Chapter- 1 The Rise of Nationalism in EuropeIntroduction
In 1848, Frederic Sorrieu, a French artist, prepared a series of four prints visualizing his dream of a world made up of 'democratic and social republic, as he called them.
Artists of the time of the French Revolution personified Liberty as a female le figure.
According to Sorrieu's utopian vision, the peoples of the world are grouped as distinct nations, identified through their flags and national costume.
This chapter will deal with many of the issues visualized by Sorrieu.
During the nineteenth century, nationalism emerged as a force that brought about sweeping changes in the political and mental world of Europe.
The end result of these changes was the emergence of the nation-state in the place of the multi-national dynastic empires of Europe.
A modern state, in which a centralized power exercised sovereign control over a clearly defined territory, had been developing over a long time in Europe.
But a nation-state was one in which the majority of its citizens, and not only its rulers, came to develop a sense of common identity and shared history or descent.
This chapter will look at the diverse processes through which nation-states and nationalism came into being in nineteenth-century Europe.
1. The French Revolution and the idea of the Nation
1. The first clear expression of nationalism came with the French Revolution in 1789.
2. The political and constitutional changes that came in the wake of the French Revolution led to the transfer of sovereignty from the monarchy to a body of French citizens.
3. The ideas of la Patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen) emphasized the notion of a united community enjoying equal rights under a constitution.
4. The Estates-General was elected by the body of the active citizens and renamed the National Assembly.
S. Internal customs duties and dues were abolished and a uniform system of weights and measures was adopted.
6. The revolutionaries further declared that it was the mission and the destiny of the French nation to liberate the peoples of Europe from despotism.
7. Students and other members of the educated middle classes began setting up the Jacobin club.
8. Their activities and campaigns prepared the way for the French armies which moved into Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, and much of Italy in the 1790s.
9. The French armies began to carry the idea of nationalism abroad.
10. Through a return to monarchy Napoleon had, no doubt, destroyed democracy in France, but in the administrative field, he had incorporated revolutionary principles to make the whole system more rational and efficient.
11. 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 property right.
12. Napoleon simplified administrative divisions, abolished the feudal system, and freed peasants from serfdom and manorial dues.
13. Transport and communication systems were improved.
14. Businessmen and small-scale producers of goods, in particular, began to realize that uniform law standardized weights, measures, and a common national currency would facilitate the movement and exchange of goods and capital from one region to another.
15. In many places such as Holland and Switzerland, Brussels, Mainz, Milan, and Warsaw, the French armies were welcomed as harbingers of Liberty.
16. It became clear that the new administrative arrangements did not go hand in hand with political freedom.
17. Increased taxation, censorship, and forced conscription into the French armies required to conquer the rest of Europe, all seemed to outweigh the advantages of the administrative changes.
"Storming of bastille fort" & "German Fort"
Andreas Rebmann who lived in the city of Mainz was the journalist who designed the cover of a German Almanac (calendar) in 1798. He was a member of the German Jacobin Group(The group was reconstituted, probably in December 1789, after the National Assembly moved to Paris, under the name of Society of the Friends of the Constitution, but it was commonly called the Jacobin Club because its sessions were held in a former convent of the Dominicans, who were known in Paris as Jacobins.).
2.The Making of Nationalism in Europe
1. Germany, Italy, and Switzerland were divided into kingdoms, duchies, and cantons whose rulers had their autonomous territories.
2. They did not see themselves as sharing a collective identity or a common culture.
3. The Habsburg Empire ruled over Austria-Hungary.
4. In Hungary, half of the population spoke Magyar while the other half spoke a variety of dialects.
5. Besides these three dominant groups, there also lived within the boundaries of the empire.
6. The only tie binding these diverse groups together was a common allegiance to the emperor.
The Aristocracy and the new middle class
1. Socially and politically, a landed aristocracy was the dominant class on the continent
2. The members of this class were by a common way of life that cut across regional divisions.
3. Their families were often connected by ties of marriages.
4. This powerful aristocracy was, however, numerically a small group. The growth of towns and the emergence of commercial classes whose existence was based on production for the market.
5. Industrialization began in England in the second half of the eighteenth century, but in France and parts of the German states, it occurred only during the nineteenth century.
