The Age of Nationalism

1
The Age of Nationalism

• Napoleon III in France
• McKay 823-826, Palmer 12.62

2
The Second Empire
-Louis Philippe abdicates -Second Republic Begins
-Franco-Prussian War ends Second Empire -German
Empire Proclaimed -Paris Commune begins
Second Empire Begins
Crimean War Begins
1848 1852 1854 1860 1871
Authoritarian Empire Stage
Liberal Empire Stage
2nd Republic
-Springtime of Peoples ends -Toughness of Mind
Louis Napoleon Coup detat 12/2/51
3
The End of the Springtime of Peoples

• The springtime of peoples (Revolution of 1848)
  was followed by chilling blasts of winter
• Major accomplishment of 1848 revolutions was
• emancipation of peasantry
• Constitutional governments were secured in
  Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Piedmont
• France had popular sovereignty but not democracy
  (really a popular dictatorship)
• However, peasantry showed little concern for
  constitutional or bourgeois ideas
• Result strengthened the forces of political
  counterrevolution
• Most immediate result of Revolution of 1848 A new
  toughness of mind emerged
• Get Real zeitgeist
• Idealism and romanticism are out, realism is in
• Revolutionaries became less optimistic
• Conservatives became more willing to exercise
  repression
• Realism becomes the watchword
• Labor shifts to the organization of unions

Honore Daumier, The Third-Class Carriage, ca.
1862. oil on canvas. French.
4
Post 1848 Zeitgeist
"Before she married, she thought she was in love
but the happiness that should have resulted from
that love, somehow had not come. It seemed to her
that she must have made a mistake, have
misunderstood in some way or another. And Emma
tried hard to discover what, precisely, it was in
life that was denoted by the words 'joy, passion,
intoxication', which had always looked so fine to
her in books."- Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary

• Literature
• Realism
• Writers describe life as it really is
• Unsentimental
• Rejected the search for sublime meaning
• Fatalistic
• Mankind is crushed by natural or societal forces
• Madame Bovary, by Flaubert
• precise, unsentimental, literal
• Mocks illusions of romantic literature
• Trust in science and scientific knowledge grows
• increased skepticism
• role of religion is examined
• because it is unscientific is shouldnt be taken
  seriously and is necessary only to preserve
  social order

Flaubert, Gustave Madame Bovary
Gustave Courbet. The Stone Breakers, 1849. oil on
canvas. French.
5
Positivism

• Positivism (reaction to metaphysical abstractions
  of the revolutions)
• Auguste Comte Positive Philosophy
• he saw human history as a series of three stages,
  theological, metaphysical, scientific
• revolutions in France suffered from empty words,
  high flying principles (excessive metaphysical
  abstractions)
• What is a Republic of Virtue anyway?????
• To better society people must adopt a scientific
  outlook
• study society he created sociology!!
• Insistence on verifiable facts
• Avoidance of wishful thinking
• A questioning of all assumptions
• A dislike of un-provable generalizations
• Demands observational facts
• Tests of ideas
• Try to be humanly useful
• Led to growth of social sciences

Auguste Comte
6
Realpolitik

• new tough mindedness created Realpolitik in
  politics
• means the politics of reality
• In domestic affairs
• people should give up utopian ideals
• people should be thankful of for orderly, hard
  working government
• For radicals it meant
• use the tools of politics to reform rather
  overthrow
• In international affairs
• Governments should follow their practical
  interests
• Not be guided by ideology or by any system of
  natural enemies, allies
• Make any alliances that seemed useful
• Disregard ethical theories and scruples
• Use any practical means to achieve their ends
• War was accepted as a strategic option sometimes
  needed to achieve a political purpose

7
Louis Philippe King of the FrenchSecond
Republic EndsFebruary RevolutionJune
DaysBourgeoisie MonarchyMarch DaysJuly
OrdinancesCoup de etat of BrumaireSecond Empire
Begins
1830 1848 1851
8
Concert of Europe
Nationalism
Liberalism
1848
Socialism
Republicanism
9
Realpolitik Dam
Nationalism
Liberalism
Republicanism
Socialism
10
Nationalism

• Dedication to an identification with the
  nation-state
• Existed since 1789
• Was liberal and idealistic, democratic and
  radical
• Too metaphysical (according to Comte)
• Metternich feared nationalism would lead to a
  war of all against all
• Concert of Europe repressed nationalistic
  movements until 1848
• But (nationalism) wears many masks
• Napoleon III
• 1st to merge nationalism with authoritarianism

