3. • Romantic politics: liberty, history, and nation
• Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
• Dealt sympathetically with the experience of the common
people
• François de Chateaubriand (1768–1848)
• Religious experiences of the national past are woven into the
present
• Accent on religious emotion, feeling, and subjectivity
4. • Romantic politics: liberty, history, and nation
• The Romantic uniqueness of cultures
• Johann von Herder (1744–1803)
• Civilization arises out of the Volk (common people), not elites
• The Volkgeist—spirit or genius of the people
• Brothers Grimm
• Collected German folktales
5. • Orientalism
• Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt (1798)
• Brought back the Rosetta stone
• Establishment of the Egyptian Institute
• Defined Europe by looking at the Orient
• A fascination with ethnography and new regions
7. • The 1830 Revolution in France
• Louis XVIII succeeded by Charles X (1757–1836, r. 1824–
1830)
• Determined to reverse the legacies of the Revolution and
Napoleon
• Appeased the ultraroyalists by compensating nobility whose
land had been confiscated during the Revolution
• Restored the Catholic Church to its traditional place
• Provoked widespread discontent
8. • The 1830 Revolution in France
• Charles called new elections, then tried to overthrow the
parliamentary regime
• The July Ordinances (1830)
• Dissolved the newly elected chamber before it had even met
• Imposed strict censorship of the press
• Further restricted suffrage to exclude all non-nobles
• Called for new elections
9. • The 1830 Revolution in France
• Revolution
• Paris took to the streets for three days of battles
• The abdication of Charles
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgQgzKVX9jc
11. • Belgium and Poland in 1830
• Belgium
• Congress of Vienna joined Belgium to Holland
• Never popular in Belgium
• News of the July Revolution catalyzed Belgian opposition
• Brussels rebelled, and the great powers guaranteed Belgian
neutrality (in force until 1914)
12. • Belgium and Poland in 1830
• Poland
• Not an independent state—under Russian governance
• Polish parliament, constitution, guarantees of basic liberties
were ignored by Russian-imposed head of state, Constantine
• People favored independence from Russia in 1830
• Drove Constantine out
• 1831: Russian forces retook Warsaw
• Poland placed under Russian military rule
13. • Reform in Great Britain
• The end of the Napoleonic Wars
• Agricultural depression, low wages, unemployment, and bad
harvests
• Social unrest
• Peterloo (1819)
• Demonstration against the Corn Laws
• Manchester Patriotic Union advocating for universal male suffrage
• Radical Orator Henry Hunt to speak
• Fearing unrest, local magistrates called on military to arrest Hunt
• Military fired on crowd—15 killed; 700+ wounded
14.
15. • Reform in Great Britain
• Parliament passed the Six Acts (1819)
• Outlawed ―seditious and blasphemous‖ literature
• Increased stamp tax
• Restricted the right of public meeting
• Refused to reform political representation in the House of
Commons
17. • Reform in Great Britain
• The repeal of the Corn Laws (1846)
• Corn Laws protected British landlords from foreign
competition
• Kept the price of bread artificially high
• The Anti–Corn Law League
• Held large meetings throughout northern England
• Lobbied members in Parliament
• Persuaded Prime Minister Peel to repeal the Corn Laws
18. • British radicalism and the Chartist Movement
• The six points of the ―People’s Charter‖
• 1.universal male suffrage;
• 2.a secret ballot;
• 3.no property qualification for members of Parliament;
• 4.pay members of Parliament (so poor men could serve);
• 5.constituencies of equal size;
• 6.annual elections for Parliament.