6. In its wake, new social groups came into being: a working-class population and middle classes made up of industrialists, businessmen, and professionals.
7. It was among the educated, liberal middle classes that ideas of national unity following the abolition of aristocratic privileges gained popularity.
What did Liberal Nationalism Stand for?
1. In early-nineteenth-century Europe was closely allied to the ideology of liberalism.
2. The term 'liberalism' derives from the Latin root liber, meaning free.
3. Liberalism stood for freedom for the individual and equality of all before the law.
4. It emphasized the concept of government by consent.
5. A constitution and representative government through parliament.
6. The right to vote and to get elected was generated exclusively by property-owning men.
7. Men without property and all women were excluded from political rights.
8. Women and non-propertied men and women organized opposition movements demanding equal political rights.
9. The abolition of state-imposed restrictions on the movement of goods and capital.
10. A merchant traveling in 1833 from Hamburg to Nuremberg to sell his goods would have to pass through 11 customs barriers and pay a customs duty of about 5% at each one of them.
11. Obstacles to economic exchanges and growth by the new commercial classes, who argued for the creation of a unified economic territory allowing the unhindered movement of goods, people, and capital.
12. The union abolished tariff barriers and reduced the number of currencies from over thirty to two.
A New Conservation after 1815
1. Following the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, European governments were driven by a spirit of conservatism.
2. Most conservatives, however, did not propose a return to the society of pre-revolutionary days.
3. That modernization could in fact strengthen traditional institutions like the monarchy.
4. A modern army, an efficient bureaucracy, a dynamic economy, and the abolition of feudalism and serfdom could strengthen the autocratic monarchies of Europe.
5. In 1815, representatives of the European powers - Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria - who had collectively defeated Napoleon, met at Vienna to draw up a settlement for Europe.
6. The Bourbon dynasty, which had been deposed during the French Revolution, was restored to power, and France lost the territories it had annexed under Napoleon.
7. German confederation of 39 states that has been set up by Napoleon was left untouched.
8. Autocratic did not tolerate criticism and dissent and sought to curb activities that questioned the legitimacy of autocratic government.
The Revolutionaries
1. During the years following 1815, the fear of repression drove many liberal-nationalists undergrounds.
2. Revolutionary at this time meant a commitment to oppose monarchical forms and to fight for liberty and freedom.
3. Giuseppe Mazzini, born in Genoa in 1807, became a member of the secret society of the Carbonari.
4. He was sent into exile in 1831 for attempting a revolution in Liguria.
5. Mazzini believed that God had intended nations to be the natural units of mankind.
6. Secret societies were set up in Germany, France, Switzerland, and Poland.
7. Metternich described him as 'The most dangerous enemy of our social order".
3. The Age of Revolution: 1830-1848
1. As conservative regimes tried to consolidate their power, liberalism and nationalism came to be increasingly associated with revolution in many regions of Europe such as the Italian and German states, the provinces of the Ottoman Empire, Ireland, and Poland.
2. When France sneezes", Metternich once remarked, the rest of Europe catches a cold.
3. An event that mobilized nationalist feelings among the educated elite across Europe was the Greek war of independence.
4. Greece had been part of the ottoman empire since the 15th century
5. Greeks living in exile and also many west Europeans who had sympathies for ancient Greek culture.
The Romantic Imagination and national Feeling
1. The development of nationalism did not come about only through wars and territorial expansions.
2. Culture played an important role in creating the idea of the nation: art and poetry, stories and music helped express and shape nationalist feelings.
3. Let us look at Romanticism, a cultural movement that sought to develop a particular form of nationalist sentiments.
4. Romantic artists and poets generally criticised the glorification of reason and science and focused instead on emotions, institution, and mystical feelings.
5. Other romantics were through folk song, folk poetry, and folk dances that the true spirit of the nation.
6. National feelings were kept alive through music and languages.
7. Karol Kurpinski, celebrated the national struggles through his operas and music, turning folk dances like the polonaise and mazurka into nationalist symbols.
8. Language too played an important role in developing nationalist sentiments.
9. Russian language was imposed everywhere.
10. Many members of the clergy in Poland began to use language as a weapon of national resistance.
11. As a result, a large number of priests and bishops were put in jail or sent to Siberia by the Russian authorities as punishment for their refusal to preach in Russian.
