Key Concepts in 19th Century History and Indian Nationalism

Posted on Jan 14, 2026 in Social sciences

European History and the Rise of Nationalism

The Age of Revolution: 1830–1848

Bourbon kings were overthrown to set up a constitutional monarchy in July 1830.
National feeling was the main focus area.
Greece was struggling for independence, which was part of the Ottoman Empire.
Greece was declared an independent nation in the Treaty of Constantinople, signed in 1832.
German philosopher, Johann Gottfried Herder, discovered the culture of common people through music, dance, and folk poetry.
There were fewer jobs and more people.
Due to the rise in food costs and bad harvesting, widespread pauperism occurred in the country.
Silesia weavers revolted against contractors in 1845.
The Frankfurt Parliament was elected in 1848. 831 elected representatives convened in St. Paul’s Church.

Napoleon’s Code (The Civil Code of 1804)

Positive Implications:

Napoleon set about introducing many of the reforms that he had already implemented in France. In the administrative field, he incorporated revolutionary principles in order to make the whole system more rational and efficient.

The Civil Code of 1804 – usually known as the Napoleonic Code – did away with all privileges based on birth, established equality before the law, and secured the right to property.
This Code was exported to the regions under French control. In the Dutch Republic, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany, Napoleon simplified administrative divisions, abolished the feudal system, and freed peasants from serfdom and manorial dues.
In the towns too, guild restrictions were removed.
Transport and communication systems were improved.
Peasants, artisans, workers, and new businessmen enjoyed a new-found freedom. Businessmen and small-scale producers of goods began to realize that uniform laws, standardized weights and measures, and a common national currency would facilitate the movement and exchange of goods and capital from one region to another.

Negative Implications:

Through a return to monarchy, Napoleon had destroyed democracy in France. In the areas conquered, the reactions of the local populations to French rule were mixed.
Initially, in many places such as Holland and Switzerland, as well as in certain cities like Brussels, Mainz, Milan, and Warsaw, the French armies were welcomed as harbingers of liberty. But the initial enthusiasm soon turned to hostility, as it became clear that the new administrative arrangements did not go hand in hand with political freedom.
Increased taxation, censorship, forced conscription into the French armies required to conquer the rest of Europe, all seemed to outweigh the advantages of the administrative changes.

Liberalism in Early 19th Century Europe

The ideas of national unity in early 19th-century Europe were closely allied to the ideology of liberalism. The term ‘liberalism’ derives from the Latin root *liber*, meaning free.
For the new middle classes, liberalism stood for freedom for the individual and equality of all before the law.
Politically, it emphasized the concept of government by consent.
Since the French Revolution, liberalism had stood for the end of autocracy and clerical privileges, a constitution, and representative government through parliament. 19th-century liberals also stressed the inviolability of private property.
In the economic sphere, liberalism stood for the freedom of markets and the abolition of state-imposed restrictions on the movement of goods and capital.

The Conservative Ideology

Conservatism is a political philosophy that stresses the importance of tradition, established institutions, and customs, and prefers gradual development to quick change. Following the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, European governments were driven by a spirit of conservatism.
Conservatives believed that established, traditional institutions of state and society – like the monarchy, the Church, social hierarchies, property, and the family – should be preserved.
They, however, did not propose a return to the society of pre-revolutionary days. Rather, they realized, from the changes initiated by Napoleon, that modernization could in fact strengthen traditional institutions like the monarchy. It could make state power more effective and strong.

The Greek War of Independence (1821–1832)

Greece had been part of the Ottoman Empire since the fifteenth century. The growth of revolutionary nationalism in Europe sparked off a struggle for independence amongst the Greeks which began in 1821.
Nationalists in Greece got support from other Greeks living in exile and also from many West Europeans who had sympathies for ancient Greek culture.
Poets and artists lauded Greece as the cradle of European civilization and mobilized public opinion to support its struggle against a Muslim empire.
The English poet Lord Byron organized funds and later went to fight in the war, where he died of fever in 1824.
Finally, the Treaty of Constantinople of 1832 recognized Greece as an independent nation.

