The Rise of Nationalism in Europe

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1. Germany, Italy and Switzerland were divided into kingdoms, duchies and cantons whose rulers had their autonomous territories.
2. They did not see themselves as sharing a collective identity or a common culture.
3. The Habsburg Empire ruled over Austria Hungary.
4. In Hungary, half of the population spoke Magyar while the other half of the spoke a variety of dialects.
5. Besides these three dominant groups, there also lived within the boundaries of the empire.
6. The only tie binding these diverse groups together was a common allegiance to the emperor.

Stands for the preservation of the traditional institutions of state and society such as the monarchy, the church, social hierarchies and family along with the modern changes introduced by Napoleon. Conservatism as a political ideology arose after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo.

The conservative regimes:

• were autocratic.
• were intolerant to criticism and dissent.
• adopted the censorship of press for curbing the liberal ideals.
• Discouraged any questions that challenged their legitimacy.

Congress of Vienna (1815):

For drawing a new settlement for Europe and restoring the monarchies that were overthrown by Napoleon for the creation of a new conservative order. The salient features of the treaty were as follows:

• The Bourbon dynasty restored to power in France.
• France was disposed of its conquered territories.
• Kingdom of Netherlands, which included Belgium, was set up in the North and Genoa was set up in the South for preventing French expansion in future.
• Prussia was given new territories, including a portion of Saxony.
• Austria got control over Northern Italy.
• Russia got Poland. Napoleon‟s confederation of 39 states was not changed.

1. Socially and politically, a landed aristocracy was the dominant class on the continent.
2. The members of this class were by a common way of life that cut across regional divisions.
3. Their families were often connected by ties if marriages.
4. This powerful aristocracy was, however, numerically a small group. The growth of towns and the emergence of commercial classes whose existence was based on production for the market.
5. Industrialization began in England in the second half of the eighteenth century, but in France and parts of the German states, it occurred only during the nineteenth century.
6. In its wake, new social groups came into being: a working-class population and middle classes made up of industrialists, businessmen, professional.
7. It was among the educated, liberal middle classes that ideas of national unity following the abolition of aristocratic privileges gained popularity.

1. During the years following 1815, the fear of repression drove many liberal-nationalists underground.
2. Revolutionary at this time meant a commitment to oppose monarchical forms and to fight for liberty and freedom.
3. Giuseppe Mazzini, born in Genoa in 1807, he became a member of the secret society of the Carbonari.
4. He was sent into exile in 1831 for attempting a revolution in Liguria.
5. Mazzini believed that god had intended nations to be the natural units of mankind.
6. Secret societies were set up in Germany, France, Switzerland and Poland.
7. Metternich described him as ‘The most dangerous enemy of our social order’.

Meaning: Individual freedom, Equality before the law, Government by consent, Freedom of markets, Abolition of state-imposed restrictions on the movement of goods and capital.

Liberalism became the main concern in Europe after the French Revolution because:

• Universal Adult Suffrage was not granted to the people by the Napoleonic Code. Men without property and women were denied the right to vote.
• Women were made subject to the authority of men.
• Markets were not free as the 39 confederacies of France had their own laws which posed problems for the free movement of goods.
• There were no standard weights and measures and no fixed rates of customs duties, which greatly affected the trade.