NationalismLecture 7: Unification and

Separatist NationalismProf. Lars-Erik Cederman

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH)Center for Comparative and International Studies (CIS)

Seilergraben 49, Room G.2lcederman@ethz.ch

http://www.icr.ethz.ch/teaching/nationalism

Assistant: Kimberly Sims, CIS, Room E 3, k-sims@northwestern.edu

Nationalism’sThree Time-Zones inEurope

State-FramedNationalism

FrenchRevolution

UnificationNationalism

SeparatistNationalism

Unification nationalismCommon state?

No Yes

Com

mon

nat

ion?

Phase I:Nation-formation

Phase II:State-building

State-formationblocked

NoCentral & Southern Europe: -Germany-Italy

Yes

Historical pre-conditions of unification nationalism

The era of consciously articulated nationalism triggered by the French Revolution:• Early state-formation blocked by outside

powers and internal fragmentation• Nation-formation outside state

framework• Late state-building through mix of

conquest and voluntary merger

Differences from state-framed nationalism

• cultural meditation• identities and boundaries deeply contested• sudden mobilizationBecause of tricky geography and externalintervention, these areas were dominatedby small city-states and pre-modernprincipalities under a layer of imperial andreligious authority

“Risorgimento” nationalismReaction to French Revolution andNapoleonic wars:

– ideational revolution: democracy + popular sovereignty

– direct Napoleonic rule– French military model– Vienna 1815: elimination of

small geopolitical entities

Which came first? Nation or State?

Common state?

Com

mon

nat

ion?

No Yes

No

Yes

Radicalconstructivism

Essentialisttheory

Culturalnation?

The German Case

• Failed state-formation

• Charlemagne united most of Central and W. Europe in 9th c. but then the empire split

• Faced with invasions, the Holy Roman Empire developed into a weak dynastic umbrella: Reichsnationrestricted to nobility electing the Kaiser

Why did state-formation fail?• Reich too vast, terrain

too rugged, cultures too diverse

• Princes defended their sovereignty

• Confessional split: Luther rallies against Rome, but no religious unity: Peace of Westphalia in 1648 cements religious patchwork: “cuiusregio, eius religio”

Cultural convergence

Cities blossomed, intellectual and commercialcommunications across regional boundaries:• Gutenberg invents the printing press (Leipzig 1450)• Bible translated• Commercial contracts require standardization⇒ linguistic community beyond political orders;

Bildungsbürgertum and AufklärungJohann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) precursor

Reaction to French Revolution• Conservative and anti-nationalist (Austria)• Liberal and nationalist (Germany):

– Johann Gottlieb Fichte: “Address to the German nation” in 1807

• Nation-building through politicized organizations

• Democratization against neo-absolutism of Princes

• State-formation in opposition to Kleinstaaterei• Conservatives prevail at Congress of Vienna (1814-

15): German Confederation, but considerable geopolitical consolidation

Springtime of the nations!

Nationalist revolutions reverberatethroughout Europe

– July 1830: revolution in Paris triggers nationalist unrest in Germany and Italy

– Vormärz: gradual nationalist mobilization drawing on anti-French and anti-Danish feelings

– Revolution of 1848: unrest in France diffuses, shaking the Habsburgs

1848: agitation at the Michaelsplatz in Vienna

The Frankfurt ParliamentAfter revolutionary turmoil

tears apartGerman Confederation,

the FrankfurtParliament convenes in

1848. All partiesagree that nation-state

should be built, but:– boundaries

controversial (“klein-” or “grossdeutsch”?)

– popular sovereignty fails because Princes resist

– Prussia fills vacuum

1848 convention of the Frankfurt Parliament

=> Failure: no unified state, no secure democracy, no cohesive nation

Late state-building

• After Italian unification in 1860 liberal momentum builds up, but Bismarck, the Prussian Kanzler, “hijacks” the nationalist issue: successful wars against Denmark (1864), Austria (1866), France (1870-71) => German Empire 1871

• Instead of liberal nation-state, centralized, semi-democratic monarchy led by the Kanzler

Toward integral nationalism...• The German nation-state was born in war

and Prussian militarism became dominant• While liberal mainstream was bought off, the

masses remained excluded• Diversionary tactics: rallying against France,

Britain, and “internal enemies” (socialists and Jews)

• Uncertain Eastern boundary with Slavs

The Italian case

Parallels with the German case:– geopolitical fragmentation and foreign

domination– large, pre-modern entities (Catholic

Church)– effect of French Revolution– unification by leading state (Piedmont)

