Rise of Nationalism in Europe

Question 1

Define Absolutist

Answer 1

• A government or system of rule in which there are no restraints on the power exercised
• In history, it refers to a form of monarchial government which was centralised, militarised and repressive

Question 2

Define Despotism

Answer 2

The exercise of abolutism in a cruel and oppresive manner

Question 3

Define Utopian

Answer 3

A vision of society that is so ideal that it is unlikely to exist

Question 4

Differentiate between nation-state and modern state

Answer 4

• A nation-state is a state in which majority of its citizens, not only its rulers, came to develop a sense of common identity and shared history or descent
• A modern state is a state in which a centralised power exercised sovereign control over a clearly defined territory

Question 5

Define Plebiscite

Answer 5

A direct vote by which all the people of a region are asked to accept or reject a proposal

Question 6

Define Guild

Answer 6

A society of producers
Example: craftsmen, merchants

Question 7

Define Serfdom

Answer 7

The practice in which a farmer was bound to a hereditary plot of land and to the will of his landlord

Question 8

Define Conservatism

Answer 8

• A political philosophy which stressed the importance of traditions, established institutions and customs, and preferred gradual change to quick change

Question 9

Define Romanticism

Answer 9

• A cultural movement to express and shape nationalist feelings through art, poetry, stories and music

Question 10

Write a short note on the given image (Pact Between Nations)

Answer 10

• In 1848, Frederic Sorrieu prepared a series of 4 prints visualising his dream of a world made up of democratic and social Repbulics
• In the first print, “The Pact between Nations”, the peoples of Europe and America are seen marching in a long train and offering their respect to the Statue of Liberty as they pass by it
• During the time of the French Revolution, liberty was personified as a female figure
• In the print, the Statue of Liberty is seen bearing the Torch of Enlightenment in one hand and the Charter of Rights of Man in the other
• On the earth, in the foreground, the shattered remains of absolutist symbols can be seen, symbolising the end of autocratic rule

Question 11

Describe Sorrieu’s utopian vision

Answer 11

• In Sorrieu’s utopian vision, all the peoples of the world were grouped into distinct nations, identifiable through their flag and national costume
• Leading the processions, in his print, past the Statue of Liberty, are US and Switzerland, who were already nation-states at the time
• They are followed by the peoples of France, identifiable by their revolutionary tricolor who has just reached the statue
• France is followed by the peoples of Germany, bearing the black, red and gold flag
• During this time, Germany had not yet become a unified nation, the flag was the expression of liberal hopes in 1848 to unite the German-speaking principalities into a nation-state
• Germany is followed by the peoples of Austria, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Lombardy, Poland, England, Ireland, Hungary and Russia
• From the skies above, Christ, saints and angels gaze upon the scene, symbolising fraternity amongst the nations

Question 12

Who was Ernst Renan? What did he propose?

Answer 12

• Ernst Renan was a French philosopher who outlined his understanding of whats makes a nation in an essay commonly known as “Qu’est-ce qu’une nation”
• He states that a nation is the culmination of a long past of endeavours, sacrifice and devotion
• According to Renan, the essential conditions of being a people are:
  * 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 more great deeds
• He believes that a nation-state guarantees liberty, which would be lost if all the peoples of the world were under one law and one master

Question 13

What was the effect of nationalism in Europe?

Answer 13

• During the 19th century, nationalism emerged as a force which brought about sweeping changes in the political and mental word in Europe
• The end result of these changes was the emergence of the nation-state in place of the multi-national dynastic empires of Europe

Question 14

When did the first clear expression of nationalism emerge in Europe?

Answer 14

• The first clear expression of nationalism came with the French Revolution in 1789
• The political and constitutional changes that were brought about because of this revolution led to the transfer of sovereignty from the monarch to a body of French citizens
• The revolutionaries also declared that the people would henceforth constitute the nation and shape its destiny

Question 15

What were the measures taken by French revolutionaries to create a sense of collective identity amongst the people?

