RISE OF NATIONALISM IN EUROPE

 RISE OF NATIONALISM IN EUROPE

* Nationalism is a sense of identity with the nation. In other words, nationalism is a political and socio economic philosophy that promotes the interest of a nation as a whole. Many European Nations experienced heightened periods of nationalism in the 19th century.

* Nationalism in Europe can be traced back to the decline of feudalism and the beginning of the Renaissance which means 'Rebirth'. The Renaissance in Europe fostered new political ideas.

* the concepts of liberty, equality, fraternity and nationalism dominated the social and political scene of Europe in the 19th century.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

* the concepts of liberty, equality, fraternity and nationalism dominated the social and political scene of Europe in the 19th century.

* The French revolution in 1789 was an influential event that marked the age of revolutions in Europe. The major outcome of the revolution was the formation of a constitutional monarchy and cisable reduction in the royal and feudal privileges.

* It paved the way for the achievement of bigger goals of national identity and national Pride, which can be aptly called nationalism.

* The French revolution produced a famous historic personality and warrior called Napoleon Bonaparte. He introduced several effective administrative changes like civil code of 1804 which was also known as the 'Napoleonic code'.

ADVENT OF LIBERALISM IN EUROPE:

* During the mid-18th century, Europe was divided into several small kingdoms and principalities. The concept of nation state did not exist at all. People with diverse ethnic groups lived in eastern and Central Europe.

* The prominent empires in Europe for the autocratic Ottoman Empire that ruled over the Eastern and Central Europe and Greece and the Habsburg Empire that ruled over Austria and Hungary.

RISE OF CONSERVATISM AND REVOLUTIONARY:

* The middle class believed in freedom and equality of all individuals before law. Liberalism was used by them to and aristocracy and clerical privileges. After the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815, the European government adopted the idea of conservatism.

* Conservatism was a political philosophy that stressed with the importance of tradition, established institutions and customs, and preferred gradual development than a quick change.

* After 1815, several liberals begin working in secret societies all over Europe to propagate their views and train the revolutionaries. Revolutionaries was seen as a threat to the restored monarchies, and hence were repressed.

* Giuseppe Mazzini,a famous Italian revolutionary was born in 1807 in Genoa. He was part of a secret society called Carbonari and founded two underground societies called Young Italy in Marseilles, and Young Europe in Berne whose members were like-minded young men from Poland, France, Italy and the German states.

In 1831, Mazzini was sent into exile for attempting a revolution in Liguria. Mazzini believed in the unification of the small kingdoms and principalities in Italy.

THE AGE OF REVOLUTIONS (1830-1848):

* Liberalism and nationalism became associated with revolution in many regions of Europe such as the Italian and German states, the provinces of Ottoman Empire, Ireland and Poland.

* The first upheaval took place in France,in July 1830.

* The Greek War of Independence was another event which mobilised nationalist feelings among the educated elite across Europe.

* Culture plate and important role in creating the idea of the nation. Art, poetry, stories, music, etc., helped in expressing and shaping the nationalist feelings.

* Romanticism was a cultural movement which sought to develop a particular form of nationalist sentiments.

* Language too played an important role in developing nationalist sentiments.

* The 1830s saw a rise in prices, bad harvest, poverty in Europe. Besides the poor, unemployed and starving peasants, even educated middle class revolted.

* In 1848, an all-German National Assembly was voted for in Frankfurt.

* The issue of extending political rights to women became a controversial one.

* Conservative forces were able to suppress liberal movements in 1848, but could not restore the old order.

* After 1848, nationalism bin Europe moved away from its association with democracy and revolution.

NATION STATES - UNIFICATION OF ITALY, GERMANY AND BRITAIN

* Unification of Germany (1866-1871) 

• In 1848, middle class Germans tried to unite the different regions of the German confederation.

• Prussia took over the leadership of the movement.

• On 18 Jan 1871, the new German empire headed by a German Emperor Kaiser William I was declared in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles.

• The new German Empire focused on modernizing the currency, banking, legal and judicial systems.

* Unification of Italy

• Italy was divided into seven states.

• The central part was under the Pope.

• Failure of the 1831 and 1848 revolutionary uprisings prompted King Victor Emmanuel II from Sardinia-Piedmont to unify the Italian states. The chief minister, Count of Cavour, lead the movement.

• In 1861, Victor Emmanuel II was declared as the king of United Italy and Rome was declared as the capital of Italy.

VISUALISING THE NATION

• During the 18th and the 19th centuries, several symbols were used by artists and revolutionaries to depict abstract concepts. These symbols were usually popular images from everyday life that uneducated masses could easily identify with.

• During revolutions,artists represented a nation as a person. This personification gave life to an abstract concept like nation.

• The way of expressing an abstract idea like freedom or liberty through a symbol that may be person or thing is known as allegory. An allegory has a literal and a symbolic meaning. In the nineteenth century, French artists used the female allegory to represent France. She was named Marianne. She symbolised reason, liberty and the ideas of the republic.

• In Germany, the allegory for the nation was a female figure called Germania. A broken chain represented abolition of slavery.

NATIONALISM AND IMPERIALISM

• Through the 18th and mid- 19th century, Europe was marked by a lot of chaos and turmoil. After 1871, there was a significant change in the concept of nationalism in Europe.

• Nationalist groups in Europe bhad become increasingly incompatible with each other and were constantly in conflict. The major European powers, namely Russia, Germany, England and Austria-Hungary began taking advantage of nationalism in Europe, to materialise their aims for imperialism.

• The European powers sighted the much-disturbed Balkan region to fulfil their imperialist goals. The Balkan region consisted of the following recent countries -Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro.

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