Topic 5.2 Notes – Nationalism and Revolutions in the Period from 1750 to 1900
What Nationalism and Revolution Changed
This period changed the source of political authority. For centuries, people were usually subjects of a monarch. Now they were increasingly described as citizens who had rights and could judge whether a government deserved obedience.
The ideas came from the Enlightenment, but ideas alone did not start revolutions. Revolts usually happened when those ideas mixed with taxes, debt, inequality, slavery, colonial limits, or foreign invasion.
Political ideas to know together
- Natural rights means people have rights just for being human, such as liberty or property.
- Popular sovereignty means political power comes from the people, not from divine right.
- Social contract means government exists to protect rights. If it fails, people can replace it.
- Republicanism means representative government instead of hereditary monarchy.
- Liberalism in the 1800s meant constitutions, civil liberties, equality before the law, and private property. It did not always mean full democracy.
Nation and nationalism
- State means a government ruling a territory.
- Nation means a people who share identity through language, religion, customs, history, or land.
- Nation-state means a state that claims to represent one nation.
- Nationalism means loyalty to that nation and often the belief it should rule itself.
Nationalism could unify places like Italy and Germany, break apart empires like the Ottoman Empire, inspire anti-colonial movements, or be pushed from above by governments through schools, flags, and armies.
A constant exam pattern is this gap between universal ideals and limited inclusion. Rights were often restricted by race, gender, class, and property.
Why Revolutions Broke Out and How They Spread
These revolutions connect best when you see four causes working together:
- Intellectual causes
Enlightenment thinkers attacked monarchy, privilege, and arbitrary rule. - Structural grievances
People were angry about taxation, slavery, racial hierarchy, estate privilege, creole exclusion, and colonial exploitation. - Political and fiscal crises
War debt, food shortages, elite conflict, and invasion weakened governments. - Diffusion
Revolutions inspired other revolutions through print, travelers, soldiers, and famous documents.
Chain of influence
- American Revolution showed a colony could defeat an empire and form a republic.
- French Revolution spread ideas of citizenship, equality, and anti-privilege politics.
- Haitian Revolution showed enslaved people could overthrow slavery and colonial rule.
- Latin American revolutions borrowed from all three and grew stronger when Napoleon invaded Spain and Portugal.
By about 1830, that chain of influence had helped reshape much of the Americas into newly independent states, especially in Latin America.
The Americas after the Atlantic revolutions, ca. 1830
Standard documents
| Document | Main idea |
|---|---|
| Declaration of Independence | People can break from a government that violates their rights |
| Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen | Sovereignty rests in the nation and citizens are equal before the law |
| Bolívar’s Letter from Jamaica | Spanish American independence is justified and necessary |
The Atlantic Revolutions
American Revolution
British debt after the Seven Years’ War led to new taxes and tighter control. Colonists answered with “no taxation without representation.” The Declaration of Independence in 1776 turned protest into a formal claim for separation. The result was U.S. independence and a constitutional republic. The limits matter just as much as the success. Slavery remained, women were excluded, and Indigenous land loss continued.
French Revolution
France faced debt, unequal estates, bourgeois resentment, bread shortages, and a weak monarchy. Key moments ran in sequence:
- Estates-General met in 1789
- National Assembly claimed to represent the nation
- Rights of Man attacked privilege
- Republic declared in 1792
- Louis XVI executed in 1793
- Reign of Terror showed radical instability
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon kept some revolutionary gains, especially legal equality for men and the Napoleonic Code, but he also ruled as an authoritarian leader. His conquests spread reform and also sparked anti-French nationalism.
Haitian Revolution
Saint-Domingue was a brutally profitable slave colony built on plantation labor and racial hierarchy. Enslaved people rose in 1791. Toussaint Louverture became the best-known leader, and Jean-Jacques Dessalines helped finish the struggle. Haiti became independent in 1804, abolished slavery, and became the first independent Black republic.
Latin American independence
Creoles resented peninsular control, and Napoleon’s invasion of Iberia created the opening. Key leaders included Simón Bolívar, José de San Martín, Miguel Hidalgo, and José María Morelos. Bolívar helped create Gran Colombia, but it later fragmented. Brazil followed a different path when Pedro I declared independence in 1822 and kept a monarchy. Across Latin America, independence came, but creole elites usually stayed on top.