Answer 15

• French revolutionaries introduced many measures and reforms to create a sense of collective identity amongst the people
• Ideas of la patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen) emphasized the notion of a united community enjoying equal rights under a Constitution
• A new French flag, the revolutionary tricolor, replaced the former royal standard
• The National Assembly was elected by a body of active citizens and was renamed the Estates General
• New hymns were composed, oaths taken and martyrs commemorated all in the name of the nation
• A centralised administrative system was put into place and it formulated uniform laws for citizens within its territory
• Internal custom duties and dues were abolished and a uniform system of weights and measures was introduced
• Regional dialects was discouraged and French became the common language of the nation
• The revolutionaries further declared that it was the mission and destiny of the French nation to free other peoples of Europe from despotism and help them become nation-states

Question 16

How did the French armies spread the idea of nationalism abroad?

Answer 16

• When the news of the events in France during the Revolution spead across Europe, students and other memebrs of educated middle-classes began to form Jacobin clubs
• Their activites and campaigns paved the way for the French armies and they moved into Holland, Switzerland, Belgium and parts of Italy
• With the outbreak of the revolutionary wars, the French armies carried the idea of nationalism abroad

Question 17

Write a short note on the Napoleonic Code

Answer 17

• Upon return as a monarch, Napoleon destroyed democracy in France
• However, within the wide swathe of his territory, he introduced measures and reforms in the administrative field to make the whole system more rational and efficient
• The Napoleonic Code, also known as the Civil Code of 1804, did away with all privileges related to birth, established equality before the law and secured the right to property
• This Code was exported to regions under French Control
• In the Dutch Empire, Switzerland, Germany and Italy, Napoleon simplified administrative divisions, abolished the feudal system and freed peasants from serfdom and manorial dues
• Transportation and communicated systems were improved
• Guild restrictions were removed in towns
• Peasants, artisans and workers enjoyed a new-found freedom
• Businessmen and small-scale producers of goods realized that uniform laws, standardized weights and measures and a common national currency would facilitate the exchange of goods, people and capital from one region to another

Question 18

What were the reactions of the local people to the Napoleonic Code?

Answer 18

• In the territories conqeuered, the reactions of the local people were mixed
• At first, in Holland, Switzerland and in cities such as Milan and Brussels, the French armies were welcomed as harbingers of liberty
• However, the initial enthusiasm soon turned into hostility as the people realised that the new administrative changes did not go hand in hand with political liberty
• Increased taxation, censorship and forced conscription into the French armies seemed to outweight the advantages of the administrative changes brought about by Napoleon

Question 19

How was the political sphere of Europe in the mid-18th century?

Answer 19

• During the mid-18th century in Europe, there were no nation-states
• What we now know as Italy, Switzerland and Germany were once divided into kingdoms, duchies and cantons whose rulers had their autonomous territories
• Central and Eastern Europe were under the rule of autocratic monarchies within the terrtories of which lived diverse groups of people
• They did not have a sense of collective identity amongst them and often spoke different languages and even belonged to different ethnic groups

Question 20

Describe Hapsburg Empire

Answer 20

• Hapsburg Empire, which ruled over Austria-Hungary, was a patchwork of different regions and peoples
• It included the Alpine regions of Tyrol, Austria and Sudetendland, as well as Bohemia, where the aristocracy was predoominantly German-speaking
• It also included the Italian speaking provinces of Venetia and Lombardy
• In Hungary, half the population spoke Magyar while the other half spoke a variety of dialects
• In Galicia, the aristocracy spoke Polish
• Within this empire, there also lived a diverse group of peasant peoples: Bohemians and Slovaks to the north, Slovenes in Carniola, Croats to the south and Romans to the east in Transylvania
• Such differences did not easily promote a sense of political unity amongst the people
• The only tie binding them together was the common allegiance to the emperor

Question 21

Who was the most dominant class in Europe during the mid-18th century?

