Introduction for Chapter 23

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23

The Age of Nationalism

1850–1914

In the years that followed the revolutions of 1848, Western society progressively developed, for better or worse, an effective organizing principle capable of coping with the many-sided challenges of the unfinished industrial and political revolutions and the emerging urban society. That principle was nationalism — mass identification with the nation-state. Just as industrialization and urbanization had brought vast changes to class relations, family lifestyles, and science and culture, the triumph of nationalism remade territorial boundaries and forged new relations between the nation-state and its citizens.

The rise of nationalism and the nation-state, enormously significant historical developments, was by no means completely predictable. Nationalism had been a powerful force since at least 1789, but the goal of creating independent nation-states, inhabited by people sharing a common ethnicity, language, history, and territory, had repeatedly failed, most spectacularly in the revolutions of 1848. By 1914, however, most Europeans lived in nation-states, and the ideology of nationalism had become an almost universal faith in the Western world. The governments of the new nation-states took various forms, from conservative authoritarianism to parliamentary monarchy to liberal republicanism. Whatever the political system, in most cases the nation-state became increasingly responsive to the needs of its people, opening the political franchise and offering citizens at least rudimentary social and economic benefits. At the same time, the nation-state demanded more from its citizens, most obviously in the form of rising income taxes and universal military service. Nationalism, which before 1848 appealed primarily to liberals seeking political reform or national independence, became an ever more conservative ideology. At its worst, populists and fanatics eagerly manipulated and sometimes abused the growing patriotism of ordinary people to justify exclusionary policies against Jews and other ethnic minorities, and to promote expansionary projects in overseas colonies.

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Life in the Age of Nationalism Conscripts in an Italian village cheer a speech by a local dignitary as a soldier bids farewell to his family before joining the army in the field. This portrait pays homage to the Italian peasant, willing to fight for his newborn country. This idealized scene depicts the changing relationship between state and citizen, as nationalism came to predominate at all levels of society.
(By Gerolamo Induno [1825–1890], [oil on canvas]/Civico Museo del Risorgimento, Milano, Italy/De Agostini Picture Library/Alfredo Dagli Orti/Bridgeman Images)

CHAPTER PREVIEW

Napoleon III in France

How did Napoleon III seek to reconcile popular and conservative forces in an authoritarian nation-state?

Nation Building in Italy, Germany, and the United States

How did conflict and war lead to the construction of strong nation-states in Italy, Germany, and the United States?

The Modernization of Russia and the Ottoman Empire

What steps did Russia and the Ottoman Turks take toward modernization, and how successful were they?

The Responsive National State, 1871–1914

What general domestic political trends emerged after 1871?

The Nation and the People

How did popular nationalism evolve in the last decades of the nineteenth century?

Marxism and the Socialist Movement

Why did the socialist movement grow, and how revolutionary was it?

Chronology

1839–1876 Western-style Tanzimat reforms in Ottoman Empire
1852–1870 Reign of Napoleon III in France
1859–1870 Unification of Italy
1861 Freeing of Russian serfs
1861–1865 U.S. Civil War
1866 Austro-Prussian War
1870–1871 Franco-Prussian War; unification of Germany
1870–1878 Kulturkampf, Bismarck’s attack on Catholic Church
1873 Stock market crash spurs renewed anti-Semitism, beginning in central and eastern Europe
1880s Educational reforms in France create a secular public school system
1880s–1890s Widespread return to protectionism among European states
1883 First social security laws to help workers in Germany
1890–1900 Witte initiates second surge of Russian industrialization
1905 Revolution in Russia
1906–1914 Social reform in Great Britain
1908 Young Turks seize power in Ottoman Empire