Throughout the course of this assignment, the reasons why ethnic nationalism was so widespread after the defeat of Napoleon will be explored. The aim will be to provide a comprehensive insight into the background of the rise of nationalism between 1812 and 1914, which will explain why it was so prevalent in the era that immediately followed Napoleon’s fall from power. All relevant issues will be examined and conclusions will be arrived upon based upon the information that is uncovered.
The opposition to France acted as a catalyst for ethnic nationalism, as its opposing regions needed something to unify them against their rival. An example of this is the region that now comprises Germany. The area in which German dialects were spoken was made up of three hundred different principalities, large amounts of which were relatively small in terms of population. Nationalism was a means of mobilizing German-speaking areas against Napoleon’s forces. It was a method for motivating them to band together and opposing the French as one (Dusche 41-42).
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"Rise of Ethnic Nationalism in Europe Between 1812 and 1914".
The French occupation of what now constitutes Spain acted as a catalyst for Spanish ethnic nationalism in a similar manner. During the War of Independence, the diverse territories within the Spanish Peninsula experienced a degree of unity and coordinated that caused them to act in a similar manner to a single nation. This contributed to the later emergence of Spain as a nation state (Moreno 7-8).
Another example of a region attempting to get other similar regions to band together against France is the case of the Nordic peoples. During the period when Sweden was fighting against France and Denmark was allied with the French, Danish philosopher Nikolaj Grundtvig wrote a letter to the Swedish, expressing at length the notion that some groups of people are more closely connected to one another than others and should cooperate with each other. He spoke of the common Nordic ethnic identity. It is clear that he believed that the territories within the Nordic region should band together in order to defeat those who sought to exert power over them (Rerup 17).
Some regions were also instilled with ethnic nationalism by the fact that the French forced them to come together as unified regions whilst they were occupied. The French presence in Italy during the Napoleonic era inspired the Italians to develop plans to unify as a nation, which acted as a major catalyst for Italian ethnic nationalism. Napoleon established a strong, centralized state during the French rule of Italy, which at the time was not a single country. He amalgamated diverse regions into a single state known as the Kingdom of Italy. This inspired Italian nationalists to emphasize the importance of an Italian republic once he was defeated (Grab 3-5).
The way in which centralized control was exerted over what now constitutes Spain also contributed to the rise of Spanish nationalism after the Napoleonic occupation of this region had come to an end. It demonstrated that they could function as a unified entity (Shafir 92). This is likely to have brought about a realization that the numerous different regions that shared what was viewed as being the Spanish ethnic identity could be ruled as a single entity.
It has been argued that the reason ethnic nationalism became so widespread and grew to be so strong in the period immediately after Napoleon’s defeat was that many regions felt that their self-esteem had been damaged by the fact that France had successfully occupied them. The notion has been put forward that this meant that they needed something to feel proud of and their ethnic identities provided a source of pride, which caused areas to push for statehood and take a greater amount of interest in their peoples, cultures and languages. An example of this is the British. Both during and after the Napoleonic wars, the Brits exhibited hatred of not just France as a cultural entity but also of anything that they perceived to be French in its nature, whether it embodied ideologies that were associated with the nation or was similar to it in another manner (Heuser 115-116). This can be seen as ethnic nationalistic prejudice.
It is also notable that Napoloen directly extolled the benefits of nationalism. It is arguable that one of the reasons that he did this was in order to justify France’s imperialistic actions and ideologies. He held the view that it was the job of the French people to civilize other peoples, as the French were superior to them (Bennett 1-2). It has been argued that Napoleon was in favor of civic as opposed to ethnic nationalism (Myhill 22). However, he stated that ‘I am of the race that founds empires’ (qtd. in Bennett 2), which unambiguously indicates that his nationalism was related to the concept of ethnicity.
Napoleon’s strong advocacy of nationalism was likely to have had a lasting legacy, given the number of nations that the French occupied and the power that he possessed. It is probable that the fact that he was so firmly in favor of ethnic nationalist philosophies helped to propagate them. Even those who were opposed to him would have at least been familiar with nationalistic concepts on account of his influence.
It is also notable that Napoleon encouraged nationalism in the nations that the French occupied. It has been argued that this was so that he could gain favor with individuals who were high up on political hierarchies who benefitted from the propagation of this concept, which allowed him to maintain power (Bennett 2-3). The fact that he did this is likely to have planted ethnic nationalistic tendencies firmly within the minds of the hierarchical figures that he sought to please.
In conclusion, there are a number of different reasons for the rise of ethnic nationalism in Europe between 1812 and 1914. Napoleon directly promoted nationalism before he was defeated, which is likely to have contributed significantly to its prominence. His opposition used it in order to unify linguistically similar regions against a common enemy. The fact that they worked together whilst fighting the French made it easier for them to unify as nations at a later date. Many regions also realized that they could function as unified entities whilst occupied by the French, meaning that the seed was sowed for them to become nation states. Areas might have also become more nationalistic as a result of hurt pride stemming from the fact that France was able to occupy them.