Answer 21

• Socially and politically, the aristocracy was the most dominant class in Europe during the mid-18th century
• Aristocrats had a common way of life even across different regions
• They owned townhouses and estates in the countryside
• They spoke French for purposes of diplomacy and in high society
• Their families were often connected by ties of marriage

Question 22

To which class did majority of people in Europe belong to during the mid-18th century?

Answer 22

• Majority of the population in Europe belonged to the peasantry during the mid-18th century
• To the west, large areas of land were owned by tenants and small owners
• In Central and Eastern Europe, landholding was characterised by vast estates cultivated by serfs

Question 23

How did nationalism and the idea of nation-state emerge?

Answer 23

• In Central and Eastern Europe, industrial growth and trade led to growth of towns and emergence of new commercial classes whose existence depended upon the production for market
• Industralisation emerged in England by the late 18th century, but came into being in France and the German states only by the 19th century
• During this period, new social groups emerged: a working-class population and middle classes made up of industrialists, businessmen and professionals
• These groups were few in number in Central and Eastern Europe until the late 19th century
• It was among these liberal and educated middle classes that ideas of national unity and the abolition of aristocratic rights gained popularity

Question 24

What did liberal nationalism stand for?

Answer 24

• In 19th century Europe, ideas of national unity were closely related to liberalism
• Liberalism is derived from the Latin root “liber”, which means free
• For the middle classes, liberalism stood for freedom for the individual and equality of all before the low
• Politically, it emphasized the concept of government through consent
• Since the French Revolution, liberalism had stood for abolition of autocratic and clerical rights, a Constitution and a representative government through Parliament
• Economically, it stood for freedom of markets and abolition of state-imposed restrictions on movement of goods and capital
• This was a growing demand amongst the emerging middle classes in the 19th century

Question 25

Why did men and women organise opposition movements in the 19th and early 20th century?

Answer 25

• Equality of all before the law did not stand for universal suffrage
• In revolutionary France, the first political experiment of a liberal democracy, the right to vote and to be elected was limited to propertied men
• Women and non-propertied men were deprived of political rights
• It was only for a brief moment under the rule of the Jacobins that all men had the right to vote
• This ended soon with the establishment of the Napoleonic Code which limited suffrage and reduced women to the status of a minor, subject to authority of fathers and husbands
• During the 19th and early 20th century, women and non-propertied men organised opposition movements demanding for equal political rights

Question 26

Describe the economic condition of the German states before nationalism came into being?

Answer 26

• The Napoleonic administrative divisions created a confederation of 39 states out of countless small prinicipalities
• Each state had its own currency and a distinct system of weights and measures
• A merchant travelling in 1833 from Hamburg to Nuremberg would have to pass through 11 custom barriers and pay a custom duty of about 5%
• Duties were levied based on the measurement and weight of the goods
• As each state had its own system of weights and measures, this led to time-consuming calculation
• For example, “elle” was the measure of cloth, however this measure varied from region to region
• It could buy one 53.5 cm of cloth in Freiburg, 54.7cm of cloth in Frankfurt, 55.1cm of cloth in Mainz and 65.6 cm of cloth in Nuremburg

Question 27

What were the measures taken to solve the economic crisis in the Germn states

Answer 27

• Such conditions were viewed as obstacles to economic exchange and growth by the emerging middle classes
• They argued for a unified economic territory which allowed for unhindered movement of goods, people and capital
• in 1834, a customs union, or Zollverein, was formed by Prussia, which was later joined by most of the German states
• The union abolished the custom barriers and reduced the number of currencies from over 30 to just 2
• The expansion of the railway network further stimulated movement, harnessing economic interests to national unification
• A wave of economic nationalism further strengthened the wider nationalist sentiments which were growing at the time

Question 28

Who took control after Napoleon was defeated in 1815?

