Nationalism Triumphs in Europe

World History Chapter 7

Building a German Nation

• Taking Initial Steps Towards Unity• In the early 1800’s, Germany existed as many smaller

provinces from counties to dukedoms, but they were independent under the Holy Roman Emperor.

– Napoleon raids German Lands• Napoleon changed German political geography after his

conquest of the area.• Napoleon dissolved the Holy Roman Empire, united many of

the smaller German states, and brought the Napoleonic Code, as well as the idea of nationalism to the German states.

– Economic changes promote unity• As Germany gradually agreed to common trade laws, many

called for unification, and at the 1848 Frankfurt Assembly, offered the crown to Frederick William IV of Prussia, who refused it as it came from “the people”.

Bismarck Unites Germany

– Otto von Bismarck, a Prussian noble, used his position as chancellor of Prussia to unify Germany by a policy of “blood and iron”.

• Master of Realpolitik– Realpolitik is a definition of politics where reality was the driving force

(greed, power, security) as opposed to lofty idealism. There exists honor in realpolitik only as long as there is advantage in it.

• Strengthening the Army– To begin his unification of Germany, Bismarck first needed a grand

army, which he created by taking funds from other budget areas.

• Prussia Declares War with Denmark and Austria– Creating an Alliance with Austria, Bismarck carved out a couple of

provinces from Denmark, and then turned on his Austrian allies to end Austrian dominance of German politics and capture German speaking provinces in Austria.

• France Declares War with Prussia– Bismarck then baited Napoleon III to declare war on Germany, then

humiliated the French in the Franco-Prussian War. This added provinces along the Rhine to a new German Empire.

• Birth of the German Empire– These victories emboldened the German nobility to offer Prussian King

William I to take the title of Kaiser (emperor), and hailed the birth of the Second Reich (Holy Roman Empire was the first)

Germany Strengthens

• Germany Becomes an Industrial Giant• By the late 1800’s, German Chemical and Electrical industries were the best in

Europe, and Germany possessed a merchant marine second only to Britain’s

– Making Economic Progress• Germany possessed most of the same resources that Britain had to achieve

industrialization, including vast coal and iron deposits, especially in the Ruhr valley.

• Krupp – steel and weapons• August Thyssen – steel• Carl Zeiss - optics

– Promoting Scientific and Economic Development• Science in industry• Educated workers• Synthetics• Single currency• Coordinated railroads• Protectionist policies

The Iron Chancellor

– Bismarck considered both the Church and the Socialists to be a threat to the newly unified Germany, and took steps to address both groups

• Campaign Against the Church– Kulturkampf (battle for civilization)– Fought to make loyalty to Germany above loyalty to the church. Supervised Catholic education, expelled the

Jesuits, made all marriages civil, not religious.– Policies backfired, Bismarck recognized errors

• Campaign Against the Socialists– First fought socialists by banning them, shut down meetings and newspapers. Again, these policies failed.– Bismarck then decided to woo workers away from socialism by granting many of their concerns, showing

them that revolution was not necessary to get reform.– These reforms proved very popular, and became a model for European social policies.

• Kaiser William II– Grandson of William I, he removed Bismarck from office, making him undisputed ruler of Germany.– Social Welfare

• Transportation• Electricity• Expanded public schooling• Expanded the military• Wanted to build a fleet to rival Britain

Unifying Italy

• Obstacles to Italian Unity• Since Roman times, Italy had

become a place of independent city states, and small monarchies, often under foreign control

• As with Germany, Napoleon’s invasion sparked ideas of nationalism and a unified Italy

• Italy underwent many revolts but these were put down by Austrian and French forces

– Mazzini Establishes Young Italy• Giuseppe Mazzini, a nationalist

leader, formed a revolutionary republic in Rome, but this was put down by the French, and Mazzini was sent into exile