• As economic conditions deteriorated, Chartism spread in the 1840s
• Chartists disagreed about tactics and goals
• William Lovett
• Self-improvement
• Education of artisans was the answer
19. • British radicalism and the Chartist Movement
• Chartists presented petitions to Parliament in 1839 and
1842—both rejected
• April 1848: Chartists planned a major demonstration and
show of force in London
• Twenty-five thousand workers marched to Parliament with a
petition of 6 million signatures demanding the six points
• The failure of Chartism
• Accusations of radicalism
• Reforms enacted
• Faded in times of prosperity
21. • The French Revolution of 1848
• Provisional government
• A combination of liberals, republicans, and socialists
• A new constitution based on universal male suffrage
• Tensions between middle-class republicans and socialists
23. • The French Revolution of 1848
• Provisional government
• A combination of liberals, republicans, and socialists
• A new constitution based on universal male suffrage
• Tensions between middle-class republicans and socialists
24. • The French Revolution of 1848
• Popular politics
• Provisional government lifted restrictions on freedom of speech
and political activity
• Women’s clubs and newspapers appeared
• The end of the National Workshops
• French assembly decided the Workshops were a financial drain
• The June Days (June 23–26): Parisian workers barricade the
streets
25. • The French Revolution of 1848
• Repression
• The government of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (1808–1873)
• Spent most of his life in exile
• Used his position to consolidate his power
• Permitted Catholics to regain control of the schools
• Banned meetings, workers’ associations
• Asked the people to grant him the power to draw up a new
constitution (1851)
26. • The French Revolution of 1848
• The Second Empire of Napoleon III (1852–1870)
• Significance of the 1848 Revolution in France
• Its dynamics would be repeated elsewhere
• The pivotal role of the middle classes
• Many saw the June Days as naked class struggle
• Middle-class and working-class politics were more sharply
differentiated
27. • The French Revolution of 1848 as the opening act of a
larger drama
• Broad revolutionary alliances were broken apart by class
politics
• Earlier forms of utopian socialism gave way to Marxism
• Romanticism lost appeal and gave way to Realism
• Nationalism contextualizes political attitudes of
conservatism, liberalism, and socialism
29. • Key themes
• 1848 as high point of the age of revolution
• Nationalism and nation building
• Political reform: government and citizens
• American Civil War
• Unification of Italy and Germany
Introduction
30. • What makes a nation? Germany in 1848
• The German Confederation
• Created at the Congress of Vienna
• Loose organization of thirty-eight states, including Austria and
Prussia
• Intended to provide common defense but no executive power
Nationalism and
Revolution in 1848
31.
32. • What makes a nation? Germany in 1848
• The German Confederation
• Created at the Congress of Vienna
• Loose organization of thirty-eight states, including Austria and
Prussia
• Intended to provide common defense but no executive power
Nationalism and
Revolution in 1848
33. • What makes a nation? Germany in 1848
• Reforms
• The reconstitution of the army
• Officer recruitment based on merit (still drawn from the
Junkers)
• The abolition of serfdom and the estate system (1807)
• Expanded facilities for primary and secondary education
Nationalism and
Revolution in 1848
34. • What makes a nation? Germany in 1848
• Prussia
• Tried to establish itself as the leading independent national
power
• Zollverein (1834)
• Established as a customs union
• Established free trade among German states
• By the 1840s, it included all German states except Austria
• A potential market of 34 million people
Nationalism and
Revolution in 1848
35. • What makes a nation? Germany in 1848
• Prussia
• Political clubs
• Students and other radicals joined with middle-class reform groups
• New demands for representative government
• Frederick Wilhelm IV (1795–1861, r. 1840–1861)
• Made gestures toward the liberal cause
• His regime reverted to authoritarianism
• Openly opposed constitutionalism
• Shaken by violence, the Kaiser finally capitulated
Nationalism and
Revolution in 1848
37. ―No Piece of Paper will Come Between myself and
my People‖ (1848)
38. • The Frankfurt Assembly and German nationhood
• Most delegates represented the professional classes
• Most were moderate liberals
• Desired a constitution for a liberal, unified Germany
Nationalism and
Revolution in 1848
39. • The Frankfurt Assembly and German nationhood
• The nationalist question
• The ―Great German‖ position and ―Small Germany‖
• Great Germany included all former principalities and Austria even
though Austria had non-German ethnic minorities
• Small Germany included only the German principalities under the
leadership of Prussia and excluded Austria
• The Assembly accepted the ―Small Germany‖ solution
• Kaiser wanted the crown and larger state on his terms alone
Nationalism and
Revolution in 1848
40. • The Frankfurt Assembly and German nationhood
• The nationalist question
• The delegates left the Assembly disillusioned
• Perhaps liberal and nationalist goals were incompatible
• Popular revolution
• Peasants ransacked tax offices and burned castles
• Workers smashed machines
• Formation of citizen militias
Nationalism and
Revolution in 1848
42. Germania, Philipp Veit
hung inside the Paulskirche
where the Frankfurt Parliament
assembled, covering the organ.
