The Rise of Nationalism in Europe(Class X NCERT): Study Note

The Rise of Nationalism in Europe (Study Notes of Class X as per NCERT Pattern)

              Study notes of Social Science of Class X (NCERT Book)

          Chapter:   The Rise of Nationalism in Europe

• Frederic Sorrieu was a French artist.
• In 1848, Frederic Sorrieu prepared a series of four prints visualising his dream of a world made up of democratic and social Republics.
• Absolutist:-  A Government or system of rule that has no restraints on the power exercised.

                             ( वैसे लोग जो निरंकुश शासन से सहमत हो , Absolutist कहलाते हैं )

• Utopian(काल्पनिक ):- A Vision of a society that is so ideal that it is unlikely to actually exist.
• Plebiscite(जनमत संग्रह ):- A direct vote by which all the people of a region are asked to accept or reject a proposal.

Question : Define the definition of Nation according to Ernst Renan.

• Answer:- Ernst Renan was the famous French Philosopher. He delivered a lecture at the University of Sorbonne in  1882 . In this lecture, he defined the definition of nation that A nation is the culmination of a long past of endeavours, sacrifice and devotion. A heroic past, great men, glory, that is the social capital upon which one bases a national idea. To have common glories in the past, to have a common will in the present, to have performed great deeds together, to wish to perform still more, these are the essential conditions of being a people. A nation therefore a large-scale solidarity.. Its existence is a daily plebiscite. A province is its inhabitants: if anyone has the right to be consulted, it is the inhabitant. A nation never has any real interest in annexing or holding on to a country against its will. The existence of nation is a good thing, a necessity even. Their existence is a guarantee of liberty, which would be lost if the world had only one law and only one master.

The French Revolution and the Idea of the Nation:-

• The first clear expression of nationalism came with the French Revolution in 1789. 
• Before 1789, France was a full-fledged territorial state under the rule of an absolute monarch. 
• After the revolution of 1789, A new French flag, the tricolour, was chosen to replace the former royal standard. The Estates General was elected by the body of active citizens and renamed the National Assembly.
• New Hymns(स्तुति का गीत ) were composed, oaths(शपथ ) taken and martyrs(शहीदों ) commemorated(याद करना ), all in the name of nation.
• The Civil Code of 1804 of France was also known as the Napoleonic Code. 

Question. What was the Civil Code of 1804 of France?

• Answer: - The Civil Code of 1804 of France was exported to the regions under French control. In the Dutch Republic, in Switzerland, in Italy and Germany, Napoleon simplified administrative divisions, abolished the feudal system and freed peasants from serfdom and manorial dues.  In the towns too, guild restrictions were removed. Transport and communication systems were improved. Peasants, artisans, workers and new businessmen enjoyed a new-found freedom. Businessmen and small-scale producers of goods, in particular, began to realise that uniform laws, standardised weights and measures, and a common national currency would facilitate the movement and exchange of goods and capital from one region to another.

The Making of Nationalism in Europe:-

• Napoleon invades Italy in 1797 and Napoleonic wars begin.
• in 1814-1815 is the period of fall of Napoleon and he settled in vienna place settlement.
• 1821 AD, Greek struggle for independence begins.
• Revolution started in Europe in 1848 AD, artisans, industrial workers and peasants revolt against economic hardships, middle classes demand constitutions and representative governments, Italians, Germans, Magyars, Poles, Czechs etc demand nation-states.
• 1859-1870 AD was the period of unification of Italy.
• 1866-1871 AD was the period of Unification of Germany.
• in 1905 AD slav nationalism gathers force in the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires.
• Suffrage-The right to vote. (वोट का अधिकार )
• Conservatism:- A political philosophy that stressed the importance of tradition, established institutions and customs, and preferred gradual development to quick change.
• Giuseppe Mazzini was the Italian revolutionary. He born in Genoa in 1807 AD.
• Giuseppe Mazzini became a member of the secret society of the Carbonari. As a young man of 24, he was sent into exile(निर्वासन ) in 1831 for attempting a revolution in Liguria.
• Giuseppe Mazzini founded two underground societies, first, Young Italy in Marseilles, and Young Europe in Berne. 

The Age of Revolutions: 1830-1848

• The first upheaval (उथल पुथल ) took place in France in July 1830.
• Lord Byron was the English Poet and he died of fever in 1824 AD .
• The treaty of Constantinople of 1832 recognised Greece as an independent nation.
• The French painter Delacroix was one of the most important French Romantic painters. His one of the best painting was the Massacre at Chios. The dimension of this painting was (4.19m x3.54 m).  This huge painting depicts an incident in which 20,000 Greeks were said to have been killed by Turks on the island of Chios.  By dramatising the incident, focusing on the suffering of women and children, and using vivid colours, Delacroix sought to appeal to the emotions of the spectators, and create sympathy for the Greek.
• Johann Gottfried was the famous German Philosopher.
• Feminist- Awareness of women's rights and interests based on the belief of the social, economic and political equality of the genders.