– Nationalism Takes Root• Though Mazzini did not succeed,

nationalism spread throughout Italy

The Struggle for Italy

• Cavour Becomes Prime Minister– Victor Emmanuel II, constitutional monarch of Sardinia (includes Piedmont, Nice, and Savoy),

in 1852 made Count Camillo Cavour his Prime minister. Cavour was much like Bismark, and wanted to unify Italy under Emmanuel

• Intrigue with France– Cavour maneuvered Sardinia into an alliance with France and Britain in the Crimean War, and

gained some recognition, which he used to set up a secret alliance with France against Austria.– Fighting with Austria gained Sardinia much of Northern Italy

• Garibaldi’s “Red Shirts”– Giuseppe Garibaldi, a nationalist like Mazzini, who also spent time in exile, accepted Cavour’s

support to take control of southern Italy and Sicily.– With his 1000 “Red Shirts” Garibaldi was successful in gaining popular support in the south

• Unity at Last– Afraid that Garibaldi’s successes would turn him into a ruler of southern Italy, Cavour

encouraged Emmanuel to send troops south against Garibaldi, but these troops joined Garibaldi instead of fighting him.

– In a surprise move, Garibaldi gave up control of the south and his army willingly to Emmanuel, unifying Italy for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire

Changes Facing the New Nation

• Divisions– Even though nationalism brought

Italians together, old rivalries remained unsettled

• Turmoil– Italy’s conservative government

quickly became a target of Socialists who pushed for liberal reforms, while anarchists* (those who oppose all government) committed acts of sabotage and violence

• Economic Progress– Though without the coal reserves of

nations like Britain and Germany, industrialization improved conditions in Italy, though many of the poor and discouraged emigrated from the country to find new opportunities in the U.S.

Nationalism Threatens Old Empires

• The Hapsburg Empire Declines• Once ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, The Hapsburg family still controlled Austria-Hungary.

– Austria Faces Change• Congress of Vienna• “Rule, and change nothing.” Francis I to his son.• Resisted industrialization as a threat to traditional life.• Multiracial problems added to the pains of modernization

– Industrial workers strikes– Socialists (*note: Why always socialists?)

– A Multinational Empire• Empire of 50 Million people, only a quarter of them Austrian• Half were Slavic peoples: Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Ukrainians, Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes• Italians, Hungarians make up the rest• Rival groups often pushed together• Nationalism becomes the fire, rather than the glue• Revolts of 1848 put down harshly

– Francis Joseph Grants Limited Reforms• Young Francis Joseph (18) would rule until WWI• Made limited reforms, but favored Austria heavily

Formation of the Dual Monarchy

• The Austria-Hungary Government– Under pressure after Austria’s

defeat to Prussia, a moderate Hungarian Ferene Deak proposed a dual monarchy, with Francis Joseph as Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary.

– Shared ministries of Finance, Defense, and Foreign Affairs, but all other functions were separate

– Formed the Austrian-Hungarian Government

• Nationalist Unrest Increases– Other groups were less than

satisfied with this compromise, and Slavic peoples called for independence.

– Unrest would continue to increase until the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, which would start WWI

The Ottoman Empire Collapses

– The Ottoman Empire, stretching from the Balkans to North Africa to the Middle East, was similar to the Hapsburg Empire in that it was multinational, and nationalism was a pressure splitting the Empire apart.

• Balkan Nationalism Erupts– Greece and Serbia win independence (1830’s)– Other Baltic nations continue unrest to gain independence (Romania, Bulgaria)

• European Powers Divide up the Ottoman Empire– Seeing the Ottomans as weak, “the old man of Europe”, the other European powers moved in to take what

they wanted, splitting the Empire up.– Russia moved around the Black Sea, Austria-Hungary grabbed Bosnia and Herzegovina, while England and

France moved to take the Middle East and North Africa.

• War in the Balkans– Every European engaged in wars in this region, sometimes directly, sometimes by proxy, and the alliances

changed depending on the interests of the European power.– This resulted in the region being highly unstable, known as the “Balkan Powder Keg”

Russia: Reform and Reaction

• Conditions in Russia• By 1815 Russia was the largest and most populous state in Europe,

with territory stretching from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea, and from Baltic Sea to the Pacific and beyond (Alaska and coast down to California)

• Despite attempts to westernize by Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, Russia had to deal with it’s huge size and a rigid social structure that resisted change.