43. • Peoples against empire: the Habsburg lands
• Ethnic and language groups
• Germans, Czechs, Magyars, Poles, Slovaks, Serbs, and Italians
• Nationalist sentiment strongest among Polish aristocrats
• Habsburgs played Polish serfs against Polish lords
Nationalism and
Revolution in 1848
44. • Peoples against empire: the Habsburg lands
• Hungarian nationalist claims advanced by the small Magyar
aristocracy
• Lajos Kossuth (1802–1894)
• Member of the lower nobility
• Published transcripts of parliamentary debates
• Campaigned for independence and a separate Hungarian parliament
Nationalism and
Revolution in 1848
47. • Peoples against empire: the Habsburg lands
• Pan-Slavism
• Desire for a union of Slavic-speaking people
• Resented oppressive Russian rule
Nationalism and
Revolution in 1848
48. • Austria and Hungary in 1848: springtime of peoples and
autumn of empire
• Kossuth stepped up his campaigns against the Metternich
system of Habsburg autocracy and control
• Demanded representative institutions
Nationalism and
Revolution in 1848
49. • Austria and Hungary in 1848: springtime of peoples and
autumn of empire
• Vienna: popular movement of students and artisans
• Demanded political and social reforms
• Built barricades and attacked imperial palace
• Metternich fled to Britain
Nationalism and
Revolution in 1848
51. • Austria and Hungary in 1848: springtime of peoples and
autumn of empire
• The March Laws
• Hungarian parliament abolished serfdom and noble privilege
• Established freedom of the press and of religion
• Changed suffrage requirements, enfranchised small-property
holders
• Kossuth severed all ties between Hungary and Austria
Nationalism and
Revolution in 1848
52. • Austria and Hungary in 1848: springtime of peoples and
autumn of empire
• Franz Joseph asked Nicholas I of Russia for military
support
• The Hungarian revolt was crushed (August 1849)
Nationalism and
Revolution in 1848
54. • Austria and Hungary in 1848: springtime of peoples and
autumn of empire
• Liberal government capitulated on October 31, 1849
• Reestablished censorship
• Disbanded the National Guard and student organizations
• Twenty-five revolutionary leaders went to the firing squad
• Kossuth exiled himself to Turkey
Nationalism and
Revolution in 1848
56. • The early stages of Italian unification in 1848
• A patchwork of small states
• Piedmont-Sardinia, the Papal States, and the Kingdom of the
Two Sicilies
• Lombard and Venetia controlled by Austria
• Tuscany, Parma, and Modena ruled by the Habsburgs
Nationalism and
Revolution in 1848
57. • The early stages of Italian unification in 1848
• Giuseppi Mazzini (1805–1872)
• Former member of the Carbonari
• Founded the Young Italy Society (1831)
• Mission was to bring democracy to the world
Nationalism and
Revolution in 1848
59. • The early stages of Italian unification in 1848
• The liberal impulse
• Many shared Mazzini’s commitment but not his methods
• Hoped for a merger of existing governments into a
constitutional monarchy
• 1848 raised hopes for political and social change and Italian
unification
• The risorgimento—Italian resurgence
Nationalism and
Revolution in 1848
60. • Nationalism after 1848
• States and governments took the initiative
• Alarmed by revolutionary ferment
• Promoted economic development and social and political
reform
Building the Nation-State
61. • France under Napoleon III
• Believed in personal rule and a centralized state
• Control of finances, the army, and foreign affairs
• An elected Assembly had no real power
• Aimed to put the countryside under the rule of the modern state
• Undermined traditional elites, fashioned a new relationship
with the people
Building the Nation-State
63. • France under Napoleon III
• Economic changes
• Faith in the ability of industrial expansion to bring prosperity