Question: How were liberty and equality for women to be defined?

• Answer:- The liberal politician Carl Welcker, an elected member of the Frankfurt Parliament, expressed the following views.   Nature has created men and women to carry out different functions. Man, the stronger, the bolder and freer of the two, has been designated as protector of the family, its provider, meant for public tasks in the domain of law, production, defence. Woman, the weaker, dependent and timid, requires the protection of man.  Her sphere is the home, the care of the children, the nurturing of the family.   Louise Otto-Peters was a political activist who founded a women's journal and subsequently a feminist political association.  The first issue of her newspaper carried the following editorial:-----  Let us ask how many men, possessed by thoughts of living and dying for the sake of liberty, would be prepared to fight for the freedom of the entire people, of all human beings? when asked this question, they would all too easily respond with a Yes!, though their untiring efforts are intended for the benefit of only one half of humanity --men.  But liberty is indivisible! Free men therefore must not tolerate to be surrounded by the unfree.  An anonymous reader of the same newspaper sent the following letter to the editor on 25 June 1850. It is indeed ridiculous and unreasonable to deny women political rights even though they enjoy the right to property which they make use of.  They perform functions and assume responsibilities without however getting the benefits that accrue to men for the same.
• Ideology:- System of ideas reflecting a particular social and political vision.

The Making of Germany and Italy:-

• After 1848, nationalism in Europe moved away from its association with democracy and revolution.  
• In January 1871, the Prussian king, William I, was proclaimed German Emperor in a ceremony held at Versailles.
• On the bitterly cold morning of 18 January 1871, an assembly comprising the princes of the German states, representative of the army, important Prussian ministers including of chief minister Otto von Bismarck gathered in the unheated Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles to proclaim the new German Empire headed by Kaiser William I of Prussia.
• The nation building process in Germany had demonstrated the dominance of Prussian state power.
• The Act of Union (1707) between England and Scotland that resulted in the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain meant, in effect that England was able to impose its influence on Scotland.
• Ireland was forcibly incorporated into the United Kingdom in 1801 .
• Ethnic- Relates to a common racial, tribunal or culture origin or background that a community identifies with or claims.

Question : Write the short notes on Giuseppe Garibaldi.

• Answer:- Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) was one of the famous Italian freedom fighters. He came from a family engaged in coastal trade and was a sailor in the merchant nave.  In 1833, he met Mazzini, joined the Young Italy movement and participated in a republican uprising in piedmont in 1834.  The uprising was suppressed and garibaldi had to flee to South America, where he lived in exile till 1848. He supported Victor Emmanuel II in his efforts to unify the Italian states. In 1860, Garibaldi led the famous Expedition of the Thousand to South Italy.  Fresh volunteers kept joining through the course of the campaign, till their numbers grew to about 30,000.  They were popularly known as Red Shirts.   In 1867, Garibaldi led an army of volunteers to Rome to fight the last obstacle to the unification of Italy, the Papal States where a French garrison was stationed.  The Red Shirts proved to be no match for the combined French and Papal troops.  It was only in 1870 when, during the war with Prussia, France withdrew its troops from Rome that the Papal States were finally joined to Italy.

Visualising of Nation:-

• Allegory- When an abstract Idea is expressed through a person or a thing.  An allegorical story has two meanings, one literal and one symbolic.

         Meaning of Symbol

• Attribute                                        Significance

1. Broken Chains                             Being Freed
2. Breastplate with eagle                   Symbol of the German empire-Strength
3. Crown of Oak leaves                    Heroism
4. Sword                                         Readiness to fight
5. Olive branch around the sward      Willingness to make peace
6. Black, red and gold tricolour        Flag of the liberal nationalists in 1848,
7. Rays of the rising sun                 Beginning of a New era.

Nationalism and Imperialism:-

• The most serious source of nationalist tension in Europe after 1871 was the are 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.

Write in brief:-

Question : Write a short note on Giuseppe Mazzini.

• Answer:  Giuseppe Mazzini:-  Giuseppe Mazzini was the Italian revolutionary. He born in Genoa in 1807. He became a member of the secret society of the Carbonari.  As a young man of 24, he was sent into exile in 1831 for attempting a revolution in Liguria. 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 state. Mazzini believed that God had intended nations to be the natural units of mankind.

Question: Write a short note on Count Camillo de Cavour.