@Hunger, Hardship, and Popular Revolt
1. The 1830s were years of great economic hardship in Europe.
2. The first half of the nineteenth century saw an enormous increase in population.
3. In most countries there were more seekers of jobs than employment.
4. Population from rural areas migrated to the cities to live in overcrowded
5. Food shortage and widespread unemployment brought the population of Paris out on the roads.
6. National Assembly proclaimed a republic, granted suffrage to all adult males above 21, and guaranteed the right to work.
7. Earlier, in 1845, weavers in Silesia had led a revolt against contractors who supplied them with raw material and gave them orders for finished textile.
8. On 4 June at 2 p.m. a large crowd of weavers emerged from their homes and marched in pairs up to the mansion of their contractors demanding higher wages.
9. The contractor fled with his family to a neighboring village which, however, refused to shelter such a person.
10. He returned 24 hours later having requisitioned the army.
11. In the exchange that followed, eleven weavers were shot.
1848: The Revolution of the Liberals
1. In The poor, unemployed, and starving peasants and workers in many European countries in the years 1848, a revolution led by the educated middle classes was underway.
2. Men and women of the liberal middle classes combined their demands for constitutionalism with national unification.
3. They drafted a constitution for the German nation to be headed by a monarchy subject to a parliament.
4. Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia, rejected it and joined other monarchs to oppose the elected assembly.
5. While the opposition of the aristocracy and military became stronger, the social basis of parliament eroded.
6. The issue of extending political rights to women was a controversial one within the liberal movement.
7. Women had formed their own political associations, founded newspapers, and taken part in political meetings and demonstrations.
8. Women were admitted only as observers to stand in the visitors' gallery.
9. Monarchs were beginning to realize that the cycles if revolution and repression could be ended by granting concessions to the liberal-nationalist revolutionaries.
4. The Making of German and Italy
Germany - can the Army be the Architect of a National
1. After 1848, nationalism in Europe moved away from its association with democracy and revolution.
2. This can be observed in the process by which Germany and Italy came to be unified as nation-states.
3. Nationalist feelings were widespread among middle-class Germans.
4. This liberal initiative to nation-building was, however, repressed by the combined forces of the monarchy and the military, supported by the large landowners of Prussia.
5. Prussia took on the leadership of the movement.
6. Three wars overseen years-with Austria, Denmark, and France ended in Prussian victory
and completed the process of unification.
7. The nation-building process in Germany demonstrated the dominance of Prussian state power.
8. The new state placed a strong emphasis on modernising the currency, banking, legal and judicial systems in Germany.
Italy Unified
1. Like Germany, Italy too had a long history of political fragmentation.
2. Italians were scattered over several dynastic states as well as the multi-national Habsburg Empire.
3. Italy was divided into seven states.
4. Italian language had not acquired one common form and still had many regional and local variations.
5. Giuseppe Mazzini had sought to put together a coherent program for the unitary Italian Republic.
6. Young Italy for the dissemination of his goals.
7. The failure of the revolutionary uprising both in 1831 and 1848 meant that the mantle now fell on Sadinia-Piedmont under its ruler King Victor Emmanuel II to unify the Italian states through war.
8. Italy offered them the possibility of economic development and political dominance.
9. Italy was neither a revolutionary nor a democrat.
10. Italian population, among whom rates of illiteracy were high, remained blissfully unaware of liberal-nationalist ideology.
@ The strange case of Britain
1. The model of the nation or the nation-state, some scholars have argued, is Great Britain.
2. It was the result of a long-drawn-out process.
3. There was no British nation prior to the eighteenth century.
4. United Kingdom of Great Britain' meant, in effect, that England was able to impose its influence on Scotland.
5. The British parliament was henceforth dominated by its English members.
6. Ireland was forcibly incorporated into the United Kingdom in 1801.
7. British flag, the national anthem, the English language - were actively promoted and the older nations survived only as subordinate partners on this union.
8. The Acts of Union, passed by the English and Scottish Parliaments in 1707, led to the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain on 1 May of that year.