and national glory
• Passed new limited-liability laws
• Signed a free-trade agreement with England (1860)
• Founded the Crédit Mobilier
• Reluctantly permitted trade unions and the legalization of
strikes
Building the Nation-State
64. • France under Napoleon III
• Paris and Napoleon III
• Massive rebuilding of the medieval infrastructure
• Financed by the Crédit Mobilier
• New water pipes and sewer lines
• Wholesale renovation did not benefit everyone
• Aggressive foreign policy
Building the Nation-State
66. • Victorian England and the Second Reform Bill (1867)
• British government faced demands to extend the franchise
beyond the middle classes
• Industrial expansion had created a ―labor aristocracy‖ of
skilled workers
• Building, engineering, and textile industries
• Favored collective self-help through cooperative societies and
trade unions
• Collected funds against old age and unemployment
Building the Nation-State
67. • Victorian England and the Second Reform Bill (1867)
• Industrial expansion had created a ―labor aristocracy‖ of
skilled workers
• Education as a tool for advancement
• The need to vote
• Championed by middle-class reformers
Building the Nation-State
68. • Victorian England and the Second Reform Bill (1867)
• The Dissenters
• Denied civil and political rights
• Could not attend Oxford or Cambridge
• Resented paying taxes to the Church of England
Building the Nation-State
69. • Victorian England and the Second Reform Bill (1867)
• Great Reform Bill (1867)
• Doubled the franchise
• Men who paid poor rates or rent of £10 per year in urban areas
• Rural tenants paying rent of £12 or more
• Large northern cities gained representation
Building the Nation-State
70. • Italian unification: Cavour and Garibaldi
• Two visions of Italian statehood
• Giuseppi Garibaldi (1807–1882)
• Achieving national unification through a popular movement
• A constitutional monarchy as favored by conservative
nationalists
• Pinned their hopes on Victor Emmanuel II the new king of
Piedmont-Sardinia
Building the Nation-State
72. • Italian unification: Cavour and Garibaldi
• Count Camillo Benso di Cavour (1810–1861)
• Promoted economic expansion and raising Piedmont Sardinia's
profile
• Cavour and Italy
• Relied on diplomacy
• Cultivated an alliance with France in order to drive the
Austrians from Italy
• France provoked war with Austria (1859)
Building the Nation-State
74. • Italian unification: Cavour and Garibaldi
• Cavour and Italy
• Piedmont-Sardinia annexed Lombardy
• Joined by Tuscany, Parma, and Modena
• The southern states
• Francis II (1859–1860) faced a peasant revolt in the Two Sicilies
• Garibaldi landed in Sicily (1860)
• Garibaldi took Sicily in the name of King Victor Emmanuel
• Garibaldi marched on Rome
Building the Nation-State
75. • Italian unification: Cavour and Garibaldi
• Garibaldi and Cavour
• Cavour worried that Garibaldi would bring French or Austrian
intervention
• Cavour preferred that unification take place quickly, without
domestic turmoil
• The king ordered Garibaldi to cede military authority
Building the Nation-State
77. • Italian unification: Cavour and Garibaldi
• Final gains
• Venetia remained in Austrian hands until 1866, then became
part of Italy
• Italian soldiers occupied Rome in September 1870
• Rome became the capital of a united Italian kingdom in July
1871
• Widening gap between industrial north and rural south
Building the Nation-State
78. • The unification of Germany: Realpolitik
• Frederick William of Prussia
• Granted a Prussian constitution
• Established a bicameral parliament
• Modified electoral system to reinforce hierarchies of wealth
and power
• A large landowner or industrialist had a hundred times the voting
power of a common working man
Building the Nation-State
79. • The unification of Germany: Realpolitik
