5.7 Nationalism in Europe

Nationalism emerged as a powerful force in 19th-century Europe, reshaping politics and culture by emphasizing loyalty to one's nation over loyalty to a dynasty or empire. It challenged the traditional order of multi-ethnic empires, sparked unification movements and revolts, and ultimately redrew the map of Europe. Understanding nationalism is essential for this unit because it connects the revolutionary ideals of the late 1700s to the wars and state-building that defined the 1800s and early 1900s.

Rise of Nationalism in Europe

The rise of nationalism was closely tied to the idea of self-determination: the belief that people who share a common language, culture, or history should govern themselves. This directly challenged the old European order, where empires like Austria and the Ottomans ruled over dozens of ethnic groups with no say in their own governance. As nationalist thinking spread, it destabilized these empires and fueled demands for new, independent states.

Defining Nationalism

Nationalism is an ideology that places loyalty to one's nation above other group affiliations, whether religious, regional, or class-based. Nationalists define the "nation" by shared traits like language, culture, ethnicity, or historical experience. The core claim is that each nation deserves its own sovereign state to protect its people and express its identity.

This was a radical idea in 19th-century Europe. Most states at the time were empires or kingdoms where borders reflected royal marriages and wars, not the identities of the people living within them.

Key Principles of Nationalism

• National sovereignty: The nation itself is the ultimate source of political authority, not a king or emperor. A nation should be free from outside control.
• National self-determination: Each nation has the right to govern itself and decide its own political, economic, and cultural direction.
• National unity: Shared identity and common bonds unite a nation's members, overriding regional or class differences.
• National pride: A nation's unique history, culture, and achievements deserve celebration, and citizens should feel loyalty and attachment to their homeland.

Factors Contributing to Nationalism's Rise

Several developments converged to make nationalism a dominant force:

• The French Revolution (1789) spread ideals of popular sovereignty and equality. If "the people" held political power, then which people mattered enormously, and that question pushed Europeans to think in national terms.
• The Napoleonic Wars had a double effect. Napoleon's conquests spread revolutionary ideas across Europe, but they also provoked fierce resistance. Peoples under French occupation developed stronger national consciousness in reaction to foreign domination.
• Vernacular languages and national culture gained new importance. Writers, historians, and folklorists collected national stories and promoted local languages, giving people a shared cultural identity to rally around.
• Industrialization and the rise of the middle class created new social groups that embraced nationalism as a path to political influence. A growing middle class wanted representation, and the nation-state offered a framework for it.

Nationalism's Impact on European Politics

Nationalism became one of the most disruptive forces in 19th-century European politics. It drove the creation of entirely new countries, triggered revolutions within multi-ethnic empires, and turned the Balkans into a powder keg that eventually helped ignite a world war.

Unification Movements in Italy and Germany

Italy and Germany were both divided into many small states at the start of the 1800s. Nationalist movements in each sought to unite these fragments into single nation-states.

Italian unification (the Risorgimento) was driven by figures like Giuseppe Mazzini, who promoted a republican vision of a united Italy, and Giuseppe Garibaldi, whose military campaigns in southern Italy were critical to unification. The Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed in 1861, though Rome wasn't incorporated until 1870.

German unification followed a different path. While early nationalists like Johann Gottlieb Fichte appealed to cultural unity, it was the Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck who achieved unification through a strategy of "blood and iron." Bismarck engineered three wars (against Denmark in 1864, Austria in 1866, and France in 1870–71) to rally the German states together. The German Empire was proclaimed in 1871 at the Palace of Versailles.

Nationalist Revolts in Austria-Hungary

The Austrian Empire was a patchwork of ethnic groups: Germans, Hungarians, Czechs, Poles, Croats, South Slavs, and others. Nationalism threatened to tear it apart.

