How far was nationalism the main reason for the outbreak of the 1848 revolution Flashcards
Factor 1- nationalism
Facts- Mazzini’s young italy had 50,000 devote nationalists from 1831, involved in revolutions across the period trying to gain a constitution eg the Bandiero Brothers in 1844 trying to invade Calabria.
-Risorgimento raised the idea of an uprising from below, with Verdi’s anti Austrian ideas being portrayed through opera, Congress of science spoke in Italian and encouraged moderate nationalism.
-HOWEVER nationalism was not a mass affair, Mazzini’s Bandiero Brothers was a complete failure with 19 men killed or imprisoned NEVER A NATIONAL UPRISING, A SERIES OF UNCONNECTED FAILED REVOLTS THROUGHOUT 1830-40, Genoa revolt in 1831 failed, bandiero brothers 1844. only 2.5% of Italians spoke Italian, even Mazzini spoke an Italian dialect and French, he never communicated with peasants and therefore they were apathetic to nationalism and more interested in hunger politics, no help for land reform.
Nationalism did have support, however there was not enough mass appeal of nationalism by 1848 for it to result in the outbreak of the revolutions because it excluded the lazzaroni in the south who didn’t understand the idea of nationalism and a constitution. Neo guelphs(gioberti) wanted pope led country, whilst D’azgelio wanted a revolution from above, The works of the Risorgimento were once again an elitist affair and weren’t enough to spark the revolutions.
Factor 2- Socio economic problems MAIN REASON
facts- 1848 revolution broke out in Palermo Sicily, in the south where life was poor, pre industrial and disease ridden. Sicily and Naples were actually fighting for independence from each other. 90% of Italy was poor peasants who farmed just enough to feed themselves, and following 2 years of poor European harvests they began to riot after food prices increased. Life expectancy in Naples was 24, and peasants blamed their leaders for the 65,000 deaths in late 1830 from Cholera.
Because so many people were poor and suffered from the food shortages and rising food prices, their main priority was fixing hunger problems; no gaining a constitution. It was not a concern for them, and the socio economic problems WERE a mass affair, sparking the revolutions in Palermo. The divide between the North and South made matters worse and nationalism wasn’t even understood by the South, so that can’t be attributed to the spark of revolution like widespread famine was.
Factor 3- Reforms of the pope
Facts- 90% of population were catholic, so widespread effect of introduction of more liberal pope(1846), even with his limited geographical control in the Papal States
- Released 2000 political prisoners, causing people to chant ‘O Sommo Pius’ and raising morale of supporters (more likely to revolt)
- Pope introduced consulta (elected body of advisors promoting greater democracy), entered customs union with Tuscany and Piedmont and abolished press censorship.
- He had a strong anti Austrian agenda and refused Austrian’s access from crossing into Papal States.
- THE ONE TRUE NATIONAL ELEMENT, BUT RELIGIOUS NOT NATIONALIST
- his papal allocution was then divisive as he didnt want to upset catholic Austria, and so it led to his anti-liberal PM Count Rossi being murdered
Explanation- bigger factor than nationalism due to wider appeal of these papal reforms, as 90% of Italy was Catholic and so he could appeal to the literate and non literate in a better way than nationalism, as reforms impacted much more people in many more different ways. Because of so many people’s devotion to the pope, they supported his anti Austrian agenda, causing people to support revolution, such as in the Roman Republic.
Factor 4- Unpopularity of Austrians
Facts- areas like Venetia and Lombardy under direct Austrian control resented Austria because of their high taxation that was used to fund the Austrian army. 1/3 of Austrian tax came from these two states alone. Led to declaration of republic of Venice in 1848
- Tensions increased when Austria occupied town of Ferrara in July 1847, leading to pope lodging formal complaint against Metternich and refusing them access into Papal States, asking the lord to bless Italia
Explanation- resentment of Austrians was increasing as more people began to dislike Metternich, giving people more of a reason to revolt, the republic of Venice led by Daniel Manin was one of the last to fall, showing the strength of those who hated Austrians, more important than nationalism as people were revolting to get rid of foreign powers, not necessarily unite the country.
Judgement/line of argument
The spark of the revolutions can be traced back to the poor living conditions and socio economic problem that were widespread across the south, causing the peasant Masses to start revolting against their leaders in Palermo Sicily. The increasing resentment of the Austrians was catalysed by the new liberal pope, causing revolution to spread and the reasons for revolution to change as it spread northwards. Nationalism however can not be attributed to sparking revolution because it’s appeal was too niche and it wasn’t understood by the majority of the population; therefore it was unable to captivate enough people to revolt against Austrians for the reason of unification. It was an elitist affair with small local revolution, unlike the famine revolutions that were felt by many more people.
