The Rise of Nationalism in Europe

Chapter summary

This chapter explains how the idea of the nation-state was born in 19th century Europe. Before the French Revolution, Europe was a patchwork of kingdoms, principalities, duchies and city-states held together by dynastic loyalties — people identified with their ruler, religion, region or guild, not with a "nation." By 1914, the political map had been redrawn around nation-states, and nationalism had become the most powerful political force on the continent.

The chapter opens with the famous allegorical print by Frédéric Sorrieu (1848) — "The Dream of Worldwide Democratic and Social Republics" — depicting peoples of the world marching past a statue of Liberty under the banners of their nations, with the wreckage of monarchical regimes in the foreground. Sorrieu's vision captures the optimistic spirit of the 1848 revolutions: that nationhood and democratic liberty would advance together.

The chapter then traces three threads: (1) the French Revolution and Napoleonic conquests that spread the ideas of citizenship, equality before law, and the nation as a community of equal citizens; (2) the conservative reaction of 1815 (Treaty of Vienna) and its rupture by the revolutions of 1830 and 1848; and (3) the unifications of Italy (1861) and Germany (1871), followed by the Balkan tensions that exploded into World War I in 1914.

The Sorrieu allegory — peoples marching toward liberty

Frédéric Sorrieu's 1848 print depicts peoples of Europe and America, men and women of all ages and classes, marching in a long file past the statue of Liberty. They pay homage to the statue while passing it. Liberty holds the torch of Enlightenment in one hand and the Charter of the Rights of Man in the other. On the earth in the foreground are the shattered remains of monarchical institutions. In the heavens, Christ, saints and angels look down on the scene.

Sorrieu's print contains three powerful messages:

• Nations are imagined as peoples — not territories, kings, or armies — bound together by shared identity.
• The peoples are arranged by nation (US leads, followed by France, then Germany, then Austria, Italy, England, Hungary, Russia, etc.) — each is a separate nation, but all march toward the same destination.
• The destination is universal democratic liberty — nationhood and democracy go together; they reinforce each other.

The French Revolution and the idea of the nation

The French Revolution (1789) was the first clear expression of nationalism in modern Europe. Until then, France was an absolute monarchy where political power was concentrated in the king. The Revolution transferred sovereignty from the monarch to the body of French citizens — declaring that "the source of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation."

Several Revolutionary measures created a sense of collective national identity:

• The ideas of la patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen) emphasised the notion of a united community enjoying equal rights under a single constitution.
• A new French flag — the tricolour — replaced the royal standard.
• The Estates General was elected by the body of active citizens and renamed the National Assembly.
• New hymns were composed, oaths taken and martyrs commemorated, all in the name of the nation.
• A centralised administrative system formulated uniform laws for all citizens within its territory.
• Internal customs duties and dues were abolished and a uniform system of weights and measures was adopted.
• Regional dialects were discouraged and French as spoken in Paris became the common language of the nation.

The Napoleonic Code: nationalism by occupation

When Napoleon Bonaparte took power in 1799 he destroyed democracy in France — but his administrative and legal reforms carried the principles of equality across Europe. The Napoleonic Code of 1804 (Civil Code of 1804):

• Did away with all privileges based on birth;
• Established equality before the law;
• Secured the right to property;
• Abolished the feudal system in lands he conquered, freed peasants from serfdom and manorial dues;
• Removed guild restrictions in towns;
• Standardised weights, measures and currency;
• Improved transport and communication.

For the businessman, the trader, the small-scale producer and the wage labourer, Napoleonic rule meant new freedom and new opportunities. Initially welcomed in many cities (Brussels, Mainz, Milan, Warsaw), the enthusiasm soured as people experienced increased taxation, censorship, forced conscription into French armies and political surveillance.

"The Napoleonic Code was carried into the regions under French control. In the Dutch Republic, in Switzerland, in Italy and in Germany, Napoleon simplified administrative divisions, abolished the feudal system, and freed peasants from serfdom and manorial dues." — NCERT Class 10, Ch 1.

The unifications of Italy and Germany

By the mid-19th century, the imagined community of the nation had become powerful enough to redraw borders. Two flagship unifications:

Italy (1861)

Italy in 1850 was divided into seven states, only one of which — Sardinia-Piedmont — was ruled by an Italian princely house. Three forces drove unification:

• Giuseppe Mazzini — the moral and ideological architect. Founded the secret society Young Italy in 1831; envisioned a unitary Italian republic. Exiled, but his writings inspired a generation.
• Count Camillo de Cavour — Chief Minister of Sardinia-Piedmont. The diplomatic and economic architect. Engineered an alliance with France (1859) that defeated Austria and brought Lombardy into the Sardinian kingdom.
• Giuseppe Garibaldi — the military hero. With his volunteer "Red Shirts" force, marched on Sicily (1860) and then Naples, handing the southern kingdom to Victor Emmanuel II.

In 1861, Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of a united Italy. Rome remained under papal control until 1870, when it too joined the Italian state.

Germany (1871)

Germany in 1815 was a confederation of 39 states, dominated by Austria. The unification process unfolded in three Prussian-led wars:

• Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of Prussia, executed a "blood and iron" strategy of carefully chosen wars.
• 1864 — Danish War: Prussia and Austria together seized Schleswig and Holstein from Denmark.
• 1866 — Austro-Prussian War: Prussia defeated Austria, excluding it from German affairs.
• 1870-71 — Franco-Prussian War: Prussian victory united the southern German states with the North German Confederation.
• On 18 January 1871, in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, Kaiser Wilhelm I of Prussia was proclaimed German Emperor.

The Zollverein customs union of 1834 had laid the economic groundwork — abolishing tariffs between member states, unifying currencies, and creating a single market that made political unification economically inevitable.

Britain and the Balkans: two contrasting models

The chapter ends by contrasting two models of nation formation:

Britain emerged as a nation not through revolution or war but through gradual consolidation. The Act of Union (1707) between Scotland and England formed the United Kingdom of Great Britain. The English Parliament steadily increased its power over the monarchy, and a new "British nation" was forged through the active promotion of English culture, language, and institutions over Scottish and Welsh ones.

The Balkans, by contrast, became the most explosive region of Europe by 1914. After the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the region splintered into competing nationalisms — Serbs, Bulgarians, Romanians, Greeks, Albanians — each claiming overlapping territory. Russia, Germany, England, Austro-Hungary all sought to use these rivalries for their own interests. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo (28 June 1914) triggered World War I.

NCERT exercise Q&A (with explanations)

The chapter's exercise questions answered with model responses calibrated for Class 10 boards, with depth notes for UPSC GS-1 World History where relevant.

UPSC / MPSC previous year questions on this chapter

Related current affairs

The nationalism conversations from this chapter remain alive today. Direct linkages:

• Brexit and nationalism in the EU — debates around supranational vs national identity echo 19th century tensions.
• Ukraine-Russia war (2022+) — Russian framing draws on 19th century Pan-Slavic ideas; Ukrainian resistance draws on the same Mazzinian "nation as moral community" tradition.
• Catalan and Scottish independence movements — modern instances of the same nation-vs-state question that drove 19th century Europe.
• Balkan tensions (Kosovo-Serbia, Bosnia) — direct unfinished business from the 1914 collapse.