c hapter twenty-one what is a nation? territories, states, and citizens, 1848–1871

CHAPTERTwenty-one

What Is a Nation? Territories, States, and Citizens, 1848–1871

Introduction

• Key events• 1848 revolutions• Mexican-American War• Seneca Falls Convention• California gold rush

Introduction

• Key themes• 1848 as high point of the age of revolution• Nationalism and nation building• Political reform—government and citizens• American Civil War

Nationalism and Revolution in 1848

• Central and eastern Europe• Roots of revolution—social antagonisms,

economic crises, political change• Liberal goals

• Representative government• An end to privilege• Economic development• National unity


• Who 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


• Who 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• Uniform tariffs• By the 1840s, it included all German states except Austria• A potential market of 34 million people

• Political clubs• Students and other radicals joined with middle-class reform groups• New demands for representative government• Attacked autocracy and bureaucratic authority

• Frederick William IV (1795–1861, r. 1840–1861)• Made gestures toward the liberal cause• His regime reverted to authoritarianism


• The Frankfurt Assembly and German nationhood• Most delegates represented the professional classes• Most were moderate liberals• Desired a constitution for a liberal, unified Germany

• Problems• No resources, no sovereign power, and no single legal code

• The nationalist question• The “Great German” position and “Small Germany”• The assembly accepted the “Small Germany” solution

• Left out all lands of the Habsburgs• In April 1849 offered the crown to Frederick William IV, who refused it

• Kaiser wanted the crown and larger state on his terms alone• The delegates left the assembly disillusioned• Popular revolution

• Peasants ransacked tax offices and burned castles• Workers smashed machines• Formation of citizen militias• Newspapers and political clubs


• Peoples against empire: The Habsburg lands• Ethnic and language groups

• Germans, Czechs, Magyars, Poles, Slovaks, Serbs, and Italians

• 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• Wanted to bring politics to the people

• Pan-Slavism• Russians, Poles, Ukrainians, Czechs, Slovaks, Slovenes,

Croats, Serbs, Macedonians, and Bulgarians• Desire for a union of Slavic-speaking people• Resented oppressive Russian rule


• Austria and Hungary in 1848: springtime of peoples and the autumn of empire• Kossuth stepped up his campaigns

• Demanded representative institutions• Autonomy for the Hungarian Magyar nation

• Vienna—popular movement of students and artisans

• Demanded political and social reforms• Built barricades and attacked the imperial palace• Government concessions

• Male suffrage and single house of representatives

• Worked toward the abolition of serfdom

• Yielded to Czech demands in Bohemia

• Italian liberals and nationalists attacked empire’s territories


• Austria and Hungary in 1848: springtime of peoples and the autumn of empire• The paradox of nationalism

• No cultural or ethnic majority could declare its independence without prompting rebellion elsewhere

• Insurrection in Prague (May 1848)• Austrian troops sent to restore order• Slav congress disbands

• 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• Provoked opposition from Croats, Serbs, and Romanians

within Hungary


• Austria and Hungary in 1848: springtime of peoples and the autumn of empire• Austrian government appointed anti-Magyar Josip

Jelacic as governor of Croatia• Kossuth severed all ties between Hungary and

Austria• Franz Josef asked Nicholas I of Russia for military

support• The Hungarian revolt was crushed (August 1849)• 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


• The early stages of Italian unification in 1848• A patchwork of small states• Giuseppi Mazzini (1805–1872)

• Founded the Young Italy society (1831)• Anti-Austrian

• Favored constitutional reforms

• Dedicated to Italian unification

• Invaded Sardinia—Mazzini driven to exile in England

• 1848 raised hopes for political and social change and Italian unification

• The risorgimento—Italian resurgence

Building the Nation-State

• Nationalism after 1848• States and governments took the initiative• Alarmed by revolutionary ferment• Promoted economic development and social

and political reform


• 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


• France under Napoleon III• Economic changes

• Took steps to develop the economy• Faith in the ability of industrial expansion to bring

prosperity and national glory• Passed new limited-liability laws• Signed a free-trade agreement with Britain

(1860)• Founded the Crédit Mobilier• Reluctantly permitted trade unions and the

legalization of strikes


• France under Napoleon III• Paris and Napoleon III

• Massive rebuilding of the medieval infrastructure• Financed by the Crédit Mobilier• Erected 34,000 new buildings• Wholesale renovation did not benefit everyone


• 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

• Education as a tool for advancement


• Victorian England and the Second Reform Bill (1867)• Campaign for a new reform bill

• Working-class leaders joined middle-class dissidents

• Backed by Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)• Political life would be improved by including the

“aristocrats of labor”


• 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


• Victorian England and the Second Reform Bill (1867)• The bill was silent on women

• A women’s suffrage movement mobilized• John Stuart Mill (1806–1873)

• On Liberty (1859)• The Subjection of Women (1869)• Women should be considered on the same plane as

men• Women’s freedom as a measure of social progress

• Reform Bill of 1867 as the high point of British liberalism


• Italian unification: Cavour and Garibaldi• Two visions of Italian statehood

• Giuseppi Garibaldi (1807–1882)• Committed to achieving national unification through a

popular movement

• Economic and political reforms without democracy

• Pinned their hopes on Piedmont-Sardinia• Victor Emmanuel II (1849–1861)


• Italian unification: Cavour and Garibaldi• Count Camillo Benso di Cavour (1810–