– Russia’s social structure• Landowning nobles dominated the structure of Russian society,

and resented any attempt to reduce their authority and privileges.• There was virtually no middle class in Russia that could counteract

the power of the nobles.• The vast majority of people in Russia were serfs, who were little

better than slaves.• The inefficiencies of the system were of little concern to the

nobles, who only wanted to protect their power.

– Ruling with Absolute Power• Though the Tsars of Russia held absolute power, efforts at reform

did little good, nor did enlightenment ideals reach far into the interior. Each time the Crown attempted to make the lives of the peasants, support from the nobles weakened.

Emancipation and Stirrings of Revolution

– As Russia attempted to expand along the Black Sea, France and Britain attacked the Crimean Peninsula in the Black Sea (1855). This defeat for Russia underlined how backward Russia had become, and started to bring pressure for reforms.

• Freeing the Serfs– Following widespread discontent, Alexander II issued a royal decree ending serfdom.– While reforms did not provide enough land for former serfs to be independent, it was

the turning point for other reforms.

• Introducing Other Reforms– Instituting local government

• Road repairs, schools, agriculture• Trial by jury• Reduced censorship• Military service reduced• Encouraged industry

• Revolutionary Currents– These reforms did not do much to quell anger; peasants needed land, liberals wanted a

constitution, radicals wanted even more reform– The Tsar, fearing revolution, moved away from reform and became repressive– The failures of reform, and reaction to the more repressive attitude of government led

to the assassination of Alexander II in 1881

Minorities Suffer

• Crackdown– Alexander III responded to the assassination of his

father by becoming even more repressive• Secret police• Exile to Siberia• Strict censorship• Russification (One language, one church)• Minority groups suffer persecution (Ukrainians, Poles,

Finns, Armenians, Muslims and Jews)

• Persecution and Pogroms– Jewish people in Poland and Ukraine (acquired by

Russia)– Under Alexander III, Jewish people were limited in

terms of the number who could attend universities and what they could study, what professions they could have, where they could live (shtetle)

– Jewish people were often the targets of pogroms, government approved mob violence against minorities

– Many Jewish people emigrated to the U.S. as a result

Turning Point: Crisis and Revolution

– The drive to industrialize Russia occurred late in 1890, far behind other European powers. Money was a major problem, as well as the vast distances in Russia (trans-Siberian railroad).

– This economic development brought many to the cities eager to find work in the factories, but hours were long, wages poor, and conditions harsh.

– Socialist activists brought the politics of Karl Marx to the workers.

• Russo-Japanese War– In 1904, after a series of expansions by the Russians

into territories the Japanese considered to be important to Japan, the Japanese decided to attack Port Arthur (Russian naval base).

– In all, the Russians were humiliated by the Japanese, loosing not only considerable territory, as well as two fleets.

“A Whiff of Grapeshot…”

• Bloody Sunday– News of the military disasters released pent up

discontent, and protesters went on strike. Worked demanded more pay and shorter hours, liberals called for a constitution.

– A peaceful protest led by a priest to the Winter Palace. The Tsar panicked and called out the army. Hundreds were shot down.

• The Revolution of 1905– Violence exploded across Russia, and the government

was essentially powerless.– In an October Manifesto, Nicholas I ordered several

reforms enacted, including freedoms of “person, conscience, speech, assembly, and union.”

– Nicholas I also created a Duma to approve laws

• Results of the Revolution– The Manifesto won over moderates, but Nicholas I

quickly shut down the Duma when it criticized the government

– The only lesson Nicholas learned was more repression, which can only be tolerated for so long…

– Prime Minister Peter Stolypin understood this, and tried to enact reforms, but it was too little too late. Stolypinwas assassinated in 1911.