How Nationalism Reshaped States and Empires
Nationalism did not just overthrow rulers. It also built states and weakened empires.
Unification movements
- Italy
- Mazzini spread nationalist ideas, Cavour used diplomacy, and Garibaldi fought in the south. Piedmont-Sardinia led unification. The Kingdom of Italy formed in 1861, and Rome joined in 1870.
- Germany
- The Zollverein customs union built economic ties. Bismarck used diplomacy and war against Denmark, Austria, and France. The German Empire was proclaimed in 1871.
This map of Italy helps you see the patchwork of states nationalism pulled together during the 1800s.
Italian unification, 1815-1870
Nationalism against empires
- Greece revolted in 1821 and gained recognized independence in 1830.
- Balkan nationalisms in Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria pushed for self-rule and gained autonomy or independence as Ottoman control weakened.
- Outside Europe, nationalism also appeared in the Philippines under José Rizal, in New Zealand through the Māori King Movement, and in Puerto Rico through Lola Rodríguez de Tió.
Governments using nationalism
States taught nationalism through schools, standardized language, flags, anthems, military conscription, and public ceremonies. Revolutionary France, unified Germany, unified Italy, and Ottomanism all used this strategy.
Effects and Limits of the Revolutionary Era
The biggest effects were new independent states in the Americas, the spread of constitutions and rights language, the unification of Italy and Germany, and weaker multiethnic empires. The revolutions of 1848 showed nationalism and liberalism still had power even when many uprisings failed.
The limits are just as testable. Rights stayed restricted by race, gender, class, and property. Slavery survived in many places after independence. Latin America often kept old social hierarchies under new rulers. Nationalism could unite a majority and exclude minorities at the same time.
Key Takeaways
Revolution
A rapid, fundamental challenge to an existing political or social order, though it does not always produce equality or complete social transformation
Natural Rights
Rights inherent to all people, such as life, liberty, property, and equality before the law, rather than privileges granted by rulers
Popular Sovereignty
The principle that legitimate political authority originates with the people rather than a monarch or dynasty
Social Contract
The idea that people accept government in exchange for protection of their rights and may replace a government that violates the agreement
Republicanism
Government through representatives and civic institutions rather than hereditary monarchy, often with limited suffrage in this period
Democracy
Government based on popular will and political participation, although participation remained restricted during this period
Nineteenth-Century Liberalism
An ideology favoring civil liberties, legal equality, constitutional government, representative institutions, and private property, but not necessarily universal suffrage
State
A political organization that governs a defined territory and population
Nation
A community whose members understand themselves to share an identity based on language, religion, customs, history, ancestry, or territory
Nation-State
A state claiming to represent a particular nation and seeking to align political borders with that national community
Nationalism
The belief that a nation has a distinctive identity deserving political loyalty and should govern itself through independence, autonomy, or unification
Atlantic Revolutions
The connected American, French, Haitian, and Latin American revolutions, linked by circulating Enlightenment ideas and revolutionary precedents but differing in causes and outcomes
American Revolution
The 1775–1783 colonial revolt against British taxation and imperial control that created the independent United States and a constitutional republic
No Taxation Without Representation
The colonial claim that Britain could not legitimately tax Americans who lacked elected representatives in Parliament
Declaration of Independence
The 1776 document asserting natural rights, government by consent, and the people’s right to replace an abusive government to justify separation from Britain
United States Constitution of 1787
The framework that established the United States as a federal constitutional republic with representative institutions and divided governmental powers
French Revolution
The revolution beginning in 1789 that attacked monarchy and legal privilege, established citizenship and a republic, and later produced terror and Napoleonic rule
Three Estates
France’s legal social divisions: the privileged clergy and nobility formed the First and Second Estates, while everyone else belonged to the Third Estate
Bourgeoisie
The urban middle class of merchants and professionals whose wealth and influence were not matched by equal status under France’s estate system
Estates-General
The representative assembly summoned by Louis XVI in 1789 whose disputes over voting and representation triggered the French Revolution
National Assembly
The body formed by Third Estate representatives in 1789 that claimed to represent the French nation rather than the traditional estates
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
