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Contents |
xiSection I: Events and Processes |
I. The Rise of Nationalism in Europe 3 |
II. The Nationalist Movement in Indo-China 25 |
III.Nationalism in India 4 |
9 |
Section II: Livelihoods, Economies and Societies |
IV. The Making of a Global World 77 |
V.The Age of Industrialisation 97 |
V |
I. Work, Life and Leisure 117 |
Section III: Everyday Life, Culture and Politics |
VII. Print Culture and the Modern World 141 |
VIII. Novels, Society and History 159 |
Foreword iii |
Introduction ix In 1848, Frédéric Sorrieu, a French artist, prepared a series of four |
prints visualising his dream of a world made up of ‘democratic |
and social Republics’, as he called them. The first print (Fig. 1) of theseries, shows the peoples of Europe and America – men and women |
of all ages and social classes – marching in a long train, and offering |
homage to the statue of Liberty as they pass by it. As you wouldrecall, artists of the time of the French Revolution personified Liberty |
as a female figure – here you can recognise the torch of Enlightenment |
she bears in one hand and the Charter of the Rights of Man in theother. On the earth in the foreground of the image lie the shattered |
remains of the symbols of absolutist institutions. In Sorrieu’s |
utopian vision, the peoples of the world are grouped as distinct |
nations, identified through their flags and national costume. Leading |
the procession, way past the statue of Liberty, are the United States |
and Switzerland, which by this time were already nation-states. France, |
The Rise of Nationalism in Europe |
Fig. 1 — The Dream of Worldwide Democratic and Social Republics – The Pact Between Nations, a print prepared by |
Frédéric Sorrieu, 1848. |
Chapter I |
The Rise of Nationalism in Europe |
New words |
Absolutist – Literally, a government or |
system of rule that has no restraints onthe power exercised. In history, the term |
refers to a form of monarchical |
government that was centralised,militarised and repressive |
Utopian – A vision of a society that is so |
ideal that it is unlikely to actually exist |
In what way do you think this print (Fig. 1) |
depicts a utopian vision?ActivityIndia and the Contemporary World |
4identifiable by the revolutionary tricolour, has just reached the statue. |
She is followed by the peoples of Germany, bearing the black, redand gold flag. Interestingly, at the time when Sorrieu created this |
image, the German peoples did not yet exist as a united nation – the |
flag they carry is an expression of liberal hopes in 1848 to unify thenumerous German-speaking principalities into a nation-state under |
a democratic constitution. Following the German peoples are the |
peoples of Austria, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Lombardy,Poland, England, Ireland, Hungary and Russia. From the heavens |
above, Christ, saints and angels gaze upon the scene. They have |
been used by the artist to symbolise fraternity among the nations ofthe world. |
This chapter will deal with many of the issues visualised by Sorrieu |
in Fig. 1. During the nineteenth century, nationalism emerged as aforce which brought about sweeping changes in the political and |
mental world of Europe. The end result of these changes was the |
emergence of the nation-state in place of the multi-national dynastic |
empires of Europe. The concept and practices of a modern state, in |
which a centralised power exercised sovereign control over a clearlydefined territory, had been developing over a long period of timein Europe. But a nation-state was one in which the majority of its |
citizens, and not only its rulers, came to develop a sense of commonidentity and shared history or descent. This commonness did notexist from time immemorial; it was forged through struggles, through |
the actions of leaders and the common people. This chapter will |
look at the diverse processes through which nation-states andnationalism came into being in nineteenth-century Europe.Ernst Renan, ‘What is a Nation?’ |
In a lecture delivered at the University of |
Sorbonne in 1882, the French philosopher ErnstRenan (1823-92) outlined his understanding ofwhat makes a nation. The lecture wassubsequently published as a famous essay entitled‘Qu’est-ce qu’une nation?’ (‘What is a Nation?’).In this essay Renan criticises the notion suggestedby others that a nation is formed by a commonlanguage, race, religion, or territory: |
‘A nation is the culmination of a long past ofendeavours, sacrifice and devotion. A heroic past,great men, glory, that is the social capital uponwhich one bases a national idea. To havecommon glories in the past, to have a commonwill in the present, to have performed great deedstogether, to wish to perform still more, theseare the essential conditions of being a people. Anation is therefore a large-scale solidarity … Itsexistence is a daily plebiscite … A province is its |
inhabitants; if anyone has the right to beconsulted, it is the inhabitant. A nation neverhas any real interest in annexing or holding on toa country against its will. The existence of nationsis a good thing, a necessity even. Their existenceis a guarantee of liberty, which would be lost ifthe world had only one law and only one master.’ |
SourceSource A |
Summarise the attributes of a nation, as Renan |
understands them. Why, in his view, are nations |
important?DiscussNew words |
Plebiscite – A direct vote by which all the |
people of a region are asked to accept or reject |
a proposal5 |
Nationalism in Europe1 The French Revolution and the Idea of the Nation |
The first clear expression of nationalism came with |
the French Revolution in 1789. France, as you |
would remember, was a full-fledged territorial state |
in 1789 under the rule of an absolute monarch.The political and constitutional changes that came |
in the wake of the French Revolution led to the |
transfer of sovereignty from the monarchy to abody of French citizens. The revolution proclaimed |
that it was the people who would henceforth |
constitute the nation and shape its destiny. |
From the very beginning, the French revolutionaries |
introduced various measures and practices that |
could create a sense of collective identity amongstthe French people. The ideas of la patrie (the |
fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen) emphasised |
the notion of a united community enjoying equal rights under aconstitution. A new French flag, the tricolour, was chosen to replace |
the former royal standard. The Estates General was elected by the |
body of active citizens and renamed the National Assembly. Newhymns were composed, oaths taken and martyrs commemorated, |
all in the name of the nation. A centralised administrative system |
was put in place and it formulated uniform laws for all citizenswithin 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 it was spokenand written in Paris, became the common language of the nation. |
The revolutionaries further declared that it was the mission and the |
destiny of the French nation to liberate the peoples of Europefrom despotism, in other words to help other peoples of Europe |
to become nations. |
When the news of the events in France reached the different cities |
of Europe, students and other members of educated middle classes |
began setting up Jacobin clubs. Their activities and campaigns |
prepared the way for the French armies which moved into Holland,Belgium, Switzerland and much of Italy in the 1790s. With the |
outbreak of the revolutionary wars, the French armies began to |
carry the idea of nationalism abroad. |
Fig. 2 — The cover of a German almanac |
designed by the journalist Andreas Rebmann in1798.The image of the French Bastille being stormedby the revolutionary crowd has been placednext to a similar fortress meant to represent thebastion of despotic rule in the German provinceof Kassel. Accompanying the illustration is theslogan: ‘The people must seize their ownfreedom!’ Rebmann lived in the city of Mainzand was a member of a German Jacobin group.India and the Contemporary World |
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