As conservative regimes tried to consolidate their power, liberalism and nationalism came to be increasingly associated with revolution in many regions of Europe such as the Italian and German states, the provinces of the Ottoman Empire, Ireland and Poland.
‘When the France sneezes’, Metternich once remarked, ‘the rest of the Europe catches cold’.
The Greek War of independence mobilized the feelings of nationalism among the educated elite across Europe. The struggle for independence among the Greeks began in 1821.
The nationalists in Greece got support from many Greeks who were living in exile. Moreover, they also got support from many West Europeans who sympathized with the ancient Greek culture.
Poets and artists mobilized public opinion to support this struggle against the Muslim empire. It is important to note that Greece had been a part of the Ottoman Empire.
Finally, the Treaty of Constantinople of 1832 recognized Greece as an independent nation.
1848: The Revolution of the Liberals
Men and women of the liberal middle classes from these parts raised demands for national unification and a constitution.
They demanded the creation of a nation-state on parliamentary principles. They wanted a constitution, freedom of press and freedom of association.
Frankfurt Parliament:
German-educated middle class came together in the city of Frankfurt and decided to vote for an all-German National Assembly.
On 18 May 1848, 831 elected representatives took out a festive procession to take part in the Frankfurt parliament which was convened in the Church of St. Paul.
They drafted a constitution for the German nation. This German nation was to be headed by a monarchy subject to a parliament. Friedrick William IV, King of Prussia was offered the crown on these terms. But he rejected the offer and joined other monarchs to oppose the elected assembly.
Hunger, Hardship and Popular Revolt
The 1830s were years of great economic hardship in Europe. The first half of the nineteenth century saw an enormous increase in population.
In most countries, there were more seekers of jobs than employment. Population from rural areas migrated to the cities to live in overcrowded slum.
Food shortage and widespread unemployment brought the population of Paris out on the roads.
National Assembly proclaimed a republic, granted suffrage to all adult males above 21, and guaranteed the right to work.
Earlier, in 1845, weavers in Silesia had lead a revolt against contractors who supplied them raw material and gave them orders for finished textile.
On 4 June at 2 p.m. a large crowd of weavers emerged from their homes and marched in pairs up to the mansion of their contractors demanding higher wages.
The contractor fled with his family to a neighbouring village which, however, refused to shelter such a person.
He returned 24 hours later having requisitioned the army.
In the exchange that followed, eleven weavers were shot.
The Romantic Imagination and National Feeling
Culture played an important role in creating the idea of the nation: art and poetry, stories and music helped to express and shape nationalist feelings.
Romanticism was a cultural movement which sought to develop a particular form of nationalist sentiment.
Romantic artists and poet generally criticised the glorification of reason and science and focused instead on emotions, institution and mystical feelings.
Other romantics were through folk song, folk poetry and folk dances that the true spirit of the nation.
National feelings were kept alive through music and languages.
Karol Kurpinski, celebrated the national struggles through his operas and music, turning folk dances like the polonaise and mazurka into nationalist symbols.
Language too played an important role in developing nationalist sentiments.
Russian language was imposed everywhere.
Many members of the clergy in Poland began to use language as a weapon of national resistance.
As a result, a large number of priests and bishops were put in jail or sent to Siberia by the Russian authorities as punishment for their refusal to preach in Russians.