• The Revolutions of 1848 saw nationalist uprisings across the empire. These were ultimately crushed, but they exposed deep fractures.
• In 1867, the empire reorganized into the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary, granting Hungary significant autonomy. This satisfied Hungarian nationalists but did little for Czechs, Poles, or South Slavs.
• Nationalist tensions continued to build within Austria-Hungary for decades, contributing to its instability and its eventual collapse after World War I.

Nationalism's Role in Balkan Conflicts

The Balkans, long under Ottoman control, became the most volatile nationalist hotspot in Europe. Multiple ethnic groups (Serbs, Greeks, Bulgarians, Romanians) sought independence.

• The Greek War of Independence (1821–1829) and the Serbian Revolution produced new independent states and weakened Ottoman authority in the region.
• As Ottoman power declined, nationalist rivalries between Balkan states intensified, especially over territory in Macedonia and Bosnia.
• The rivalry between Serbia and Austria-Hungary over influence in the Balkans became one of the direct causes of World War I. The region earned the nickname "the powder keg of Europe" for good reason.

Cultural Expressions of Nationalism

Nationalism wasn't only a political movement. It shaped art, literature, music, and language in ways that reinforced national identity and made people feel their nationality, not just think about it.

Romantic Nationalism in Art and Literature

Romantic nationalism celebrated the unique spirit of each nation through emotion-driven art and literature. It drew heavily on folk traditions, legends, and dramatic landscapes.

• In Germany, painter Caspar David Friedrich created moody landscapes that evoked a deep spiritual connection to the German land.
• In Poland, poet Adam Mickiewicz wrote epic works that kept Polish national identity alive even while Poland was partitioned and had no independent state.
• Composers channeled nationalism into music. Frédéric Chopin infused his compositions with Polish folk melodies and rhythms, while Bedřich Smetana celebrated Bohemian (Czech) identity through orchestral works like Má vlast ("My Homeland").

These cultural works mattered politically because they gave people an emotional attachment to the nation, making abstract ideas about sovereignty feel personal and urgent.

Linguistic Nationalism and Vernacular Languages

Language was central to how nations defined themselves. Nationalists argued that speaking and preserving a distinct language was proof of a people's right to exist as a nation.

• Jacob Grimm (yes, of the fairy tales) collected German folk stories and studied the German language to help define German national character.
• In Finland, Elias Lönnrot compiled the Kalevala, a national epic drawn from Finnish oral tradition, which became a cornerstone of Finnish identity.
• Promoting vernacular languages in schools, government, and publishing was a way of resisting the cultural dominance of imperial languages. For example, Czech nationalists pushed back against the use of German in Bohemia's institutions.

Nationalist Symbolism and Iconography

Nationalists used symbols to make the nation visible and emotionally powerful in everyday life:

• Flags, national anthems, and coats of arms gave the nation a recognizable identity.
• Historical and mythical figures were elevated as national heroes. Think of Joan of Arc in France or William Tell in Switzerland.
• Placing nationalist symbols in public spaces like town squares, government buildings, and schools reinforced national identity on a daily basis.

Nationalism and Imperialism

Nationalism and imperialism were deeply intertwined in the 19th and early 20th centuries. European powers used nationalist pride to justify conquering other peoples, while colonized peoples eventually turned nationalist ideas against their colonizers.

Nationalism as Justification for Imperial Expansion

European nations used nationalism to frame empire-building as a source of national greatness. Acquiring colonies became a matter of prestige and competition.

• The idea of a "civilizing mission" held that European nations had a duty to spread their supposedly superior culture to Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. This gave imperialism a moral veneer.
• Nationalist competition among European powers fueled the Scramble for Africa (1880s–1900s), as Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, and others raced to claim territory. No nation wanted to be left behind.

Colonial Nationalism in European Empires

Ironically, European imperialism spread the very ideas that colonized peoples would use to demand independence.

• European-style education in colonies introduced concepts like self-determination and popular sovereignty to local elites.
• Colonial nationalists like Mahatma Gandhi in India and Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam adapted nationalist ideology to mobilize mass movements against imperial rule.
• New political and intellectual elites in colonized societies began articulating their own national identities, often blending European political ideas with local cultural traditions.