1861)• Pursued pragmatic reforms guided by the state• Promoted economic expansion and a modern

transportation infrastructure


• Italian unification: Cavour and Garibaldi• Cavour and Italy

• Relied on diplomacy• Cultivated an alliance with France in order to drive the

Austrians from Italy• War with Austria (1859)• Piedmont-Sardinia annexed Lombardy• The southern states

• A peasant revolt was brewing in the kingdom of the Two Sicilies

• Garibaldi landed in Sicily (1860)

• “The Thousand” gained widespread support for unification

• Garibaldi took Sicily in the name of Victor Emmanuel

• Garibaldi marched on Rome


• 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


• Italian unification: Cavour and Garibaldi• Final gains

• Venetia remained in Austrian hands until 1866• Italian soldiers occupied Rome in September

1870• Rome became the capital of a united Italian

kingdom in July 1871• Law of Papal Guaranties defined and limited the

pope’s status• Widening gap between industrial north and rural

south


• The unification of Germany: Realpolitik• Realpolitik as the watchword of the 1850s

and 60s• Frederick William of Prussia

• Granted a Prussian constitution• Established a bicameral parliament• Modified electoral system to reinforce

hierarchies of wealth and power• Divided voters into three classes based on the amount

of taxes they paid• A large landowner or industrialist had 100 times the

voting power of a common working man


• The unification of Germany: Realpolitik• Growth of the Prussian middle class

• Active liberal intelligentsia• Liberal civil service

• Liberalism and Frederick William IV (1840–1861)

• King wanted to expand the standing army and take military matters out of parliamentary control

• William named Bismarck minister-president of Prussia (1862)


• 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


• The unification of Germany: Realpolitik• Bismarck and foreign policy

• Played the “nationalist card” to preempt his liberal opponents

• Believed that the German Confederation was no longer useful

• The dispute over Schleswig-Holstein• The Seven Weeks’ War

• Austria agreed to dissolve the Confederation

• Bismarck created the Northern German Confederation


• The unification of Germany: Realpolitik• The Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871)

• A conflict with France would aid German nationalism in Bavaria, Württemberg, and other southern states

• German states rallied to Prussia’s side• No European powers came to the aid of France• The Prussian army• Napoleon III captured at Sedan

• The German Empire was proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles on January 18, 1871


• 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• Imposed a single-language policy favoring

German


• The state and nationality: centrifugal forces in the Austrian Empire• Ethnic relations

• Grew more tense

• Francis Joseph (1848–1916, emperor of Austria)

• Agreed to the new federal structure


• 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

Nation and State Building in Russia and the United States

• Territory, the state, and serfdom: Russia• Abolition of serfdom as part of a project to

rebuild Russia as a modern state• 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• Newly liberated serfs had to pay installments for

their land• Law granted land to the peasant commune (mir),

not individual serfs


• Territory, the state, and serfdom: Russia• Expansion

• Russia pressed east and south• Invaded and conquered independent Islamic

kingdoms along the Silk Road• Founded Siberian city of Vladivostok in 1860• In most cases, Russia did not assimilate the

populations of new territories


• Territory and the nation‑state: The United States• The Jeffersonian revolution

• Combined democratic aspirations with national expansion

• Thomas Jefferson (1801–1809)• The independence of the yeoman farmer

• Territorial expansion• Added millions of acres of prime cotton land• Extended the empire of slavery


• 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

• William Wilberforce and the immorality of the slave trade

• Parliament passes a bill prohibiting English ships to participate in the slave trade (1807)


• 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

• Rebellions in Virginia, Louisiana, and South Carolina (1800–1822)

• Rebellions in Barbados and Jamaica (1816–1831)• Increased the slaveholders’ sense of vulnerability and

isolation


• The politics of slavery• Abolition of slavery in Great Britain and

France (1838–1848)• Latin America

• Nationalist leaders recruited slaves to fight the Spanish

• Simon de Bolivar

• Cuba• A Spanish colony, 40 percent slaves• The sugar industry• Abolition began in the 1870s


• The American Civil War• Would new states be “free” or “slave”?• Northern calls for “free labor”• Failure of elaborate compromises led to civil

war in 1861


• The American Civil War• 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

Eastern Questions: The Decline of Ottoman Power and International Relations

• The Eastern Question• Strategic interest, systems of alliances, and

the balance of power in Europe• 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• A short but gruesome war• “The charge of the Light Brigade”


• The Eastern Question• Importance of the war

• Peace settlement was a setback for Russia• Embarrassed French prestige• Innovations in warfare

• Rifled muskets, underwater mines, and trench warfare• Railroads and telegraphs

• Correspondents and photojournalists—a “public” war


• Realism: “democracy in art”• A strict rejection of artistic conventions• The movement toward honest, objective,

authentic representations of the world• Focus on the material world

• A debt to nineteenth-century science

• Émile Zola (1840–1902)• An exact, scientific presentation of society• Profound sympathy with the common person

and a desire for social justice• Confronted the social problems of working-class

life


• Realism: Democracy in art• The critique of contemporary society• Russian writers joined realism with philosophical

themes• Ivan Turgenev (1818–1883)

• Fathers and Sons (1862)• Condemned existing social order• Provided inspiration to young Russian intellectuals

• Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–1881)• The psychology of anguished minds

• Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910)• War and Peace (1863–1869)• The fate of individuals caught up in the powerful movement

of history

Conclusion

• 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

This concludes the Lecture PowerPoint for Chapter 21.

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/history/wciv_16e/brief

c hapter twenty-one what is a nation? territories, states, and citizens, 1848–1871

Documents

prussia slide

age of revolution nationalism

authoritarianism slide

political reformgovernment

german nationhood

german confederation

oppressive russian rule

small germany solution