SOCIAL SCIENCE CLASS 10 NOTES

 SOCIAL SCIENCE CLASS 10

HISTORY

CHAPTER 1 : THE RISE OF NATIONALISM IN EUROPE

INTRODUCTION-

• 1848 : Frédéric Sorrieu (a French artist) prepared a series of four prints visualizing his dream of a world made up of "democratic and social Republics".
•  In Sorrieu’s utopian vision, the peoples of the world are grouped as distinct nations, identified through their flags and national costume. 
  
•  During the 19th century, nationalism emerged as a force 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. 
•  Nation-state was one in which the majority of its citizens, and not only its rulers, enjoys a sense of common identity and shared history , evolve from struggles, through the actions of leaders and the common people.
• Ernst Renan proposed definition of nation-state.
        

  NOTE- This chapter will deal with many of the issues visualized by Sorrieu and  diverse processes through which nation-states and nationalism came into being in nineteenth-century Europe.

FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE IDEA OF THE NATION-

The first clear expression of nationalism came with the French Revolution in 1789.

  

The political and constitutional changes that came in the wake of the French Revolution led to the transfer of sovereignty from the monarchy to a body of French citizens.

   
 French revolutionaries introduced various measures and practices to create a sense of collective identity amongst the French people.

   

1. The ideas of la patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen) were emphasized.
2.  A new French flag, the tricolor, was introduced.
3.  The new Estates General was elected by the body of active citizens and renamed as the National Assembly.
4.  New hymns were composed, oaths taken and martyrs commemorated, all in the name of the nation.
5.  A centralized administrative system was put in place ,which formulated uniform laws for all citizens.
6. Internal customs duties and dues were abolished and a uniform system of weights and measures was adopted.
7. Regional dialects were discouraged.
8. French became the common language of the nation.

    AIM: The revolutionaries declared that it was the mission and the destiny of the French nation to liberate the peoples of Europe from despotism.

•  When the news of the events in France reached the different cities of Europe, people (educated middle classes) began setting up Jacobin clubs. 
• Their main aim was to  prepare the way for the French armies which moved into corresponding nations in the 1790s.  
• With the outbreak of the revolutionary wars, the French armies began to carry the idea of nationalism abroad. 

NAPOLEONIC CODE- ( a.k.a Civil Code of 1804 )

 Its significance: This code consists of revolutionary principles which upholds the idea of Liberty, Fraternity and Equality.

                      Napoleon Bonaparte

      ADVANTAGES-

• It did away with all privileges based on birth, established equality before the law and secured the right to property.
• Napoleon simplified administrative divisions, abolished the feudal system and freed peasants from serfdom and manorial dues.
• Guild restrictions were removed. Transport and communication systems were improved.
• Peasants, artisans, workers and new businessmen enjoyed a new-found freedom.
• It introduced uniform laws, standardized weights and measures, and a common national currency.    

      DISADVANTAGES-

• Initially, in many places, the French armies were welcomed as harbingers of liberty. But the initial enthusiasm soon turned to hostility.
• The new administrative arrangements did not guaranteed with political freedom.
• In the areas conquered, people faced increased taxation and censorship.
•  Forced conscription into the French armies required to conquer the rest of Europe,outweighed the advantages of the administrative changes.
• The Napoleonic Code went back to limited suffrage and reduced women to the status of a minor, subject to the authority of fathers and husbands. 

MAKING OF NATIONALISM IN EUROPE-

In mid-eighteenth-century Europe, there were no ‘nation-states’.

    

       FOR EXAMPLE- 

•  Eastern and Central Europe were under autocratic monarchies where lived diverse peoples.  They spoke different languages and belonged to different ethnic groups.
•  The Habsburg Empire that ruled over Austria-Hungary was a patchwork of many different regions and peoples. It included the Alpine regions as well as Bohemia, where the aristocracy was predominantly German-speaking. It also included the Italian-speaking provinces.

Such differences did not easily promote a sense of political unity. The only tie binding these diverse groups together was a common allegiance to the emperor.