Nationalist Resistance to Imperial Rule

Resistance to empire took many forms, from armed rebellion to civil disobedience to cultural assertion.

• The Indian Rebellion of 1857 against British rule, the Philippine Revolution (1896–1898) against Spain, and the Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962) against France are all examples.
• These movements played a major role in the eventual decolonization of European empires in the mid-20th century and the creation of new nation-states across Africa and Asia.

Nationalism and World War I

Nationalism was one of the most important causes of World War I, and the war in turn reshaped nationalism across Europe and the world.

Nationalist Tensions as a Cause of War

Nationalist rivalries had been building for decades before 1914:

• In the Balkans, Serbian nationalists wanted to unite all South Slavs, which directly threatened Austria-Hungary's control over Bosnia.
• The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb nationalist, on June 28, 1914, set off a chain reaction of alliances and mobilizations that escalated into a continental war.
• Broader nationalist rivalries also contributed: Germany's challenge to British naval supremacy, France's desire to recover Alsace-Lorraine (lost to Germany in 1871), and Russia's role as self-appointed protector of Slavic peoples all raised tensions.

Wartime Nationalist Propaganda

Once war began, governments on all sides weaponized nationalism to sustain the fight:

• Propaganda posters, songs, and speeches emphasized defending the homeland, glorifying the nation, and demonizing the enemy.
• Nationalist messaging helped maintain morale through years of brutal trench warfare, but it also deepened hatred between nations and made compromise harder.

Nationalism's Influence on Peace Settlements

The end of World War I brought massive changes to Europe's political map, driven largely by nationalist principles:

• The Paris Peace Conference (1919) and the Treaty of Versailles broke up the German, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian empires.
• New nation-states were created based on the principle of self-determination: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Finland, and the Baltic states, among others.
• U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points explicitly endorsed national self-determination as a guiding principle for the postwar order.

However, the peace settlements created new problems. Many of the new borders didn't neatly match ethnic boundaries, leaving significant minority populations in the "wrong" country. These unresolved tensions would fuel future conflicts, particularly in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Critiques and Challenges to Nationalism

Despite its enormous influence, nationalism faced serious criticism from multiple directions. Critics argued it was inherently divisive, and alternative ideologies offered competing visions of how society should be organized.

Internationalist and Socialist Critiques

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels argued that nationalism was a tool of the bourgeoisie, designed to divide workers along national lines and prevent them from uniting as a class. Socialists and communists promoted class solidarity over national loyalty, envisioning a world revolution that would transcend borders.

The outbreak of World War I exposed a painful contradiction: socialist parties across Europe, despite their internationalist rhetoric, overwhelmingly supported their own nations' war efforts. This shattered the dream of cross-border worker solidarity and split the socialist movement between reformists and revolutionaries.

Minority Nationalisms Within European States

Dominant nationalist movements often marginalized or suppressed smaller national groups within their borders. Unification didn't mean everyone was included equally.

• The Basques in Spain, the Irish in the United Kingdom, and the Ukrainians in both Austria-Hungary and Russia all developed their own nationalist movements demanding recognition and self-determination.
• These minority nationalisms created persistent instability within European states, and many of these tensions remain unresolved today.

Nationalism vs. Emerging Ideologies of the 20th Century

The early 20th century brought new ideologies that both built on and distorted nationalism:

• Fascist movements in Italy and Germany co-opted nationalist symbols and rhetoric but twisted them into something more extreme. Fascism subordinated the nation to the state and the leader, promoting aggressive expansion and racial ideology rather than simple self-determination.
• Soviet communism posed a different challenge, promoting an internationalist ideology that sought to suppress or absorb nationalist movements, particularly in Eastern Europe.
• The ideological conflicts of the 20th century, from World War II through the Cold War, would profoundly reshape nationalism's role in European and global politics.