19th Century Nationalism & Great War: Causes and Consequences
19th Century Nationalism
Types of Nationalism
German Romantics
The nation is a living being, created over time, with a shared culture, language, and history, possessing the right to organize as a sovereign state.
French Theorists
The nation is formed by the voluntary decision of a group of people. Citizens of a nation are characterized by shared laws, rights, and duties.
Nationalist Movements
Separatist Movements
- Belgium seceded from the Netherlands.
- Greece, Serbia, Romania, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Albania separated from the Ottoman Empire.
- Ireland seceded from Great Britain.
Unifying Movements
- Italy and Germany were unified.
Political Liberalism
In Britain and France, political liberalism flourished.
Maintenance of Authoritarian Political Systems
- Russia: Strong absolutism and an agrarian economy.
- Germany: Relatively more liberal.
- Austro-Hungarian Empire: Absolutism persisted until the early 20th century.
The Great Empires
- British Empire
- French Empire
- Belgian Empire
- German Empire
- Italian Empire
The Great War (World War I): Causes and Consequences
Causes
- Colonial disputes
- Conflicts in the East
- The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne
Consequences
Territorial Changes and Losses
- Germany lost colonies to France and Great Britain, as well as Alsace-Lorraine to France and Poznan and Posen to Poland.
- The Austro-Hungarian Empire fragmented into Austria, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, losing territories to Yugoslavia, Poland, and Romania.
- The Ottoman Empire was dissolved, with territories lost to France (Syria), Britain (Iraq and Palestine), Italy, and Greece.
- Poland gained territories and access to the sea through Danzig.
- Romania acquired Transylvania.
- New countries were created.
Other Consequences
- Economic crisis
- Demographic crisis
- War economy
- War reparations
- Changes in weaponry
Vocabulary
- Suffrage Movement
- Women’s associations fighting for improved rights and conditions.
- Armed Peace
- The period of international relations following the Great War, characterized by tension and military buildup.
- Cordon Sanitaire
- A policy of isolating the USSR and Eastern Europe to prevent the spread of communism.
- War Reparations
- Payments imposed on defeated countries to compensate victors for war damages.
- War Economy
- An economic system where the state controls production and trade, suspending free market principles.
- Empire
- Territories conquered and controlled by a colonial power.
- Metropolis
- The colonial power that controls an empire.
- Treaty of Versailles
- The peace treaty imposed on Germany after World War I.
- Civil War (U.S.)
- The four-year conflict in the United States that resulted in the abolition of slavery.
- Universal Male Suffrage
- Voting rights granted only to men.
- Peace of Paris
- The series of treaties signed by the defeated countries after World War I.
- Physiocracy
- An economic theory that emphasized the importance of agriculture and land ownership.
- Subsistence Crisis
- A period of famine caused by crop failures or other factors.
- Mayorazgo
- A system of inheritance where the entire estate goes to the eldest child.
- Mortmain
- Lands owned by the Church that cannot be sold or sometimes even exploited.
- Seignorialism
- A system where farmers work on land owned by a lord in exchange for protection and a share of the harvest.
- Free Trade
- International trade without government intervention or tariffs.
- Guild
- Associations of craftsmen that controlled production and trade in specific industries.
Chronological Axis
- Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella (1474-1504)
- Reign of Charles I of Spain (1516-1556)
- Reign of Philip II of Spain (1556-1598)
- Reign of Philip III of Spain (1598-1621)
- Reign of Philip IV of Spain (1621-1665)
- Reign of Charles II of Spain (1665-1700)
- Reign of Philip V of Spain (1714-1746)
- Reign of Ferdinand VI of Spain (1746-1759)
- Reign of Charles III of Spain (1759-1788)
- Reign of Charles IV of Spain (1788-1808)
- Decrees of Nueva Planta (1707-1716)
- French Revolution (1789-1799)
- U.S. Constitution (1787)
- U.S. Declaration of Independence (1776)
- Great Britain recognizes U.S. independence (1783)
- Declaration of Rights (1774)
- First French Constitution (1791)
- Reign of Louis XIV of France (1643-1715)
- Execution of Charles I of England (1649)
- War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1713)
- World War I (1914-1918)
- League of Nations founded (1920)
- Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918)
- Unification of Germany (1871)
- U.S. Civil War (1861-1865)
- Armed Peace (1890-1914)
- Unification of Italy (1870)
- Opening of the Suez Canal (1869)