The Nation-StateThe Nation-State

1871-1900

In GeneralIn General1. Western Europe: Considerable

progress with liberal advancements

• Constitutions

• Parliaments

• Liberties

• Expansion of political democracy

• Mass politics

2. Britain and France expanded democratic franchise

3. Spain and Italy less successful than Britain and France

4. Central and Eastern Europe discouraged liberal advancements

• Germany remained conservative through militaristic values

• Russia & AH was conservative based on the old order

• Numerous smaller ‘states’ dominated by larger empires

I. BritainI. BritainA. Preoccupied by the growth of

political democracy after 1871B. Reform Act of 1867

1) Lowered monetary requirements to vote

2) Enfranchised male urban workers

C. Reform Act of 18841) Those who pay rents or taxes can vote2) Enfranchised male agricultural workers

D. Redistribution Act 18851) Eliminated historical boroughs and counties

2) Constituencies created with fairly equal populations

3) One representative to each constituency

E. Payment of salaries1) House of Commons getting paid

2) Allowed those not wealthy to hold office

F. System of gradual reform through parliamentary institutions is the new way of life

G.The Irish Issue…1) Act of Union 1801

i. United Irish and British parliaments

ii. Irish and unfree ethnic group

2) Irish developed sense of nation self-consciousness

3) Irish detest British landlord absenteeism and burdensome rents

G. Continued

4) Gladstone 1870 tried land reform in Irelandi. Too little too late

ii. Irish terrorists rebelled against continued evictions of Irish tenants

5) Irish Catholics demand home rulei. Home rule bills proposed in 1886

and 1893

ii. Both failed

G. Continued6) Home Rule Act of 1914 finally passed

7) New Problem!i. North protestant Irish did not want home

rule

ii. Central/South Catholic Irish did

iii. Tensions mounted

8) WWI stopped the escalation… for now i. Home Rule suspended during war

II. FranceII. FranceA. Defeat of France by Prussia in 1870

1) Ended Napoleon’s 2nd Empire

2) Provisional government set up

3) Bismarck over-rode provisional government and forced universal male suffrage to elect new government

B. Result favored monarchists; Republicanism defeated

C. National Assembly1) 400 seats were monarchists

2) 230 seats were republicans

D. Republicans set up the Paris Commune in response

1) Fighting broke out in 1871

2) Many working class men and women stepped up to defend the Commune

3) Gov’t troops brutally suppressed the revolt

E. Legacy of hatred created:1) 20,000 Commune members shot

2) 10,000 Commune members sent to penal colony in the S Pacific

3) Women’s involvement brutally suppressed: discouraged future efforts to improve their conditions

F. Assembly try to restore monarchy1) Couldn’t agree on who

2) Wound up improvising a constitution

G. Constitution of 18751) Meant to be temporary

2) Lasted 65 years!

3) Established the 3rd French Republic

H. 3rd French Republic1) New Elections allowed stronger

republican position

2) Bicameral with a President i. Senate (upper house): indirect elections

ii. Chamber of Deputies (lower house): universal male suffrage

I. Republicans manage to increase ministerial duties in the hands of the Chamber of Deputies: Prime Minister or Premier became answerable to the Chamber

J. More and more middle and working class support

1) Enemies still abound however

2) Monarchists, Catholic Clergy, Professional army officers

K. Boulanger Crisis1) Georges Boulanger became popular

2) Discontent with 3rd Republic

3) Supported a ‘revenge’ war with Germany

4) Appeared to be on the edge of a coup d’etat

i. Summoned to trial

ii. Boulanger fled France!

5) Boulanger’s fleeing increased public’s opinion of Republic & monarchists, etc lost face

L. Panama Scandal (1892)1) Ferdinand de Lesseps failed to build a

canal in Panama – cost French millions of dollars

2) Public saw gov’t as corrupt

3) Reversed popular gains from the Boulanger Crisis

M.Dreyfus Affair (1894)1) Most serious threat to 3rd republic

2) Military ‘caught’ Dreyfus (a Jew) supplying secrets to Germans

3) Monarchists (with support from Catholic Clergy) used incident to discredit republicans

4) Emile Zola: proved Dreyfus innocent

5) Military discredited: 1906 leftists support Republic and Dreyfus declared innocent

III. SpainIII. Spain