Answer 28

• in 1815, the representatives of the European powers: Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria, who has collectively defeated Napoleon, met at Vienna to draw up a settlement for Europe
• The Congress was hosted by the Austrian Chancellor, Duke Metternich
• The delegates set up the Treaty of Vienna of 1815 to undo the changes that had come across Europe during the Napoleonic wars
• The Bourbon dynasty, which was deposed during the French Revolution, was restored back to power
• France lost the territories that had been annexed by Napoleon
• A series of states were set up along the boundaries of France to prevent French expansion in the future
• As a result, the kingdom of Netherlands, including Belgium, was set up in the north and Genoa was added to Piedmont in the south
• Prussia was given new important territories on its western front while Austria was given control of northern Italy
• However, the German confederation of 39 states remained untouched
• Russia was given parts of Poland while Prussia was given portions of Saxony
• The main intention of the Congress was to restore the monarchies, that had been overthrown by Napoleon, and create a new conservative order in Europe

Question 29

Describe the regimes formed as a result of the Treaty of Vienna

Answer 29

• The conservative regimes formed following the Vienna Congress were autocratic
• They did not tolerate criticism and dissent and sought to curb activities that questioned the legitimacy of autocratic government
• Most imposed censorship laws to control what was said in newspapers, books, plays and songs and reflected the ideas of liberty and freedom associated with the French Revolution
• The memory of the French Revolution still inspired liberals
• One of the major issues taken up by the liberal-nationalists, who criticized the new conservative order, was the freedom of press

Question 30

Write a short note on the revolutionaries formed after the Vienna Congress

Answer 30

• In the years following 1815, the fear of repression drove many liberal-nationalists underground
• Secret societies sprang up across Europe to train revolutionaries and spread their ideas
• To be revolutionary at this time meant a commitment to oppose monarchial government and to fight for liberty and freedom
• Many revolutionaries also saw the creation of nation-states as a necessity in their freedom struggle

Question 31

Write a short note on Giuseppe Mazzini

Answer 31

• Giuseppe Mazzini, an Italian revolutionary, was born in Genoa in 1807
• He became a member of the society of the Carbonira
• In 1831, he was sent into exile for attempting to start a revolution in Liguria
• Subsequently, he founded 2 more underground socieities, the Young italy in Marseilles and the Young Europe in Berne, whose members were like-minded young men from Poland, Italy, France and the German states
• Mazzini believed that God intended nations to be the natural state for mankind
• So, he argued that Italy could no longer be a patchwork of small states and kingdoms and needed to be forged into a single united republic within a wider alliance of nations
• This unification could be the basis of Italian liberty
• Following his model, secret societies were set up in France, Switzerland, Germany and Poland
• Mazzini’s relentless opposition to monarchy and his vision of democratic republics frightened the conservatives

Question 32

What led to the Age of Revolutions?

Answer 32

• As conservative regimes tried to strenghten their power, liberalism and nationalism came to be associated with revolution in many parts of Europe such as the Italian and Germn states, parts of the Ottoman Empire, Ireland and Poland
• These revolutions were led by liberal-nationalists belonging to educated middle classes such as professors and school teachers

Question 33

“When France sneezes, the rest of Europe catches a cold”, said Metternich. Explain the statment in relation to the July Revolution.

Answer 33

• The first uprising of nationalism by revolution was in France in July 1830
• The Bourbon kings, who had been restored to powrr by the conservatives, were now overthrown by liberal revolutionaries who had established a constitutional monarchy under Louis Philippe
• The July Revolution sparked an uprising in Brussels, resulting in the separation of Belgium from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands

Question 34

Write a short note on the Greek War of Independence

Answer 34

• An event that mobilised nationalist feelings across educated classes was the Greek war for Independence
• Greek was part of the Ottoman Empire since the 15th century
• The growth of revolutionary nationalism Europe sparked a struggle for independence amongst the Greek people
• Greek nationalists were supported by other Greeks in exile and West Europeans who symphatised them for their ancient culture
• Pets and artists lauded Greece as the cradle of European civilisation and supported their struggle against a Muslim empire
• An English poet, Lord Bryon, organised funds and even fought in the war, and had later died due to war
• Finally, the Treaty of Constantinople recognized Greece as an independent nation