>>>integral nationalism results

Failed state-building

• Renaissance system of city-states locked into balance of power

• Difficult terrain and parochialism• French and Spanish domination• Napoleon’s conquest triggers

geopolitical reorganization but restoration of Papal and Austrian power after 1815

Growing nationalism• In 1831, Giuseppe Mazzini founds

Giovane Italia in Marseilles• In 1847, the newspaper Il

Risorgimento appears with Cavouras supporter

• In 1848, riots against Austrian rule in Lombardy but Austrians resist

• In 1852, Cavour becomes Prime Minister of Piedmont-Sardinia; Garibaldi forms the Association for the Unification of Italy

Mazzini & Garibaldi

Cavour

State-building

• In 1860, the first “Italian Parliament” meets in Turin, and the One Thousand Red Shirts leave for Sicily

• In 1861, Victor Emmanuel becomes king of Italy and the Kingdom gets a liberal constitution

• Integral nationalism leads to fascism in the 1920s

SeparatistNationalism

Europe in 1885:The breakupof the empiresbegins

Europe on theeve of WWI:Before the collapse of thegreat empires

Collapse ofCzarist Empire

Collapse ofHabsburg Empire

Collapse ofOttoman Empire

Colonialism

Europe in 1925after the collapseof the empires

What came first? Nation or State?

Common state?

Com

mon

nat

ion?

No Yes

No

Yes

Phase I:State-formation

Phase II:Secession &collapse

Eastern Europe: Ottoman, Habsburg,Russian Empires

Nation-buildingblocked

Separatist nationalism

• State-formation creates a multi-ethnic empire as in state-framed nationalism

• But nation-building is blocked• Nationalities secede from the empire

– Internal causes: sub-state revolts against “foreign” rule (mobilization & coordination)

– External causes: weak military performance compared with more cohesive nation-states

Hroch’s main argument

• When nationalism hits an area, nationalist mobilization corresponds to the level of modernization.

• The later modernization happens, the less liberal and more violent the movement.

• See also Breuilly: imperial policies important for timing and character of nationalism

Hroch’s phase model

• Phase A. Scholarly inquiry• Phase B. Politicization• Phase C. Mass movementMore complex explanation than Gellner’s:

Social preconditions depend on more than industrialization (e.g. social mobility, communications, ideological “imports”, imperial policies)

Hroch’s typology

Depending on the timing of modernization || we get:• Type 1. Integrated nationalism: |B|--C-->

– Czechs, Hungarians, Norwegians• Type 2. Delayed nationalism: B--||--C-->

– Croats, Slovenians, Lithuanians, Latvians• Type 3. Insurrectional nationalism: B-C--||-->

– Serbs, Greeks, Bulgarians• Type 4. Disintegrated nationalism: --||--BC-->

– Basque, Catalonians, Flemish, Welch

The Habsburgs• Multi-ethnic empire

headed by Vienna that dominated fragmentary but partly autonomous ethnic groups and territories through conquest and dynastic politics

• Led by Germans, but Hungarians enjoyed special status (especially toward the end)

• Feudal + absolutist tendencies

• Attempted but failed modernization

The Ottomans

• Sprawling Turkish dynasty that never tried to build national-state (“Sick Man of Europe”)

• Large degree of cultural autonomy and self-rule; masses un-mobilized (cf. Gellner’s agrarian phase)

• Millet system: tolerant religious system for Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Armenians

A chain reaction of nationalism

French Revolution,Napoleon

Vienna

Hungary

Croats Rumanians

Czechs Slovaks

Imperial policies

Serbs Greeks

Constantinople

The Magyar case• Pragmatic Sanction of 1723• A => B. Diffusion of ideas esp. from French

Revolution + German nationalism (Herder): Szechenyi and Kossuth. April laws.

• B => C. Vienna’s oppression. Revolt crushed by Vienna & Russia in 1849; War with Prussia creates Ausgleich (compromise) of 1867 which initiates the Dual Monarchy

The Croat case

• Croatia part of “military frontier” defending against Ottoman Empire (boundary effect!)

• A => B. The Sabor resists Magyar demands. Illyrian linguistic consolidation attempted (Gajand Strossmayer).

• B => C. Magyar repression esp. after Compromise of 1867. Yugoslavism on the rise.

The Serb case

• Serbia conquered by Ottomans in 1459. Early insurrections in 1812 not nationalist. Serbia independent in 1878.

• Economically backward and tolerant Ottoman rule

• Nationalist mobilization “imported” from Habsburgs via Voivodina overtakes modernization