The Rise of Nationalism in

Europe – Module 3/6

The Age of Revolutions: 1830

to 1848

Summary of Module 2

1. The political conditions of Europe in the mid Eighteenth century.

2. The Aristocracy and the new middle class.

3. What did the liberalism stand for?

4. A new conservatism after 1815.

5. The Revolutionaries.

The Age of Revolutions: 1830 to 1848

Revolution in France: 1830

1. The Bourbon kings who had been restored to power during the conservative reaction after 1815 were overthrown by liberal revolutionaries and France became constitutional Monarchy with Louis Philippe as its head.

2. The July revolution in France sparked an uprising

in Brussels which led to Belgium breaking away from the united kingdom of Netherlands.

Revolution in Greece:

1. The struggle in Greece was against the Ottoman Empire for getting independence.

2. The struggle started in 1821

itself and finally helped Greece to gain its Independence in 1832.

The Romantic Nationalism and National

Feeling

Revolution in Germany: 1830

1. The effort was to create a sense of a shared collective heritage, a common cultural past as the basis of the nation.

2. Collecting and recording the different

forms of folk culture like songs, poetry and dances was felt essential to the project of nation building.

Views expressed by Johann Gottfried Herder:

He was a poet, literary critic and theologian and a romantic German philosopher born in 1744, who claimed that true German culture was to be discovered among the common people – Das Volk.

Johann Gottfried Herder ( 1744-1803)

Cultural factors that led revolution in Poland:

1. Poland was not an independent nation because of the partition by great powers Russia, Prussia and Austria.

2. In Poland the emphasis was on vernacular language because of the imposition of the Russian language.

3. Language became a weapon of national resistance.

Synopsis of the module

The period between 1830-1848 was very notable in the history of European countries as different groups of people like conservatives and liberal nationalists trying their level best to grab power and consolidate their power. People from different walks of life took part and expressed in different ways as to how they can contribute and promote the feeling of nationalism. Finally, the revolution of liberals took advantage of the growing popular unrest to push their demands for the creation of a nation state on parliamentary principles that included a constitution, freedom of the press and freedom of association.

Synopsis Contd.

This module also focuses on the Rise on Nationalism on culture which also needs to be appreciated for creating the idea of the nation. The various cultural forms that came to be associated with the idea of Nationalism were art, poetry, stories and music which helped to express and shape nationalist feelings of common people. This movement came to be known as cultural movement. The countries where cultural forces seemed to be active were Germany and Poland.

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