• Growth of the Prussian middle class
• Active liberal intelligentsia
• Liberal civil service; dedicated to political modernization
• Liberalism and Frederick William IV (1840–1861)
• King wanted to expand the standing army and take military
matters out of parliamentary control
Building the Nation-State
80. • The unification of Germany: Realpolitik
• Liberalism and Frederick William IV (1840–1861)
• Opponents saw the king perhaps creating a personal army
• Frederick William IV named Bismarck minister-president of
Prussia (1862)
Building the Nation-State
81. • The unification of Germany: Realpolitik
• Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898)
• Prussian Junker and defender of the monarchy
• Opposed liberalism and nationalism
• Believed that some sort of union was inevitable and that
Prussia ought to take the initiative
• Bismarck and the opposition
• Defied parliamentary opposition
• Dissolved Parliament over the levy of taxes
Building the Nation-State
83. • The unification of Germany: Realpolitik
• Bismarck and foreign policy
• Played the ―nationalist card‖ to preempt his liberal opponents
• The dispute over Schleswig-Holstein
• Outbreak of War
• Austria gave up Schleswig-Holstein and surrendered Venetia to the
Italians
• Austria agreed to dissolve the Confederation
Building the Nation-State
84. • The unification of Germany: Realpolitik
• Bismarck and foreign policy
• Bismarck created the Northern German Confederation
• Prussian victories weakened liberal opposition
• Hoped to include the southern German states of Bavaria,
Wurttemberg, Baden, and Hesse- Darmstadt
• France opposed unification because it would create a state that
was too powerful on its eastern border.
Building the Nation-State
85. • State derives its legitimacy as an organic (natural)
consequence of the unity of those whom it governs
• Includes language, culture, religion, customs of the nation
• Race is often a component
• Zeitgeist—spirit of the age
Romantic Nationalism
86. • In 1868, Prince Leopold Hohenzollern was offered the throne
of Spain following the overthrow of Queen Isabella.
• France feared encirclement with a Prussian Confederation to
her east and a Hohenzollern monarch on the Spanish throne
and threatened war.
• Leopold forced to decline Spanish throne
• France wanted Kaiser Wilhelm to promise that a Hohenzollern
Prince would never make a claim to the Spanish throne again.
• Wilhelm refused.
• Diplomatic dispute over communication between the Kaiser
and the French diplomat.
Franco - Prussian War
89. Count Benedetti intercepted me on the
promenade and ended by demanding of me, in
a very importunate manner, that I should
authorize him to telegraph at once that I bound
myself in perpetuity never again to give my
consent if the Hohenzollerns renewed their
candidature. I rejected this demand somewhat
sternly, as it is neither right nor possible to
undertake engagements of this kind [for ever
and ever]. Naturally, I told him that I had not
yet received any news and, since he had been
better informed via Paris and Madrid than I
was, he must surely see that my government
was not concerned in the matter.
Franco-Prussian War- Ems
Telegram
90. After the news of the renunciation of the Prince
von Hohenzollern had been communicated to
the Imperial French government by the Royal
Spanish government, the French Ambassador in
Ems made a further demand on His Majesty the
King that he should authorize him to telegraph
to Paris that His Majesty the King undertook
for all time never again to give his assent
should the Hohenzollerns once more take up
their candidature. His Majesty the King
thereupon refused to receive the Ambassador
again and had the latter informed by the
Adjutant of the day that His Majesty had no
further communication to make to the
Ambassador.