Economic Hardship in Europe During the 1830s

The 1830s were indeed years of great economic hardship in Europe:

The first half of the nineteenth century saw an enormous increase in population all over Europe.
In most countries, there were more seekers of jobs than available employment.
Population from rural areas migrated to the cities to live in overcrowded slums.
Small producers in towns were often faced with stiff competition from imports of cheap machine-made goods from England, where industrialization was more advanced than on the continent. This was especially so in textile production, which was carried out mainly in homes or small workshops and was only partly mechanized.

The Process of German Unification

The nationalist feelings were widespread among middle-class Germans, who in 1848 tried to unite the different regions of the German confederation into a nation-state governed by an elected parliament.
This liberal initiative to nation-building was, however, repressed by the combined forces of the monarchy and the military, supported by the large landowners (called *Junkers*) of Prussia.
From then on, Prussia took on the leadership of the movement for national unification. Its chief minister, Otto von Bismarck, was the architect of this process, carried out with the help of the Prussian army and bureaucracy.
Three wars over seven years – with Austria, Denmark, and France – ended in Prussian victory and completed the process of unification.

The Unification of Italy

During the middle of the nineteenth century, Italy was divided into seven states, of which only one, Sardinia-Piedmont, was ruled by an Italian princely house. The north was under Austrian Habsburgs, the center was ruled by the Pope, and the southern regions were under the domination of the Bourbon kings of Spain.
During the 1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini had sought to put together a coherent program for a unitary Italian Republic. He had also formed a secret society called *Young Italy* for the dissemination of his goals.
The failure of revolutionary uprisings both in 1831 and 1848 had put pressure on Sardinia-Piedmont under its ruler King Victor Emmanuel II to unify the Italian states through war. In the eyes of the ruling elites of this region, a unified Italy offered them the possibility of economic development and political dominance.
Through a tactful diplomatic alliance with France engineered by Cavour, Sardinia-Piedmont succeeded in defeating the Austrian forces in 1859.
Apart from regular troops, a large number of armed volunteers under the leadership of Giuseppe Garibaldi joined the movement. In 1860, they marched into South Italy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and succeeded in winning the support of the local peasants in order to drive out the Spanish rulers. In 1861, Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of united Italy.

Nationalist Tensions in the Balkan Region

The Balkans was a region of geographical and ethnic variation comprising modern-day Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, and Montenegro, whose inhabitants were broadly known as the Slavs.
A large part of the Balkans was under the control of the Ottoman Empire. The spread of the ideas of romantic nationalism in the Balkans, together with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, made this region very explosive.
All through the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire had sought to strengthen itself through modernization and internal reforms but was unsuccessful. One by one, its European subject nationalities broke away from its control and declared independence.
The Balkan people based their claims for independence or political rights on nationality and used history to prove that they had once been independent but had subsequently been subjugated by foreign powers. Hence, the rebellious nationalities in the Balkans tried to win back their long-lost independence.
As the different Slavic nationalities struggled to define their identity and independence, the Balkan area became an area of intense conflict.
The Balkan states were fiercely jealous of each other, and each hoped to gain more territory at the expense of the others.
Matters were further complicated because the Balkans also became the scene of big power rivalry. During this period, there was intense rivalry among the European powers over trade and colonies as well as naval and military might.
Each power – Russia, Germany, England, Austro-Hungary – was keen on countering the hold of other powers over the Balkans, and extending its own control over the area. This led to a series of wars in the region and finally the First World War.

The French Revolution and Nationalism

The French Revolution in 1789 was the start of nationalism. French revolutionaries took many steps to create a feeling of collective identity:

Creation of a new French flag.
Innovative ideas such as *Le citoyen* (the citizen) and *La Patrie* (the fatherland).
Election of the National Assembly, renaming the Estates General to the National Assembly.
The administrative system was consolidated.
Abolishing of customs and internal duties.
Uniform weights and measures were introduced.
French was becoming a common language.

Resource Planning: Definition and Importance

What is Resource Planning?

Resource planning refers to the skills or methods implemented for the proper and judicious utilization of resources. It is a complex method that involves identifying the resources along with the places where they are available, and then coming up with a plan to use the available resources in the best possible ways.

Why is Resource Planning Important?

Resource planning is essential because it helps us to plan the use of available resources as needed for the overall development of the country while minimizing any adverse effects. Below is a list of three important reasons:

Resource planning helps to identify both the type and the amount of resources available in a country. This is important because it aids the further process of allocating the resources where necessary, ensuring an equal distribution of resources among all regions.
It helps us to identify nonrenewable and renewable resources. This is important because many countries are now focusing on utilizing renewable resources since those are inexhaustible and less harmful to the environment.
Since commonly used resources are limited, resource planning helps us in the conservation of resources and reduction of wastage as much as possible. This ensures that reserves of resources are kept for future generations.

