Unit 7

 European states struggled to maintain stability during an age of nationalism and revolutions.

• The Concert of Europe broke-down and opened the door for movements of national unification in Italy and Germany, as well as liberal reforms elsewhere.
• The unification of Italy and Germany transformed the European balance of power and led to efforts to construct a new diplomatic order.
• The French Revolution saw the rise of nationalism, in France and Europe.
• The Concert of Europe brought stability and efforts to contain nationalist revolutions
• Revolutions of 1848 saw the coming of age of nationalism.

European global control and tensions among the Great Powers intensified.

• Industrial and technological developments, the second industrial revolution, facilitated European control of global empires.
• Colonialism grew with the creation of global empires.
• The Industrial Revolution increased production and created a need for raw materials and new markets.
• Developments in technology enabled European countries to control large global empires

There was tension between objectivity and scientific realism, and between subjectivity and individual expression in Europe.

• After the revolutions of 1848, Europe turned toward a realist and materialist worldview.
• The Scientific Revolution had an emphasis on science and objectivity
• The Enlightenment emphasized reason
• Romanticism emphasized emotion
• Liberalism had an emphasis on freedom, including free expression.

Nationalist encouraged loyalty to the nation with romantic idealism, liberal reform, political unification, racialism with a concomitant anti-Semitism, and chauvinism justifying national aggrandizement. This idea of nationalism led to the popularization of the idea of nation-states.

• Romantic Idealism:
  • The Grim Brothers collected and published German fairy tales and folktales. These were the stories of the German people. It had the effect of making them feel more German.
  • Victor Hugo’s novel Les Misérables was the story of the triumph of the French people against tyranny 
  • These artists had a way of binding their people together as a people 
• Liberal Reforms:
  • Napoleon III opened the way for international trade through cooperation with foreign markets and that boosted the French economy
  • Instituted universal male suffrage which made him exceedingly popular
  • French nationalism grew significantly.
• Political Unification:
  • Giuseppe Mazzini pushed to unite the various Italian political entities into one single nation-state
  • Formed an Italian unification movement called Young Italy
  • He was not ultimately successful in his unification efforts, but his works set the stage for Italian unification.
• Racialism:
  • The idea that one race is superior to another
  • Not a far step from nationalism

Although during the 19th century, western European Jews became more socially and politically acculturated, and Zionism, a form of Jewish nationalism, developed as a response to growing anti-Semitism throughout Europe.

• In some areas, like Britain, Jews had been granted full citizenship and the ability to participate in all facets of national life. While in other areas, like Eastern Europe, Jews were the subject of virulent anti-Semitism and were blamed for the corruption of national culture.
  • Jews could not convert and leave their Jewish identity behind, unlike the middle ages.
  • Racial anti-Semites viewed Judaism as a racial stain and felt that people could not be both Jews and members of a nation.
  • Pogroms were carried out in eastern Europe
• Rise of Zionism - 
  • Many Jews began calling for a return to Palestine, the land of ancient Israel. It represented the desire for Jewish nationalism and independence from other national governments. It mirrored nationalism that was being seen in Europe around the same time as well. 
  • Theodor Herzl, a leading proponent of Zionism, began raising money for the creation of settlements in Palestine.
  • Donations would come in from wealthy Jews to create a place of protection for persecuted people from Jewish communities.

Nationalism is the awareness of being part of a national community. It is based on a shared culture, language, history, traditions, and institutions.  Under nationalist sentiment, divided nations, like Germany and Italy, desired unification, and subject nations, like Hungary, desired self-determination. 

There was a romanticized self-importance that led to an increased view of national identity and, in some cases, racial superiority, like what is seen in the 1940s in Germany.

New conservative leaders coming out of the French Revolution, like Napoleon III, Cabour, and Bismarck, used popular nationalism to create or strengthen the state

• Napoleon III:
  • Consolidated power by using the army to force constitutional change
  • Used universal suffrage to reinstate the French empire and declared himself emperor, creating an authoritarian state
  • Transformed France into a modern nation and improved the social welfare of the people
  • Used nationalist sentiment to fight in the Crimean War and to unsuccessfully oppose the expansion of Prussia

Hungarians were the largest minority group in the Austrian empire. They tried to break away form the empire and create their own autonomous nation in 1848. 

Franz Joseph realized he could not hold together such a large and diverse empire without some concessions

• In 1867, the dual monarchy was established, creating the nation of Austria-Hungary, with Franz Joseph still in control of the entire country. 
• Hungarians were given partial autonomy in lawmaking over domestic affairs and created their own constitution.

In 1831, Charles Darwin went on a British naval expedition on the HMS Beagle to the South Pacific.

• While on this expedition, he studied animals on the islands he visited, that were virtually untouched by the outside world, and then compared them to animals on the mainland.
• With these comparisons, he developed a theory of evolution based on natural selection
  • In struggle for existence, animals that adapted better to their environments over time would survive
• He then, in 1871, expanded his theory to humans, suggesting that people evolved from other mammals

Social Darwinism:

• The application of Darwin’s principles to human societies
• Herbert Spencer, a leading supporter of Social Darwinism, thought that human societies developed over time to adapt to their surroundings and were engaged in a struggle for survival
  • He said that this struggle led to advancements in successful societies and decline in weak societies
• Provided justification for imperialism as “survival of the fittest” and introduced racial theories of “greater” and “lesser” societies.

Prior to WWI, Europeans believed that progress was inevitable, caused by the rise of positivism.