Franco-Prussian War
91. • The unification of Germany: Realpolitik
• Bismarck and The Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871)
• A conflict with France would aid German nationalism in
Bavaria, Württemberg, and other southern states
• Skillful propagandist—played off public opinion
• France declared war with Prussia
• German states rallied to Prussia’s side
• No European powers came to the aid of France
Building the Nation-State
92. • France had a volunteer army of 400,000 men.
• Inefficient mobilization
• Prussia and allies had a conscript army of over a million
men.
• Efficient mobilization
• Better technology
• Prussian General Staff
• Direct operational movement
• Organize logistics and communications
• Oversee overall strategy
Franco-Prussian War
93. • The unification of Germany: Realpolitik
• The German empire was proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors
at Versailles on January 18, 1871
• A ―revolution from above‖
Building the Nation-State
94. • The state and nationality: centrifugal forces in the
Austrian empire
• The Habsburgs abolished serfdom but made few other
reforms
• The Hungarians were essentially reconquered
• Administrative reforms
• New and more uniform legal system
• Rationalized taxation
Building the Nation-State
95. • The state and nationality: centrifugal forces in the
Austrian empire
• Ethnic relations
• Grew more tense
• The ―nationalities‖ protested the powerlessness of their Diets,
military repression, and cultural disenfranchisement
• Franz Joseph (1848–1916, emperor of Austria)
• Agreed to the new federal structure
Building the Nation-State
96. • The state and nationality: centrifugal forces in the
Austrian empire
• The Dual Monarchy (Austria-Hungary)
• Common system of taxation, common army, made foreign and
military policy together
• Internal and constitutional affairs were separated
• No national unification in Habsburg lands
Building the Nation-State
97. • Russia: Territory, the state, and serfdom
• Abolition of serfdom as part of a project to rebuild Russia
as a modern state
• ―Slavophiles‖
• Preserving Russia’s distinctive features
• Idealized traditional Russian culture
Nation & State Building:
Russia, United States,
Canada
98. • Territory, the state, and serfdom: Russia
• The Emancipation Decree of 1861
• Massive in scope, limited in change
• Granted legal rights to 22 million serfs
• Gave former serfs title to a portion of the land
• Required the state to compensate landowners
Nation & State Building:
Russia, United States,
Canada
101. • Territory and the Nation: the United States
• Territorial expansion—the Louisiana Purchase (1803)
• Added millions of acres of prime cotton land
• Extended the empire of slavery
• Andrew Jackson (1829–1837)
• Transformed Jeffersonian liberalism
• Campaigned to extend suffrage to all white males
• ―continent‖
Nation & State Building:
Russia, United States,
Canada
102. • Territory and the Nation: the United States
• Andrew Jackson (1829–1837)
• All officeholders should be elected and not appointed
• Frequent rotation of men in power
• Manifest Destiny—―to overspread and to possess the whole
of the continent which Providence has given us for the
development of the great experiment of liberty and
federated self-government entrusted to us.‖ John
O’Sullivan, 1845.
Nation & State Building: Russia,
United States, Canada
103. • The Politics of Slavery
• 1838–1848: abolition of slavery in Great Britain and France
• Latin America
• Nationalist leaders recruited slaves to fight the Spanish
• Simón de Bolívar
Nation & State Building:
Russia, United States,
Canada
104. • The Politics of Slavery
• The legality of slavery
• Southern United States, Brazil, Cuba, most of Africa, parts of
India and the Islamic world
• Slavery and the Enlightenment
• Slavery contradicted natural law and natural freedom
• Slavery as metaphor for everything that was bad
• England and the abolition of the slave trade
Nation & State Building:
Russia, United
States, Canada
105. • The Politics of Slavery
• Why did attempts to abolish slavery occur?
