CHAPTER
1
‹^153
Mass Politics and Nationalism
IN THIS CHAPTER
Summary: In the nineteenth century, increased political participation by the
masses supported the growth of nationalism, encouraged by some in the
Romantic movement who idealized traditional culture and nationalist strug-
gles. This resulted in the establishment of the nation-state as the dominant
unit of European political organization. The unifications of Germany and Italy
by the conservative aristocracy, the nationalities problem of Austria-Hungary,
the fall of the Second Empire in France, and the growth of democracy in Great
Britain are among the topics reviewed in this chapter on the effects of grow-
ing political participation and nationalism.
Key Terms:
✪^ Carbonari Secret groups of Italian nationalists active in the early part of the
nineteenth century. In 1820, the Carbonari had briefly succeeded in organ-
izing an uprising that forced King Ferdinand I of the Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies to grant a constitution and a new Parliament.
✪^ Risorgimento The mid-nineteenth-century Italian nationalist movement com-
posed mostly of intellectuals and university students. From 1834 to 1848, the
Risorgimento attempted a series of popular insurrections and briefly estab-
lished a Roman Republic in 1848.
✪^ Junkers A powerful class of landed aristocrats in nineteenth-century Prussia
who supported Bismarck’s plan for the unification of Germany.
KEY IDEA
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