11
The Second Republic and Louis Napoleon

• Elected president in 1848 by universal male
  suffrage
• Why? Who Supported him?
• Peasants
• Zeitgeist placed Napoleon I as a demigod
• Property owners
• middleclass and peasant property owners feared
  of socialism
• Wanted someone to protect property
• Wealthy liberal bourgeoisie
• dedicated to law and order wanted a strong
  national leader who would serve all the people
  and help them economically
• Church
• Napoleon promised to return control of education
  over to Catholic Church (Falloux Laws)
• Louis Napoleon had a Plan
• wrote popular pamphlets (Napoleonic Ideas The
  Elimination of Poverty) on this subject
• believed the state had obligation to provide
  jobs, stimulate the economy, to represent both
  rich and poor
• believed that parliaments and political parties
  simply represented middle-class interest

12
Louis Napoleon and the Second Republic

• Overwhelmingly elected president of 2nd Republic
  in 1848
• cooperated with the conservative National
  Assembly at first
• Falloux Laws
• Disbanded Republican national guards, exiled
  thousands
• Restricted press, assembly
• NA refused to change the constitution so he could
  run for another term
• seized power in a coup d'état in 12/2/1851 and
  dismissed the Assembly
• Plebiscite (election) legalized his actions
• Another plebiscite in 1852 made him hereditary
  emperor
• Took name Napoleon III and began the Second Empire

FRANCE Tree of Liberty, cut down, Paris, old
print, 1850
Is she truly dead? Louis Napoleon stands over the
dead body of Liberty. Her coffin reads "Born
1848, died 1851" to indicate that the emperor's
seizure of power murdered the freedom of France.
13
Authoritarian Stage

• Ruled as a democratically elected dictator
  (1852-1860)
• Censored the Press
• Banished political prisoners to Devils Island
• Infamous prison in French Guiana
• Over 80 thousand prisoners died in disease ridden
  harsh conditions
• Period characterized by wealthy businessmen
  becoming the new imperial aristocracy
• Flaunted their wealth, materialism
• Most newspapers were owned by wealthy
• Period noted for rapid economic growth

14
Economy of Second Empire

• Economic Take-off period
• Exports doubled from 1853-1864
• Gov. took direct role in stimulating the economy
  via investment and enticement
• Gov guaranteed credit companies profit for
  expanding credit
• Sponsored creation of mortgage banks to provide
  business loans
• French RR reached 10 thousand miles by 1869
• RR opened up markets encouraged farmers to
  specialize in 1 or 2 crops
• Prices need for farm labor dropped sharply
• RR also improved diet for average Frenchman
• Paris beautified
• Baron Haussman
• Suez Canal built (1869)
• Designed by Ferdinand de Lesseps (an engineer)
• Ultimately it benefited the British most

Avenue de lOpera, Place du Theatre Francais by
Pissarro
15
Government of the Authoritarian 2nd Empire

• Council of State
• composed of experts who drafted legislation
• Advised on technical matters
• Legislative Body
• Elected by managed universal suffrage
• Governments choices rarely faced any opposition
• Could only consider legislation sent by the
  Emperor
• Had no control over the budget
• Had no power over the army
• Made no foreign policy
• Publishing speeches made in leg chamber was a
  crime
• Napoleon sponsored official candidates for the
  Lower Chamber
• Hand picked notables for the Upper Chamber
  (Senate)
• bought political support by promising
  earmarks to politicians

16
The Liberal Empire

• Napoleon III announced that he would crown the
  imperial edifice with liberty in 1859
• Working class had remained republican
• 1860 Legislative Assembly given right to discuss
  emperors annual address
• Cobden-Chevalier Treaty
• Allowed for Free Trade between Britain and France
• Brainchild of Michel Chevalier who had been a
  Saint-Simonian but now doubted protectionism
• LA received right to approve budget in 1864
• Unions and right to strike legalized in 64
• Reforms for the working class
• Public works projects continued
• Hospitals and asylums built
• Free medicines given to poor

17
Art of the Second Empire

• Barbizon School
• Characterized by painting of peasants, harvests,
  symbols of village life
• A break with romanticism
• Impressionist School
• Characterized by its rejection of religious and
  historical subjects
• Depicted rural urban landscapes
• Reaction to photography
• Meant to capture the impression one got at a
  certain moment of time, at first glance

The Gleaners by Jean-François Millet
EDOUARD MANET "Le Déjeuner sur l'Herbe (Luncheon
on the grass)", 1862/63 -
18
Decline of Second Empire

• Depression of 1857
• Industrialists turned against Napoleons free
  trade policies
• Legislative Assembly liberals call for more
  liberty
• 1869 election gave his opponents (republicans
  monarchists, liberals) 45 on vote
• 1870 Nap granted new constitution
• Created Constitutional monarchy
• By 1870 Napoleon III is sickly, tired and
  foolhardy
• Will be fooled into a war with the most
  formidable rising power in Europe