Nationalism refers to the devotion for one's own nation's interests over those
of all other nations. It was an important factor in the development of
Europe. In the 19th century, a wave of romantic nationalism swept the European
continent, transforming its countries. Some newly formed countries, such as
Germany, Italy and Romania were formed by uniting various regional states with
a common "national identity". Others, such as Greece, Poland and Bulgaria,
were formed BY winning their independence. More concisely,
nationalism better defined these countries.
The French Revolution paved the way for the modern nation-state and also played
a key role in the birth of nationalism. Across Europe radical intellectuals,
influenced by Napoleon and the Napoleonic Code the instrument for the
political transformation of Europe. Revolutionary armies carried the slogan
of "liberty, equality and brotherhood" and ideas of liberalism and national
self-determinism. National awakening also grew out of an intellectual
reaction to the Enlightenment that emphasized national identity and
developed a romantic view of cultural self-expression through nationhood. The
key exponent of the modern idea of the nation-state was the German G. W.
Friedrich Hegel. He argued that a sense of nationality was the cement that held
modern societies together in the age when dynastic and religious allegiance
was in decline. In 1815, at the end of the Napoleonic wars, the major powers of
Europe tried to restore the old dynastic system as far as possible, ignoring the
principle of nationality in favour of "legitimism", the assertion of
traditional claims to royal authority. With most of Europe's peoples still
loyal to their local province or city, nationalism was confined to small groups
of intellectuals and political radicals. Furthermore, political repression,
symbolized by the Carlsbad Decrees published in Austria in 1819, pushed
nationalist agitation underground. Timeline
1804–15, Serbian Revolution against the Ottoman Empire
1815, Congress of Vienna 1821-29, Greek War of Independence
against the Ottoman Empire 1830-31, Belgian Revolution
1830-31, Revolution in Poland and Lithuania
1846, Uprising in Greater Poland 1848, Nationalist revolts in Hungary,
Italy and Germany. 1859-61, Italy unified.
1863, Polish national revolt. 1866-71, Germany unified.
1867, Hungary granted autonomy. 1867, Irish Fenian uprising
1878, Congress of Berlin: Serbia, Romania and Montenegro granted
independence, after they won the war against the Ottoman Empire.
1908, Bulgaria becomes independent. 1912, Albanian national awakening
Albania becomes independent. The struggle for independence
A strong resentment of what came to be regarded as foreign rule began to
develop. In Ireland, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Poland, Hungary and Norway local
hostility to alien dynastic authority started to take the form of nationalist
agitation. First Serbian uprising in 1804. marked the beginning of Serbian
revolution and first national revolution in Ottoman Empire. After that eight-year
war against Ottoman rule led to an independent Greek state; Belgium
obtained independence from the Netherlands. Over the next two decades
nationalism developed a more powerful voice, spurred by nationalist writers
championing the cause of nationalist self-determination. In 1848, revolutions
broke out across Europe, sparked by a severe famine and economic crisis and
mounting popular demand for political change. In Italy Giuseppe Mazzini used
the opportunity to encourage a war mission: "A people destined to achieve
great things for the welfare of humanity must one day or other be constituted a
nation". In Hungary, Lajos Kossuth led a national
revolt against Austrian rule; in Transylvania, Avram Iancu led of the
nationalist revolts in 1848 were successful, any more than the two
attempts to win Polish independence from Russian rule in 1831 and 1846 had been.
Conservative forces proved too strong, while the majority of the populations
little understood the meaning of national struggle. But the 1848 crisis
had given nationalism its first full public airing, and in the thirty years
that followed no fewer than seven new national states were created in Europe.
This was partly the result of the recognition by conservative forces that
the old order could not continue in its existing form. Conservative reformers
such as Cavour and Bismarck made common cause with liberal political modernizers
to create a consensus for the creation of conservative nation-states in Italy
and Germany. In the Habsburg empire a compromise was reached with Hungarian
nationalists in 1867 granting them a virtually independent state. In the
Balkans the Serbian example had inspired other national awakenings. Native
history and culture were rediscovered and appropriated for the national
struggle. Following a conflict between Russia and Turkey, the Great Powers met
at Berlin in 1878 and granted independence to Romania, Serbia and
Montenegro and a limited autonomy to Bulgaria.
Nationalism's growth and export The invention of a symbolic national
identity became the concern of racial, ethnic or linguistic groups throughout
Europe as they struggled to come to terms with the rise of mass politics,
the decline of the traditional social elites, popular discrimination and
xenophobia. Within the Habsburg empire the different peoples developed a more
mass-based, violent and exclusive form of nationalism. This developed even
among the Germans and Magyars, who actually benefited from the
power-structure of the empire. On the European periphery, especially in
Ireland and Norway, campaigns for national independence became more
strident. In 1905 Norway won independence from Sweden, but attempts
to grant Ireland the kind of autonomy enjoyed by Hungary foundered on the
national divisions on the island between the Catholic and Protestant populations.
The Polish attempts to win independence from Russia had previously proved to be
unsuccessful, with Poland being the only country in Europe whose autonomy was
gradually limited rather than expanded throughout the 19th century, as a
punishment for the failed uprisings; in 1831 Poland lost its status as a
formally independent state and was merged into Russia as a real union
country and in 1867 she became nothing more than just another Russian province.
Faced with internal and external resistance to assimilation, as well as
increased xenophobic anti-Semitism, radical demands began to develop among
the stateless Jewish population of eastern and central Europe for their own
national home and refuge. In 1897, inspired by the Hungarian-born Jewish
nationalist Theodor Herzl, the First Zionist Congress was held in Basle, and
declared their national 'home' should be in Palestine. By the end of the period,
the ideals of European nationalism had been exported worldwide and were now
beginning to develop, and both compete and threaten the empires ruled by
colonial European nation-states. Revolutionary organizations
Serbian revolutionary organizations Greek revolutionary organizations
Albanian revolutionary organizations Internal Macedonian Revolutionary
Organization References
See also Communitarianism
Cultural identity Ethnic autonomous regions
Expansionism French Revolution
Identity politics Intercultural competence
Irish nationalism National flag
National liberation movements National personification
National romanticism Society of the United Irishmen