Defining Nationalism

THE ORIGINS OF NATIONALISM
The Hundred Years War (1337 – 1453)
• Stimulated Nationalistic Sentiments in both
England and France
• It became a conflict of not only Kings but of
the English & French people
• National feelings evolved out of rumors in both
England and France that each culture was
trying to destroy the others
• Ended the practice by England’s ruling class
of using the French language for all official
business and trade

THE ORIGINS OF NATIONALISM
Possible elements of a definition:
• Patriotism - allegiance to a nation
• Varying degrees of hatred for all other nations
• A force that makes one willing to die for a nation
• The belief, conviction, or principle that each national
culture should be contained with defined state borders
• Sometimes associated with a struggle for independence
or a “National Movement”
Underlying Belief:
Nations are the main organizing group of humanity

Long-term causes of the rise of nationalism
Modern Printing Press invented in 1451 by
Johannes Gutenberg (1397-1468) and Johannes Fust
Effects: Gutenberg bible printed in the Vernacular
Increased Production of Literature
Cheaper books (after 1500)
Newspapers (after 1800)
Increased Literacy
Effects: Ideas for key Reforms begin
Growth of literacy
Spread of a Common Language
Enlightenment Creates a more Secular Outlook
Effects: Increased ideas of Human Potential
Promotion of ideas of Individual Rights
People begin to question Absolutism
Separation of Church and State
Mass Education Developed by Baron von Humboldt,1767-1835

Short-term Political Causes
1. American Revolution:
Effects: People are sovereign (not the king)
Declaration of Independence
U.S. Constitution
2. French Revolution
3. Partitions of Poland (1772, 1793, 1795):
Effects: Russia, Austria and Prussia
gobbled Poland up and it became
THE NATION WITHOUT A STATE
Effects: Development of the National Assembly
Louis XVI is Executed
Nation became sovereign

Political Nationalism
What makes a Nationality?
Advocated loyalty to national group
Led to intense rivalries among countries
Important in unification
Persecution of “others”
• Common Language
• Shared Customs & cultural traditions
• Common Values
• Shared Historical Experience
Minorities demanded Independence
Cultural Nationalism
Tried to deepen appreciation for unique
historical experiences and cultural
accomplishments
Romanticism
Reaction to ideologies of
Enlightenment and rationality of
Science

Responses to Nationalism
• Conservatives first tried to repress it at the Congress of
Vienna (1814-1815)
• Monarchs tried to use Censorship to prevent influences
from Spreading
• Attempts to Crush the Revolutions of 1848
• Savvy politicians decided to exploit various Nationalist
Movements
• First a force for change, then becomes linked to
conservatism
• Eventually linked to imperialism

The British Empire becomes
GREAT BRITAIN
Expansions
– North America (1600s)
– Scotland (1707)
– Ireland (1800)
– Asia under East India
Company (1857)
– Africa (1800s)
– Asia (1800s)

Italian Unification:
1848-1870

Giuseppe Mazzini – “The Heart and Soul”
Believed that Unification could
only be achieved through a
popular uprising
“So long as you are
ready to die for humanity,
the life of your country is
immortal.”
“God has given you
your country as cradle,
and humanity as mother;
you cannot rightly love your brethren of
the cradle if you love not the common
mother.”
“The Young Italy Movement”

Camillo de Cavour “The Intellectual Mind”
• Prime Minister of Sardinia
• A Liberal – wanted to make
Sardinia a model of progress,
efficiency, and fair government
for others to admire
• Tried to improve the economy
• Didn’t idealize war, but willing
to use war to unify Italy –
Crimean War (1855-1856)
– Reorganized and strengthened
Sardinian army
• Main architect of Italian
unification

Guisseppe Garibaldi – “The Sword”
“Military Strategist”
Leader of the Revolutionary
“Red Shirts”

Italian
Unification
Map
Declared: 1861
Completed: 1870

ITALY UNIFIED!
187O

German Unification:
1848-1871

Otto von Bismarck
“The Political Mind
and Military Strategist”
“Realpolitik”

Kaiser Wilhelm I
“Regent, King, and
Emperor”

Revolution of 1848 in Germany
• Series of revolutions in German States
Baden (27 February 1848)
Austria (13 March 1848)
Prussia (18 March 1848)
Bavaria (20 March 1848)
Poland (20 March 1848)
Saxony (3 May 1848)
• Frankfurt Parliament of 1848 (31 March – 18 May 1848)
Offered crown of unified Germany to Frederick William IV
He Turned it down – would not accept a crown “from the gutter”
• Basic Rights of the German People
Proclaimed in December 1848
German States Restored

Conflicts to Establish the German Empire
• 1848 – 1864 The First and Second Schleswig Wars
“Secure Danish Territories along the Prussian Border”
• 1866 The Austro-Prussian War (Seven Weeks War)
“Fought between German Rivals to determine Supremacy”
• 1870 – 1871 The Franco-Prussian War
“Fight for the Balance of Power in Europe”

Jan.1871 Hall of Mirrors, Palace de Versailles (Near Paris)
The Second German Reich is Proclaimed

GERMAN UNIFICATION
German Reich 1871-1918

Nationalism Reforms Europe by 1871
• Great Britain
Unified in 1801
• The French
Republic
Formed in 1804
• The Kingdom
of Italy formed
with Unification
of 1861
• The German
Empire Unified
In 1871