The 1789 French declaration of liberty, legal equality, fundamental rights, and national sovereignty that rejected inherited privilege and arbitrary rule
Reign of Terror
The radical phase of the French Revolution in 1793–1794 when the revolutionary government executed suspected enemies amid war and internal conflict
Napoleon Bonaparte
The general who seized power in 1799, ended the revolutionary republic, and spread selected revolutionary reforms through conquest
Napoleonic Code
Napoleon’s standardized legal code, which preserved and spread selected revolutionary principles such as legal equality for men
Haitian Revolution
The 1791–1804 uprising in Saint-Domingue that defeated French colonial rule, abolished slavery, and created the independent Black republic of Haiti
Toussaint Louverture
The best-known leader of the Haitian Revolution who led formerly enslaved forces and governed Saint-Domingue autonomously before dying in French imprisonment
Jean-Jacques Dessalines
The Haitian revolutionary leader who continued resistance after Toussaint’s capture and helped defeat French forces before Haitian independence in 1804
Latin American Independence Movements
Early nineteenth-century struggles that ended most Spanish and Portuguese rule in the Americas but generally preserved elite power and social inequality
Peninsulares
People born in Spain or Portugal who generally received preference for the highest offices in Iberian American colonies
Creoles
People of European ancestry born in the Americas who often held wealth and land but resented exclusion from the highest colonial offices
Juntas
Local governing councils formed during the crisis of the Spanish monarchy that often developed into movements for colonial independence
Simón Bolívar
The revolutionary leader who led independence campaigns in northern South America and advocated independence and regional cooperation
Letter from Jamaica
Bolívar’s 1815 argument that Spanish rule had left Spanish Americans politically inexperienced and economically restricted and that independence and regional cooperation were necessary
Gran Colombia
Bolívar’s post-independence union of territories corresponding to modern Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama, which fragmented because of regional rivalries
José de San Martín
The independence leader who conducted major military campaigns against Spanish rule in southern South America
Miguel Hidalgo
The leader associated with the popular uprising that began Mexico’s independence struggle and mobilized many Indigenous and mixed-race supporters
José María Morelos
The leader who continued Mexico’s popular independence movement after Hidalgo and linked independence with social and political reform
Agustín de Iturbide
The conservative Creole leader who secured Mexican independence after elites came to fear liberal political change in Spain
Brazilian Independence
Brazil’s 1822 separation from Portugal under Pedro I, producing an independent monarchy rather than an immediate republic
Pedro I
The Portuguese prince who declared Brazil independent in 1822 and became emperor of the new Brazilian state
Caudillos
Military or personalist strongmen who gained political power in fragmented post-independence Latin American states
Italian Unification
The nationalist combination of popular activism, diplomacy, alliances, and war that created a constitutional Kingdom of Italy between 1861 and 1870
Giuseppe Mazzini
The Italian nationalist whose republican vision popularized the goal of a united Italian nation
Count Camillo di Cavour
The Piedmont-Sardinian prime minister who used diplomacy, alliances, and war to lead northern Italian unification under a monarchy
Giuseppe Garibaldi
The Italian nationalist whose volunteer army conquered the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and transferred it to the Piedmontese monarchy
German Unification
The Prussian-led process of economic integration, diplomacy, and war that created the German Empire in 1871
Zollverein
The Prussian-led customs union that removed trade barriers and strengthened economic connections among many German states
Otto von Bismarck
The Prussian minister-president who used military reform, diplomacy, and wars against Denmark, Austria, and France to unify Germany under Prussia
Balkan Nationalisms
Movements among Greek, Serbian, Romanian, Bulgarian, and other peoples seeking autonomy or independence from Ottoman rule
Greek War of Independence
The nationalist revolt beginning in 1821 that ended with international recognition of an independent Greek state in 1830
Ottomanism
The reform program promoting equal Ottoman citizenship and loyalty to the state in order to unite the empire’s diverse peoples
Propaganda Movement
A Filipino reform movement that used writing and political organization to criticize Spanish abuses and promote equality, reform, and a broader Filipino identity
José Rizal
The leading writer of the Filipino Propaganda Movement whose criticism of colonial rule and 1896 execution encouraged more radical nationalism
Philippine Revolution
The nationalist revolt against Spanish colonial rule that began in 1896 after colonial abuses and the failure of reform efforts encouraged more radical nationalism
Māori King Movement (Kīngitanga)
The movement founded in the 1850s to unite Māori communities, preserve land, and create authority capable of resisting or negotiating with colonial government