• Less profitable
• Adam Smith and free trade
• Religious revivalism
• Appealed to women reformers
• The working classes
• Slave rebellions
Nation & State Building:
Russia, United States,
Canada
106. • The American Civil War, 1861–1865
• Consequences of the Civil War
• The abolition of slavery
• Established the preeminence of the national government over
states’ rights
• The Fourteenth Amendment
• Due process defined by the national not state government
• The expansion of the U.S. economy
• War laid the foundations for the modern American nation-
state
Nation & State Building: Russia,
United States, Canada
108. • The Eastern Question
• Ottoman empire lost its grip on provinces in southeastern
Europe
• Strategic interest, systems of alliances, and the balance of
power in Europe
The Decline of Ottoman
Power and International
Relations
109. • The Crimean War
• Russia invaded Ottoman territories of Moldavia and
Walachia
• Austria garrisoned its troops
• Russia turned on the Turks
• Provoked French and British fears of Russian expansion
The Decline of Ottoman Power
and International Relations
111. • Importance of the war
• Peace settlement was a setback for Russia
• Romania becomes an independent nation
• Embarrassed French prestige
• Innovations in warfare
• Correspondents and photojournalists—a ―public‖ war
• Florence Nightingale (1820–1910)
The Decline of Ottoman Power
and International Relations
112. Half a league half a league, Half a league onward, Flash'd all their sabres bare, Flash'd as they turn'd in air
All in the valley of Death Rode the six hundred: Sabring the gunners there, Charging an army while
'Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns' he said: All the world wonder'd: Plunged in the battery-smoke
Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred Right thro' the line they broke; Cossack & Russian
Forward, the Light Brigade!' Was there a man dismay'd ? Reel'd from the sabre-stroke, Shatter'd & sunder'd.
Not tho' the soldier knew some one had blunder'd: Then they rode back, but not Not the six hundred.
Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do & die, Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them,
Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. Cannon behind them Volley'd and thunder'd;
Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Storm'd at with shot and shell, While horse & hero fell,
Cannon in front of them Volley'd & thunder'd; They that had fought so well Came thro' the jaws of Death,
Storm'd at with shot and shell, Boldly they rode and well, Back from the mouth of Hell, All that was left of them,
Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of Hell Left of six hundred.
Rode the six hundred.
When can their glory fade? O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder'd.
Honour the charge they made! Honour the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred!
“The Charge of the Light Brigade,”
Alfred Lord Tennyson
113. • 1850–1870 as decades of intense nation building
• Unifications of Italy and Germany
• The rise of the United States
• Nationalism as an erratic and malleable force
• Enlightened Nationalism
• Realpolitik
• Romantic Nationalism
Conclusion
Editor's Notes
Reform and Revolution The French Revolution not only generated a conservative reaction, it also created liberalism as a new political ideology. Conservatives were intent on demonstrating that natural rights did not exist; the only rights that existed were those granted by the state. Liberals argued that humanity did indeed have natural rights, and foremost among them was the natural right of personal liberty. In essence, one of the legacies of the French Revolution was a new political vocabulary, and since all revolutions force people to make choices, one had to decide whether to be a liberal or a conservative. Finally, the first half of the nineteenth century is also the period in which the European middle and working classes found their voice in the political affairs of their nation. The middle classes were slowly brought into the orbit of “popular” government as it created various programs for social, political, and economic reform. But for the working classes, various efforts to democratize their social and economic aspirations led to outright failure and near retreat.
Building the Nation-StateWhile historians and others could easily argue the success or failure of the French Revolution of 1789—and indeed, they have been doing so for more than a century—1848 represents a clear failure on the part of the revolutionaries, no matter which country is under investigation. However, in the wake of the revolutions of 1848, new nations came into being (specifically Germany and Italy) and thus changed the map of Europe forever. The balance of power, so carefully constructed at Vienna, set the stage for the appearance of what, by the end of the nineteenth century, would be called the great powers: Germany, Britain, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Russia, France, and a relative newcomer, the United States. And this balance of power, a clever balancing act if ever there was one, would manifest itself in the great imperialist drives at the end of the century and ultimately in the European cataclysm, the Great War of 1914–1918.