recover an ancient national spirit, but also to carry the modern nationalist message to large audiences who were mostly illiterate. Language too played an important role in developing nationalist sentiments. After Russian occupation, the Polish language was forced out of schools and the Russian language was imposed everywhere. Polish was used for Church gatherings and all religious instruction. As a result, a large number of priests and bishops were put in jail. The use of Polish came to be seen as a symbol of the struggle against Russian dominance. 

Female allegories were invented by artists in the nineteenth century to represent the nation. In France, Marianne, a popular Christian name was chosen as the allegory of the French nation. It underlined the idea of a people’s nation. Her characteristics were the red cap, the tricolour, the cockade. Statues of Marianne were erected in public squares to remind the public of the national symbol of unity and to persuade them to identify with it.

The 1830 and 1848 revolutions were led by liberal-nationalists belonging to the educated middle-class elite, among whom were professors, school-teachers, clerks and members of the commercial middle classes.

Language played an important role in developing nationalist sentiments in Poland. After Russian occupation, the Polish language was forced out of schools and the Russian language was imposed everywhere. Many members of the clergy in Poland began to use language as a weapon of national resistance. Polish was used for Church gatherings and all religious instruction. A large number of priests were put in jail by the Russians as punishment for their refusal to preach in Russian. The use of Polish was seen as a symbol of the struggle against Russian dominance.

In parts of Europe where independent nation-states did not yet exist (such as Germany, Italy, Poland, the Austro-Hungarian Empire) the liberal middle classes combined their demands for constitutionalism with national unification. They took advantage of the growing popular unrest to push their demands for the creation of a nation-state on parliamentary principles i.e. a nation-state with a constitution, freedom of the press and freedom of association.