5. Visualizing the Nation
1. While it was easy enough to represent a ruler through a portrait or a statue.
2. In other words they represented a country as if it were a person.
3. Nations were then portrayed as female figures.
4. The female figures became an allegory of the nation.
5. Christened Marianne, a popular Christian name, which underlined the idea of people's nation.
6. Nationalism and Imperialism
1. By the quarter of the nineteenth-century nationalism no longer retained its idealistic liberal-democratic sentiment of the first half of the century but became a narrow creed with limited ends.
2. The most serious source of nationalist tension in Europe after 1871 was the area of the Balkans.
3. The Balkans was a region of geographical and ethnic variation.
4. One by one its European subjects’ nationalities broke away from its control and declared independence.
5. The Balkan area became an era of intense conflict.
6. The Balkan states were jealous of each other and each hoped to gain more territory at the expense of the other.
7. But the idea that societies should be organized into 'nation-states' came to be accepted as natural and universal.
Year Activity happened
1797 Napoleon invades Italy; Napoleonic wars begin.
1814-1815 Fall of Napoleon; the Vienna Peace Settlement.
1821 Greek struggle for independence begins.
1848 Revolutions in Europe; artisans, industrial workers, and peasants revolt against economic hardships; middle classes demand constitutions and representative governments; Italians, Germans, Magyars, Poles, Czechs, etc. demand nation-states.
1859-1870 Unification of Italy.
1866-1871 Unification of Germany.
1905 Slav nationalism gathers force in the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires.
#Comphrension
Read the source given below and answer the questions that follow:
Frederic Sorrieu prepared a series of four prints visualizing his dream of a world made up of ‘democratic and social Republics’, as he called them. The first print of the series shows the peoples of Europe and America – men and women of all ages and social classes – marching in a long train, and offering homage to the Statue of Liberty as they pass by it. Artists of the time of the French Revolution personified Liberty as a female figure. She bears the torch of Enlightenment in one hand and the Charter of the Rights of Man in the other. On the earth in the foreground of the image lie the shattered remains of the symbols of absolutist institutions. In Sorrieu’s utopian vision, the peoples of the world are grouped as distinct nations, identified through their flags and national costume. Leading the procession, way past the Statue of Liberty, are the United States and Switzerland, which by this time were already nation-states. France, identifiable by the revolutionary tricolour, has just reached the statue. She is followed by the people of Germany, bearing the black, red,d and gold flag.
Answer the following MCQs by choosing the most appropriate option:
- Who was Frederic Sorrieu?
- French artist
- German Artist
- Italian Artist
- British Artist
- In which year did Frederic Sorrier prepare a series of four prints?
- 1845
- 1843
- 1848
- 1841
- Which of the following statements correctly describes "absolutist"?
- Monarchical Government
- Democratic Government
- Uncentralised Government
- Bureaucratic Government
- Which of the following is correct with respect to "utopian vision"?
- Homogenous society
- Monarchical society
- Ideal society
- All are correct
History
Name
the Act which resulted in the formation of the 'United Kingdom of Great
Britain'.
1830's
is called the year of Economic hardship. Explain.
Why
has Brussels been chosen as the headquarters of the European Union?
Why
was Frankfurt National Assembly convened? Why did it fail?
In
what way do you think this print depicts a Utopian vision?
“Equality
before law did not stand for universal suffrage in France after the
revolution.” Explain with suitable examples.
“Napoleon
had, no doubt, destroyed democracy in France, but in the administrative field
he had incorporated revolutionary principles in order to make the whole system
more rational and efficient.” Support the statement.
Which
morals are associated with the French Revolution? Mention any three.
Mention
the role of the following personalities in the process of unification of Italy:
A. Mazzini B. Cavour C. Garibaldi
- Restrictions on public meetings and associations were removed.
- Soviets were set up everywhere.
- In individual areas factory committees were formed which began questioning the way industrialists ran their factories.
- Soldiers’ committees were formed in the army.
- The provisional government saw its power declining and Bolshevik influence grow. It decided to take stern measures against the spreading discontent.
- It resisted attempts by workers to run factories and arrested leaders.
- Peasants and the socialist revolutionary leaders pressed for a redistribution of land. Land committees were formed and peasants seized land between July and September 1917.
OCTOBER REVOLUTION
- 16th October 1917 — Lenin persuaded the Petrograd Soviet and Bolshevik Party to agree to a socialist seizure of power. A Military Revolutionary Committee was appointed by the Soviet to organise seizure.