• Reason and science, resulting from the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, were seen as the saviors of humanity.
• Positivism was the belief that science was the source of all knowledge, turning away from faith and towards reason and scientific thought
• Technological developments of the late 19th and early 20th centuries backed up the positivist view
  • Electric lights, automobiles, airplanes, and photography were some of the results of scientific progress
• Positivism directly contradicted and was a threat to Christianity

New discoveries and methods found in the late 19th and early 20th centuries led to a loss of confidence in the certainty of the universe and of progress causing a shift from positivism to modernism and irrationalism

• Philosophers, like Nietzsche, criticized Europe’s reliance on reason and looked for mankind to develop a new morality in a post-Christian world. Based not on Christian ideals, but a new modern view on the world.
• Sigmund Frued developed psychoanalysis as a way to understand the subconscious desires behind people's actions
• Albert Einstein found that time and space are not absolute, but are relative to the observer, with his theory of relativity.
• None followed a reasonable and scientific pattern, introducing the idea that there are unpredictable forces at work.
• Undermined the positivist sentiments, with a new emphasis on irrational forces.

European:

• Diplomatic tensions arose between European nations due to colonial holdings.
• The Moroccan Crisis:
  • France established a protectorate over Morocco, which was seen as a threat to Germany’s economic interests in the region. 
  • Germany supported a Moroccan Independence movement in French Morocco to diminish France’s influence in Africa.
  • Showed the growing tensions among colonial Europe, and showed that small disputes had the potential to escalate into a major war.
• Rudyard Kipling saw imperialism as a civilizing mission, arguing that Europeans were uplifting the “inferior” people of the world, especially Africa, using ideals stemming from Social Darwinism
• Joseph Conrad highlighted imperialism’s violence, exploitation, and moral corruption. He depicted the brutal treatment of African peoples by European colonizers in his novel Heart of Darkness.

Non-European:

• The Boxer Rebellion:
  • Took place in China from 1899 to 1901
  • Opposed European imperialism in China.
  • A coalition of foreign powers, including the United States, Britain, France, Germany, and Japan, sent troops to China to put down the rebellion.
  • The Boxers were defeated
  • The Boxer Protocol was signed, imposed a large indemnity on China and opened up China for even more foreign influence.
• The Sepoy Mutiny:
  • Began in May 1857, after Indian sepoys -soldiers- who served the British East India Company rose up against their British officers near Delhi.
  • Spread throughout northern and central India
  • Rebels seized control of several cities and massacred European civilians.
  • The Rebellion was suppressed by British forces after months of brutal fighting 
  • Transferred rule over India to the British Crown
• The Zulu Resistance:
  • Following the Berlin Conference, the Scramble for Africa divided Africa into colonial holdings for European countries
  • The resources and advantageous geographic locations were divided among the European countries, without any regard for the African people currently living there.
  • In Southern Africa, Zulu resistance mounted against colonialism and imperialism.
  • The Zulu Kingdom was a powerful and centralized state that resisted British expansion
  • The British launched a series of wars against the Zulus
  • The Zulus had some initial military success against the British, the British had a much more advanced military.

Changes:

• Art reflected and responded to the political stage of this time and changed as it changed
• Nationalism, unification, and imperialism influenced art 
  • influenced romanticism art with the French revolution and the Napoleonic Wars
• Romanticism was a response to the enlightenment idea/neoclassicalism that spread across Europe and emerged changing the way people thought of the world and how the expressed nature 
  • Emphasized raw and exaggerated emotion, nature, individuality, intuition, supernatural, and natural histories
    • “Christ on the Sea of Galilee” portrayed the emotion of the roaring sea instead of trying to make everything like the look precise
    • William Blake used his poetic work to portray depths of heaven and hell and used the feeling rather than the sight of faith 
    • Tchaikovsky wrote symphonies and ballets with different methods that increased the emotional experience.
• Realism rose portrayed the world without the drama of romanticism
  • Artists were expressing the world of everyday people instead of the gods or the supernatural 
  • Rejected romanticism’s perspective on world through emotion
    • Honoré de Balzac and Charles Dickens wrote novels of peasantry/working class
• Modern art shifted art to more drive for the abstract because of spreading tech of photography, people were able to produce things portraying the real world without having to paint it. The art became more open for one’s own interpretation
  • Art became more open for one’s own interpretation
  • Impressionism - light and color as major subjects
  • Post-impressionism - more symbolic use of color and   light
  • Cubism - subjects became nonsensical and depicted 3-dimensional objects in 2 dimensions

Continuities:

• Throughout most of history the art produced was mostly responses, criticisms, and reflection of the social and political order of the time. 
• The art continued to be used to break from the norms and embrace the beauty of the world

The imperialistic goal of gaining control of Africa because of access to raw material and new markets among many of the European states caused diplomatic tensions

The scramble for Africa caused a lot of tension among states

• Otto von Bismarck called the Berlin Conference to settle the disputes over land
• Moroccan Crisis saw France gain control of morrocoy at the Berlin Conference
• Germany didn’t like this so they backed Moroccan rebellions against French control

Debate over imperial venture caused tensions between some states because some thought it a bad thing

Joseph Conrad went to the Belgian Congo and witnessed the inhuman conditions 

• He came back to write his novel “Heart of Darkness” – where he laid out in detail the abuses the Congolese were experiencing at the hand of the Belgian king

JA Hobson argued imperialism was bad economic investment in long run because depended on markets that were inherently unstable

Nationalism in states controlled by Europeans started to challenge the imperialism forced upon them which led to uprisings against European powers all over the world

• In Africa, Natal and Zululand were controlled by Britain and the British forced natives into working diamond mines
• The Zulu people had a nationalistic wave come over them and gathered an army of  40,000
• For 6 months Zulus had many victories but British eventually crushed them
• Italy attempted to take Ethiopia 
• The Ethiopian king knew they had superior weaponry so he purchased industrial grade weapons from France and Russia and successfully fought off the Italians, remaining an independent African state