New Zealand Wars
Conflicts from the 1840s into the 1870s over Māori land and sovereignty that ended in colonial victory and major land confiscations
Lola Rodríguez de Tió
The poet and activist who used revolutionary writing, including lyrics associated with “La Borinqueña,” to promote Puerto Rican and Cuban independence
Grito de Lares
The unsuccessful 1868 Puerto Rican uprising that sought independence from Spain and the abolition of slavery
State-Sponsored Nationalism
Government promotion of unity through schools, standardized language, flags, anthems, ceremonies, conscription, and shared national history
Revolutions of 1848
European uprisings demanding constitutions, representative government, national self-determination, or social reform; most were defeated but their demands endured
Franco-Prussian War
The 1870–1871 war in which Prussia led the German states against France, enabling the proclamation of the German Empire in 1871
Notes
Revolution
A rapid, fundamental challenge to an existing political or social order, though it does not always produce equality or complete social transformation
Natural Rights
Rights inherent to all people, such as life, liberty, property, and equality before the law, rather than privileges granted by rulers
Popular Sovereignty
The principle that legitimate political authority originates with the people rather than a monarch or dynasty
Social Contract
The idea that people accept government in exchange for protection of their rights and may replace a government that violates the agreement
Republicanism
Government through representatives and civic institutions rather than hereditary monarchy, often with limited suffrage in this period
Democracy
Government based on popular will and political participation, although participation remained restricted during this period
Nineteenth-Century Liberalism
An ideology favoring civil liberties, legal equality, constitutional government, representative institutions, and private property, but not necessarily universal suffrage
State
A political organization that governs a defined territory and population
Nation
A community whose members understand themselves to share an identity based on language, religion, customs, history, ancestry, or territory
Nation-State
A state claiming to represent a particular nation and seeking to align political borders with that national community
Nationalism
The belief that a nation has a distinctive identity deserving political loyalty and should govern itself through independence, autonomy, or unification
Atlantic Revolutions
The connected American, French, Haitian, and Latin American revolutions, linked by circulating Enlightenment ideas and revolutionary precedents but differing in causes and outcomes
American Revolution
The 1775–1783 colonial revolt against British taxation and imperial control that created the independent United States and a constitutional republic
No Taxation Without Representation
The colonial claim that Britain could not legitimately tax Americans who lacked elected representatives in Parliament
Declaration of Independence
The 1776 document asserting natural rights, government by consent, and the people’s right to replace an abusive government to justify separation from Britain
United States Constitution of 1787
The framework that established the United States as a federal constitutional republic with representative institutions and divided governmental powers
French Revolution
The revolution beginning in 1789 that attacked monarchy and legal privilege, established citizenship and a republic, and later produced terror and Napoleonic rule
Three Estates
France’s legal social divisions: the privileged clergy and nobility formed the First and Second Estates, while everyone else belonged to the Third Estate
Bourgeoisie
The urban middle class of merchants and professionals whose wealth and influence were not matched by equal status under France’s estate system
Estates-General
The representative assembly summoned by Louis XVI in 1789 whose disputes over voting and representation triggered the French Revolution
National Assembly
The body formed by Third Estate representatives in 1789 that claimed to represent the French nation rather than the traditional estates
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
The 1789 French declaration of liberty, legal equality, fundamental rights, and national sovereignty that rejected inherited privilege and arbitrary rule
Reign of Terror
The radical phase of the French Revolution in 1793–1794 when the revolutionary government executed suspected enemies amid war and internal conflict
Napoleon Bonaparte
The general who seized power in 1799, ended the revolutionary republic, and spread selected revolutionary reforms through conquest
Napoleonic Code
Napoleon’s standardized legal code, which preserved and spread selected revolutionary principles such as legal equality for men
Haitian Revolution
The 1791–1804 uprising in Saint-Domingue that defeated French colonial rule, abolished slavery, and created the independent Black republic of Haiti
Toussaint Louverture
The best-known leader of the Haitian Revolution who led formerly enslaved forces and governed Saint-Domingue autonomously before dying in French imprisonment
Jean-Jacques Dessalines