- Uprising began on 24th October. Prime Minister Kerenskii left the city to summon troops.
- Military men loyal to the government seized the buildings of two Bolshevik newspapers. Pro-government troops were sent to take over telephone and telegraph offices and protect the Winter Palace.
- In response Military Revolutionary Committee ordered to seize government offices and arrest the ministers.
- The ‘Aurora’ ship shelled the Winter Palace. Other ships took over strategic points.
- By night the city had been taken over and ministers had surrendered.
- All Russian Congress of Soviets in Petrograd approved the Bolshevik action.
- Heavy fighting in Moscow — by December, the Bolsheviks controlled the Moscow - Petrograd area.
The people involved were Lenin, the Bolsheviks, troops (pro-government).
Effects
- Most industry and banks were nationalised in November 1917.
- Land was declared social property and peasants were allowed to seize the land of the nobility.
- Use of old aristocratic titles was banned.
- New uniforms were designed for the army and officials.
- Russia became a one party state.
- Trade unions were kept under party control.
- A process of centralised planning was introduced. This led to economic growth.
- Industrial production increased.
- An extended schooling system developed.
- Collectivisation of farms started.
The Civil War — When the Bolsheviks ordered land redistribution, the Russian army began to break up. Non-Bolshevik socialists, liberals and supporters of autocracy condemned the Bolshevik uprising. They formed their troops and were called 'Greens' which would fight against Bolshevik 'Red'. The pro Tsar 'Whites" controlled most of the Russian empire. They were supported by French, American, British and Japanese troops. All these fought a war with the Bolsheviks.
Making a Socialist Society — The Bolsheviks kept industries and banks nationalised during the civil war. A process of centralised planning was introduced. Rapid construction and industrialisation started. An extended schooling system developed.
Stalin and Collective Farming — Stalin believed that rich peasants and traders stocked supplies to create shortage of grains. Hence, collectivisation was the need of the hour. This system would also help to modernize farms. Those farmers who resisted collectivisation were punished, deported or exiled.
GLOBAL INFLUENCE
By the 1950s, it was recognised in the country and outside that everything was not in keeping with the ideals of the Russian revolution. Though its industries and agriculture had developed and the poor were being fed, the essential freedom to its citizens was being denied. However, it was recognised that social ideals still enjoyed respect among the Russians. But in each country, the ideas of socialism were rethought in a variety of different ways.
Chapter – 3 Nationalism in India
The growth of modern nationalism is intimately connected to anti-colonial movement.
The congress under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi tried to forge groups together within one movement. However, the unity did not emerge without conflict.
First World War, Khilafat and Non-Cooperation
- National Movement was spreading in New areas in 1919 and incorporating new social groups and developing new modes of struggle.
- Mahatma Gandhi came to India and The Idea of Satyagraha emphasised the power of truth and the need to search for truth.
- He advocated that physical force was not necessary to fight the oppressor.
- In 1916, He travelled to Champaran in Bihar to inspire the peasants to struggle against the oppressive plantation system.
The Idea of Satyagraha
- Mahatma Gandhi returned to India in January, 1915. His heroic fight for the Indians in South Africa was well-known. His novel method of mass agitation known as Satyagraha had yielded good results.
- The idea of Satyagraha emphasized the power of truth and the need to search for truth.
- In 1916, Gandhi travelled to Champaran in Bihar to inspire the peasants to struggle against the oppressive plantation system.
- In 1917,crops field in Kheda district of Gujrat, but the government refused to remit land revenue and insisted on its full collection.
- In 1918, Mahatma Gandhi intervened in a dispute between workers and mill owners of Ahmedabad. He advised to workers to go on strike and to demand a 35% increase in wages.
- Satyagraha brought Gandhiji into close touch with the workers in the urban areas.
The Rawlatt act
- When the Rawlatt act 1919, was passed hurriedly through the Imperial Legislative Council inspire of unanimous opposition of the Indian members, Gandhiji’s patience comes to an end.
- Gandhi wanted non-violent civil disobedience against such unjust laws, which would start with a hartal on 6th April.
- 6th April 1919 was observed as Satyagraha Day when people all over the country observed fast and hartal.
- 1919, the country witnessed a remarkable political awakening in India.