The Indian National Movement

The Idea of Satyagraha

Mahatma Gandhi returned to India in January 1915 from South Africa. He had successfully fought the racist regime there with a novel method of mass agitation, which he called *Satyagraha*.
The idea of Satyagraha emphasized the power of truth and the need to search for truth.
It suggested that if the cause was true, if the struggle was against injustice, then physical force was not necessary to fight the oppressor.
Without seeking vengeance or being aggressive, a *satyagrahi* could win the battle through non-violence. This could be done by appealing to the conscience of the oppressor.
People, including the oppressors, had to be persuaded to see the truth, instead of being forced to accept truth through the use of violence. By this struggle, truth was bound to ultimately triumph. Mahatma Gandhi believed that this *dharma* of non-violence could unite all Indians.

Early Satyagraha Experiments (1916–1918)

Champaran (1916): Gandhiji went to Champaran in Bihar. He inspired the peasants to struggle against the oppressive plantation system. As a result, the Government relaxed the pressure on the peasants.
Kheda (1917): Gandhiji organized a Satyagraha to support the peasants of Kheda district of Gujarat. The peasants of Kheda could not pay the revenue because of crop failure and a plague epidemic. The peasants were demanding that revenue collection be relaxed. In the end, the Government accepted the demands of the peasants.
Ahmedabad (1918): Mahatma Gandhi went to Ahmedabad to organize a Satyagraha movement amongst cotton mill workers. The dispute between the workers and mill owners ended with a 35 percent wage hike.

Non-Cooperation Movement (NCM) in Towns

The movement started with middle-class participation in the cities. Thousands of students left government-controlled schools and colleges, headmasters and teachers resigned, and lawyers gave up their legal practices.
The council elections were boycotted in most provinces except Madras, where the Justice Party, the party of the non-Brahmans, felt that entering the council was one way of gaining some power – something that usually only Brahmans had access to.

Economic Implications of NCM:

The effects of non-cooperation on the economic front were more dramatic. Foreign goods were boycotted, liquor shops picketed, and foreign cloth burnt in huge bonfires.
The import of foreign cloth halved between 1921 and 1922, its value dropping from Rs 102 crore to Rs 57 crore.
In many places, merchants and traders refused to trade in foreign goods or finance foreign trade.
As the boycott movement spread, and people began discarding imported clothes and wearing only Indian ones, production of Indian textile mills and handlooms went up.

Withdrawal of the Non-Cooperation Movement

On 5th February 1922, at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), a peaceful demonstration in a bazaar turned into a violent clash with the police.
An agitated mob had burnt to death 22 policemen. Hearing of the incident, Mahatma Gandhi called a halt to the Non-Cooperation Movement.
On 12th February 1922, Mahatma Gandhi decided to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement. He felt the movement was turning violent in many places and *satyagrahis* needed to be properly trained before they would be ready for mass struggles.

Organization of the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM)

The Dandi March marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience Movement. People were now asked not only to refuse cooperation with the British, as they had done during the Non-Cooperation Movement, but also to break colonial laws.
Thousands in different parts of the country broke the salt law, manufactured salt, and demonstrated in front of government salt factories.
As the movement spread, foreign clothes were boycotted, and liquor shops were picketed. Peasants refused to pay revenue and *chaukidari* taxes, village officials resigned, and in many places, forest people violated forest laws by going into Reserved Forests to collect wood and graze cattle.
Worried by the developments, the colonial government began arresting the Congress leaders one by one. This led to violent clashes in many places.
When Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi, was arrested in April 1930, angry crowds demonstrated in the streets of Peshawar, facing armored cars and police firing. Many were killed.
When Mahatma Gandhi was arrested, industrial workers in Sholapur attacked police posts, municipal buildings, law courts, and railway stations – all structures that symbolized British rule.
The frightened government responded with a policy of brutal repression. Peaceful *satyagrahis* were attacked, women and children were beaten, and about 100,000 people were arrested. In such a situation, Mahatma Gandhi decided to call off the movement.