The Haitian revolutionary leader who continued resistance after Toussaint’s capture and helped defeat French forces before Haitian independence in 1804
Latin American Independence Movements
Early nineteenth-century struggles that ended most Spanish and Portuguese rule in the Americas but generally preserved elite power and social inequality
Peninsulares
People born in Spain or Portugal who generally received preference for the highest offices in Iberian American colonies
Creoles
People of European ancestry born in the Americas who often held wealth and land but resented exclusion from the highest colonial offices
Juntas
Local governing councils formed during the crisis of the Spanish monarchy that often developed into movements for colonial independence
Simón Bolívar
The revolutionary leader who led independence campaigns in northern South America and advocated independence and regional cooperation
Letter from Jamaica
Bolívar’s 1815 argument that Spanish rule had left Spanish Americans politically inexperienced and economically restricted and that independence and regional cooperation were necessary
Gran Colombia
Bolívar’s post-independence union of territories corresponding to modern Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Panama, which fragmented because of regional rivalries
José de San Martín
The independence leader who conducted major military campaigns against Spanish rule in southern South America
Miguel Hidalgo
The leader associated with the popular uprising that began Mexico’s independence struggle and mobilized many Indigenous and mixed-race supporters
José María Morelos
The leader who continued Mexico’s popular independence movement after Hidalgo and linked independence with social and political reform
Agustín de Iturbide
The conservative Creole leader who secured Mexican independence after elites came to fear liberal political change in Spain
Brazilian Independence
Brazil’s 1822 separation from Portugal under Pedro I, producing an independent monarchy rather than an immediate republic
Pedro I
The Portuguese prince who declared Brazil independent in 1822 and became emperor of the new Brazilian state
Caudillos
Military or personalist strongmen who gained political power in fragmented post-independence Latin American states
Italian Unification
The nationalist combination of popular activism, diplomacy, alliances, and war that created a constitutional Kingdom of Italy between 1861 and 1870
Giuseppe Mazzini
The Italian nationalist whose republican vision popularized the goal of a united Italian nation
Count Camillo di Cavour
The Piedmont-Sardinian prime minister who used diplomacy, alliances, and war to lead northern Italian unification under a monarchy
Giuseppe Garibaldi
The Italian nationalist whose volunteer army conquered the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and transferred it to the Piedmontese monarchy
German Unification
The Prussian-led process of economic integration, diplomacy, and war that created the German Empire in 1871
Zollverein
The Prussian-led customs union that removed trade barriers and strengthened economic connections among many German states
Otto von Bismarck
The Prussian minister-president who used military reform, diplomacy, and wars against Denmark, Austria, and France to unify Germany under Prussia
Balkan Nationalisms
Movements among Greek, Serbian, Romanian, Bulgarian, and other peoples seeking autonomy or independence from Ottoman rule
Greek War of Independence
The nationalist revolt beginning in 1821 that ended with international recognition of an independent Greek state in 1830
Ottomanism
The reform program promoting equal Ottoman citizenship and loyalty to the state in order to unite the empire’s diverse peoples
Propaganda Movement
A Filipino reform movement that used writing and political organization to criticize Spanish abuses and promote equality, reform, and a broader Filipino identity
José Rizal
The leading writer of the Filipino Propaganda Movement whose criticism of colonial rule and 1896 execution encouraged more radical nationalism
Philippine Revolution
The nationalist revolt against Spanish colonial rule that began in 1896 after colonial abuses and the failure of reform efforts encouraged more radical nationalism
Māori King Movement (Kīngitanga)
The movement founded in the 1850s to unite Māori communities, preserve land, and create authority capable of resisting or negotiating with colonial government
New Zealand Wars
Conflicts from the 1840s into the 1870s over Māori land and sovereignty that ended in colonial victory and major land confiscations
Lola Rodríguez de Tió
The poet and activist who used revolutionary writing, including lyrics associated with “La Borinqueña,” to promote Puerto Rican and Cuban independence
Grito de Lares
The unsuccessful 1868 Puerto Rican uprising that sought independence from Spain and the abolition of slavery
State-Sponsored Nationalism
Government promotion of unity through schools, standardized language, flags, anthems, ceremonies, conscription, and shared national history
Revolutions of 1848
European uprisings demanding constitutions, representative government, national self-determination, or social reform; most were defeated but their demands endured
Franco-Prussian War
The 1870–1871 war in which Prussia led the German states against France, enabling the proclamation of the German Empire in 1871
