History: The Rise of Nationalism in Europe

The One Thing

The French Revolution transformed political authority by asserting that sovereignty belonged to the nation and its citizens rather than to a monarch or dynasty. Nationalism subsequently helped create modern nation-states, especially in Germany and Italy, but competing national claims, imperialism and militarism intensified European rivalry and contributed to the First World War.

Chronology

Who and What

• Nationalism: A feeling of shared identity and loyalty among people who believe they belong to the same nation. It could unite people around common political goals but could also exclude minorities and create conflict between nations.
• Nation-state: A state in which most citizens share a common national identity and the government represents the nation.
• French Revolution: The revolution of 1789 that challenged absolute monarchy and promoted liberty, equality and fraternity. It declared that the nation, rather than a king or dynasty, was the source of political power.
• Liberalism: A political idea supporting individual freedom, equality before the law, representative government and economic freedom.
• Conservatism: A belief in preserving traditional institutions and making gradual rather than sudden political changes.
• Suffrage: The right to vote in elections. In nineteenth-century Europe, it was often limited to property-owning men, although France established universal male suffrage in 1848.
• Nationalism and romanticism: The use of folk songs, poetry, language, art and traditions to create a shared national feeling.
• Napoleonic Code: The Civil Code of 1804. It established equality before the law, ended many privileges based on birth and protected property rights.
• Congress of Vienna: The 1815 meeting led by European powers to restore conservative monarchies and redraw boundaries after Napoleon’s defeat.
• Zollverein: A customs union formed in 1834 among many German states under Prussian leadership. It removed trade barriers and supported German economic unity.
• Giuseppe Mazzini: An Italian nationalist who promoted a united and republican Italy through organisations such as Young Italy.
• Count Camillo de Cavour: The chief minister of Sardinia-Piedmont who used diplomacy and war to help unite Italy.
• Giuseppe Garibaldi: An Italian revolutionary leader whose volunteers conquered territories in southern Italy and supported unification.
• Victor Emmanuel II: The monarch proclaimed king of united Italy in 1861; further regions were added during the later stages of unification.
• Otto von Bismarck: The Prussian leader who unified Germany through diplomacy and a series of wars under the policy of blood and iron.
• Kaiser William I: The leader under whom the German Empire was proclaimed at Versailles in 1871.
• Allegory: A symbolic representation of an idea or nation through a person, object or image.
• Marianne: The female allegory of the French nation, representing liberty and the republic.
• Germania: The female allegory of the German nation, representing strength, unity and national identity.
• Balkan nationalism: National movements among peoples in southeastern Europe seeking independence from the Ottoman Empire and other imperial powers.
• The Balkans: A region including modern-day Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Much of it was controlled by the Ottoman Empire, whose weakening encouraged competing national movements.
• Imperialism: The policy of extending a country’s control over other territories, often for political and economic advantage.
• Multinational empire: An empire containing several different nations, ethnic groups, languages or cultures under one ruler.
• Triple Alliance: One of the rival alliance systems involved in the First World War.
• Triple Entente: The opposing rival alliance system involved in the First World War.

Causes and Consequences

• The French Revolution of 1789 challenged absolute monarchy and transferred sovereignty from the monarch to the nation and citizens. This established the principle of popular sovereignty and helped spread ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity.

• Liberalism promoted individual freedom, equality before the law, representative government and economic freedom, while conservatism sought to preserve traditional institutions and support gradual change. The conflict between these ideas shaped European politics after 1789.

• The Napoleonic Code of 1804 spread legal equality, removed many privileges based on birth and protected property rights. Common laws, economic integration and administrative reforms helped develop national consciousness.

• The Congress of Vienna in 1815 restored conservative monarchies and redrew European boundaries under old dynasties. Its attempt to suppress nationalism and liberalism was weakened because national and constitutional ideas continued to spread.

• The creation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands by combining Belgium and Holland in 1815 showed that political boundaries could conflict with cultural, religious and economic identities. Belgium’s independence in 1830 followed this unresolved tension.

• The July Revolution in France in 1830 replaced the Bourbon monarchy with a constitutional monarchy. The same year, Belgium broke away from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, showing the continuing force of liberal and national movements.

• Greece’s recognition as an independent nation in 1832 demonstrated how Balkan nationalism could challenge Ottoman rule. The weakening of the Ottoman Empire encouraged further competing national movements in southeastern Europe.

• The Zollverein, formed in 1834 among German states under Prussian leadership, removed trade barriers and promoted economic unity. This integration strengthened the material basis for political unification.

• The revolutions of 1848 demanded constitutional government, national unity and social reforms. In France, Louis Philippe was overthrown and a republic with universal male suffrage was established. In Germany, however, the Frankfurt Parliament failed because the Prussian king rejected the crown and conservative forces regained control.

• Italian unification from 1859 to 1870 depended on the combined efforts of Mazzini, Cavour, Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel II. Its outcome showed that nationalism could be advanced through popular movements, diplomacy, military action and monarchical authority rather than through democratic movements alone.

• Prussia’s wars against Denmark, Austria and France from 1864 to 1871 enabled Bismarck to unify Germany. The proclamation of the German Empire at Versailles in 1871 under Kaiser William I established a powerful nation-state through state leadership, military action and diplomacy.

• Women participated in nineteenth-century nationalist movements but generally did not receive voting rights. This demonstrated the gap between nationalist claims of popular unity and the restricted political participation available to much of the population.

• Nationalism could unite populations through shared territory, history, culture, language and political identity, but it could also exclude minorities and encourage territorial disputes between nations.

• In the Balkans, the weakening of Ottoman imperial rule combined with competing national claims and foreign intervention. This made the region a major centre of European tension.

• By the early twentieth century, nationalism had become closely linked with imperialism, militarism and international rivalry. National rivalries, territorial disputes and imperial competition created conditions in which the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914 helped trigger the First World War.

• The First World War, fought from 1914 to 1918 between rival alliance systems including the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente, changed European political boundaries and contributed to the collapse of the German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian empires.

What Gets Asked

• How did the French Revolution change the source of political authority, and how did liberty, equality, popular sovereignty and the idea of a united nation develop from it?
• Why did the Congress of Vienna attempt to suppress nationalism, and why did liberal and nationalist ideas continue to spread after 1815?
• How did economic integration, common laws, language and cultural symbols contribute to national consciousness, including through the Zollverein, the Napoleonic Code and nationalism and romanticism?
• To what extent were Italian and German unification achieved through popular nationalism rather than diplomacy, monarchies, armies and state power?
• How did Balkan nationalism and the weakening of the Ottoman Empire contribute to European instability?
• How did nationalism become connected with imperialism, militarism, alliance systems and international rivalry, thereby contributing to the First World War?