• Answer: Count Camillo de Cavour (1810-1861) was a kingdom of Italy. He designed the constitutional structure  of  unitary Italy. 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. Even the Italian language had not acquired on common form and still had many regional and local variations. so, in this situation unification of Italy was must required and finally unification of Italy was done and Count Camillo de Cavour played the important role to delivered a powerful constitution for unitary Italy.

Question: Write a short note on  The Greek War of Independence.

• Answer: Greece had been part of the Ottoman Empire since the fifteenth century. The growth of revolutionary nationalism in Europe sparked off a struggle for independence amongst the Greeks which began in 1821.  Nationalists in Greece got support from other Greeks living in exile and also from many west Europeans who had sympathies for ancient Greek culture.  Poets and artists launded Greece as the cradle of European civilisation and mobilised public opinion to support its struggle against a Muslim empire.  The English poet Lord Byron organised funds and later went to fight in the war, where he died of fever in 1824, Finally, the Treaty of Constantinople of 1832 recognised Greece as an independent nation.

Question : Write a short note on Frankfurt Parliament.

• Answer: In the German regions a large number of political associations whose members were middle-class professionals, businessmen and prosperous artisans came together in the city of Frankfurt and decided to vote for an all-German National Assembly.  On 18 May 1848, 831 elected representatives marched in a festive procession to take their places in the Frankfurt Parliament convened in the Church of St Paul. They drafted a constitution for a German nation to be headed by a monarchy subject to a parliament.

Question; What steps did the French revolutionaries take to create a sense of collective identity among the French people?

• Answer:-From the very beginning, the French revolutionaries introduced various measures and practices that could create a sense of collective identity amongst the French people.  The ideas of la patrie(the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen) emphasised the notion of a united community enjoying equal rights under a constitution.  A new French flag, the tricolour, was chosen to replace the former royal standard.  The Estates General was elected by the body of active citizens and renamed the National Assembly.  New hymns were composed, oaths taken and martyrs commemorated, all in the name of the nation.  A centralised administrative system was put in place and it formulated uniform laws for all citizens within its territory.

Question: Who were Marianne and Germania? What was the importance of the way in which they were portrayed?

• Answer:-Marianne, a popular Christian name, which underlined the idea of a people's nation.  Her characteristics were drawn from those of Liberty and the Republic-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.  Marianne images were marked on coins and stamps.

           Germania became the allegory of the German nation.  In visual representations, Germania                   wears a crown of oak leaves, as the German Oak stands for heroism.

Question : Briefly trace the process of German Unification.

• Answer:-After 1848, nationalism in Europe moved away from its association with democracy  and revolution.  Nationalist sentiments were often mobilised by conservatives for promoting state power and achieving political domination over Europe. This can be observed in the process by which Germany and Italy came to be unified as nation-states.  nationalist feelings were widespread amongst middle class Germans, who in 1848 tried to unite the different regions of the German confederation into a nation-state governed by an elected parliament.  This liberal initiative to nation building was, however, repressed by the combined forces of the monarchy and the military, supported by the large landowners (called junkers) of Prussia.  From then on, Prussia took on the leadership of the movement for national unification.  Its chief minister, Otto von Bismarck, was the architect of this process carried out with the help of the Prussian army and bureaucracy.  Three wars over seven years- with Austria, Denmark and France-ended in Prussian victory and completed the process of unification.  In January 1871, the Prussian King, William I, was proclaimed German Emperor in a ceremony held at Versailles.  On the bitterly cold morning of 18 January 1871, an assembly comprising the princes of the German states, representatives of the army, important Prussian ministers including the chief minister Otto von Bismarck gathered in the unheated Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles to proclaim the new German Empire headed by Kaiser Williams I of Prussia. The nation building process in Germany had demonstrated the dominance of Prussian state power.  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.

Question: What changes did Napoleon introduce to make the administrative system more efficient in the territories ruled by him?

• Answer:-Napoleon set about introducing many of the reforms that he had already introduced in France.  Through a return to monarchy Napoleon had, no doubt, destroyed democracy in France, but in the administrative field he had incorporated revolutionary principles in order to make the whose system more rational and efficient.  The Civil Code of 1804 which was also called Napoleonic Code, did away with all privileges based on birth, established equality before the law and secured the right to property.  This Code was exported to the regions under French Control.  In the Dutch Republic, in Switzerland, in Italy and Germany, Napoleon simplified administrative divisions, abolished the feudal system and freed peasants from serfdom and manorial dues.  In the towns too, guild restrictions were removed.  Transport and communication system were improved.  Peasants, artisans, workers and new businessmen enjoyed a new found freedom.  Businessmen and small scale producers of goods, in particular, began to realise that uniform laws, standardised weights and measures, and a common national currency would facilitate the movement and exchange of goods and capital from one region to another.

For the Study note of The Nationalist Movement in Indo-China, Click Here.