Nationalism in Europe part 4

Germany: Can the Army be the Architect of a Nation?

Making of Germany

After 1848

The liberal movement 1848 of the middle-classes in Germany had earlier been repressed by
the combined forces of the monarchy and the military and the large landowners (called
junkers) of Prussia. After that, Prussia took on the leadership of the movement for national
unification.

Otto von Bismarck: Otto von Bismarck; the chief minister of Prussia, was the architect of this
process.

• He took the help of the Prussian army and bureaucracy in his endeavour.
• Three wars were fought over seven years; with Austria, Denmark and France.
• The wars ended in Prussian victory and completed the process of unification.
• The Prussian king, William I was proclaimed the German Emperor in a ceremony held
at Versailles in January 1871.

Reforms by the new state

The new state placed a strong emphasis

• on modernizing the currency

• banking
• Legal and judicial systems in Germany.
• Prussian measures and practices often became a model for the rest of Germany.
Unification of Italy

Italy had a long history of political fragmentation.

Italy was divided into seven states.

• Sardinia-Piedmont was ruled by an Italian princely house.

• The north was under Austrian Habsburgs

• The centre was under the Pope

• The southern regions were under the domination of the Bourbon kings of Spain.

• The Italian language had yet to acquire a common form and it still had many regional
and local variations.
 Chief Minister Cavour led the movement to unify the regions of Italy. He was neither a
revolutionary nor a democrat. He was like many other wealthy and educated members of the
Italian elite. He too was more fluent in French than in Italian.

• He made a tactful diplomatic alliance with France and thus succeeded in defeating the
Austrian forces in 1859.

• Then he took his regular troops under the leadership of Giuseppe Garibaldi and many
armed volunteers In 1860, they marched into South Italy and the Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies.

• They succeeded in winning the support of the local peasants and drove out the Spanish
rulers.

• Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of united Italy in 1861.

• But a large number of the Italian population remained blissfully unaware of liberal-
nationalist ideology; probably because of very high level of illiteracy.
The Strange Case of Britain

The formation of nation state in Britain did not happen because of a sudden upheaval or
revolution. It was the result of a long-drawn-out process.

• Before the eighteenth century, there was no British nation. The British Isles were
divided into different ethnicities; likeEngland ( English), Wales (Welsh,) Scotland ( Scot
) Ireland ( Irish.) Each ethnic group had its own cultural and political traditions.

• The English nation steadily grew in wealth, importance and power. Thus it was able to
extend its influence on the other nations of the islands.

• The English parliament seized power from the monarchy in 1688 after a prolonged
conflict.

• The English parliament formed a nation-state of Britain under The Act of Union (1707)
between England and Scotland resulted in the formation of the ‘United Kingdom of
Great Britain’.

• In this Union, England was the dominant partner and thus the British parliament was
dominated by its English members.

• The British suppressed the Scots identity and Scottish culture

• They were forbidden to speak their Gaelic language or wear their traditional dress.
Many of them were forcibly driven out of their homeland.

• Ireland suffered a similar fate.

 • It was a country deeply divided between Catholics and Protestants.

• The Protestants of Ireland established their dominance over the majority Catholics
through the English help.

• There was a failed revolt led by Wolfe Tone and his United Irishmen in 1798.

• After that, Ireland was forcibly incorporated into the United Kingdom in 1801. The
English culture was propagated forcefully to forge a new ‘British Nation’. With nations
as subordinate partners in this union.

5. Visualizing the Nation

Artists used female figures to personify a nation. During French Revolution, artists used the
female allegory to portray the ideas such as Liberty, Justice and the Republic.

In France, the nation was christened as Marianne,

• which is a popular Christian name for a woman.

• Her characteristics were drawn from those of Liberty and Republic; the red cap, the
tricolor, the cockade.
• Her statues were erected in public squares and her images were marked on coins and
stamps; to persuade the people to identify with it.

Germania became the allegory of the Germany nation.

• Germania wears a crown of oak leaves. The German oak stands for heroism.
• (Other features are mentioned in box 3 write from there.)

6. Nationalism and Imperialism

By the last quarter of the nineteenth century, nationalism could not retain its idealistic liberal-
democratic sentiment. It became a narrow creed with limited ends i.e to spread the
imperialism

Balkans

Conflict in the Balkans:

• Balkans was a region of geographical and ethnic variation comprising modern-day

Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia,
Serbia and Montenegro.
• The inhabitants of this region were broadly known as the Slavs.
• A large part of the Balkans was under the control of the Ottoman Empire.
 • Two factors played an important role in the rising of nationalism in this region
1. This was the period of disintegration of the Ottoman Empire
2. the spread of the ideas of romantic nationalism in the Balkans. These
developments made this region very explosive.
• All through the nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire tried to strengthen
itself through modernization and internal reforms. But it could not achieve
much success.
• Its European subject nationalities broke away from its control one by one and
declared independence. The Balkans used history and national identity and
culture to raise national sentiments.

The Balkan area became an area of intense conflict. also became the scene of big power rivalry.

• During this period, there was intense rivalry among the European powers over trade
and colonies
• To increase their naval and military might.
• Each power; Russia, Germany, England, Austro-Hungary; was keen on countering the
hold of other powers over the Balkans, and extending its own control over the area.
• This led to a series of wars in the region and finally culminated in the First World War.

Meanwhile, many countries in the world which had been colonized by the European powers in
the nineteenth century began to oppose imperial domination. People of different colonies
developed their own variation of nationalism. The idea of ‘nation-states’ thus became a
universal phenomenon.
Questions

1. Explain the contribution of Giuseppe mazzini in spreading revolutionary ideas in Europe.

2. Explain the role of language in developing the nationalist sentiments in Europe.
3. Italy had a long history of political fragmentation. Support the statement in 3 points.
4. Explain the allegory of France an Germany.
5. Till mid eighteenth century there was no nation state in Europe. Prove
6. Which 3 important personalities took part in the Italian unification?
Or
Describe the process of unification of Italy.
7. How was the Balkan region an area of conflict
8. Book questions 1 to 4
9. Book discuss ex 1 to 5
10. All new terms given in the chapter.