- Local leaders were picked up from Amritsar and Mahatma Gandhi was barred from entering Delhi.
- On 10th April, the police in Amritsar fired upon a peaceful procession, provoking widespread attacks on banks.
Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre
- A large crowd gathered in the enclosed ground of Jalliawalla Bagh.
- People came to protest against government’s repressive measure while some came to attend the annual Baisakhi fair.
- General Dyer entered the area. Blocked the exit points and opened fire on the crowd, killing hundreds.
- The government responded with brutal repression seeking to humiliate and terrorise people.
- Satyagrahis were forced to rub their noses on the ground, crawl on the streets and do Salaam (salute) to all Sahibs.
Khilafat movement
- Rowlatt Satyagraha had been a widespread movement, it was still limited mostly to cities and towns.
- Mahatma Gandhi now felt the need to launch a more broad based movement in India.
- But he was certain that no such movement could be organized without bringing the Hindus and Muslims closer together.
- The First World War had ended with the defeat of Ottoman Turkey. There were rumors that a harsh peace treaty was going to be imposed on the Ottoman Emperor, who was the spiritual head (Khalifa) of the Islamic world.
- The Muslims of India decided to force Britain to change her Turkish policy.
- A Khalifa Committee was formed under the leadership of Maulana Azad, Ajmal Khan and Hasrat Mohani.
- A young generation of Muslim leaders like the brothers Muhammad Ali and Shaukat Ali began discussing with Mahatma Gandhi about the possibility of a united mass action on the issue.
Differing strands within the movement:
- Rebellion in the countryside: - From the cities, the noncooperation movement spread to the countryside. After the war, the struggles of peasants and tribal were developing in different parts of India.
- One movement here war against talukdars and landlords who demanded from peasant exorbitantly high rents and a variety of other cesses.
- Peasants had to do begar. The peasant movement demanded reduction of revenue, an abolition of begar and social boycott of oppressive landlords.
- Oudh Kisan Sabha was setup headed by. Jawaharlal Nehru and other, within a month, over 300 branches had been set up by the villagers.
- Tribal peasants interpreted the message of Mahatma Gandhi and the idea of Swaraj in yet another way.
- The colonial government had closed large forest areas preventing people from entering the forests to graze their cattle, or to collect fuel wood and fruits.
- Alluri Sitaram Raju Claimed that he had a variety of special powers. He asserted that India could be liberated only by the use of force.
Towards Civil Disobedience
- Mahatma Gandhi decided to withdraw the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1922.
- The movement was turning violent in many places and satyagarhis needed properly trained for mass struggle.
- CR Das and Motilal Nehru formed the Swaraj Party within the Congress to argue for a return to council politics.
- Salt was a powerful symbol that could unite the nation.
- Salt march accompanied by 78 of his trusted volunteers.
- Finally, Mahatma Gandhi once again decided to call off the movement and entered into a pact with Irwin on 5 March 1931.
- Participants saw the movement in different angle such as Patidars of Gujarat and Jats of Uttar Pradesh.
- To organise business interest, formed the Indian Industrial and commercial congress in 1920 and Federation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI).
- Gandhi called to Untouchable that is Harijan, Children of God.
The Sense of Collective Belonging
- Nationalist Movement Spreads when people belonging to different regions and communities begin to develop a sense of collective belongingness. The identity of a nation is most often symbolized in a figure or image.
- This image of Bharat Mata was first created by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in 1870 when he wrote ‘Vande Mataram ‘ for our motherland. Indian folk songs and folk sung by bards played an important role in making the idea of nationalism. In Bengal, Rabindranath Tagore and in Madras, Natesa, Sastri collection of folk tales and songs, which led the movement for folk revival.
- During the Swadeshi Movement, a tri-color ( red, green and yellow ) flag was designed in Bengal. It had eight lotuses representing eight provinces and a crescent moon representing Hindus and Muslims.
- Means of creating a feeling of nationalism was through reinterpretation of history. The nationalist writers urged the readers to take pride in India’s great achievements in the past and struggle to change the miserable conditions of life under British rule.
Chapter – 4 The Making of a Global World
Globalisation is an economic system and it emerges since 50 years.
To understand the making of global world we have to understand the history of trade, migration and people search for work and the movement of capitals.
The Pre Modern World
- Human societies have steadily more interlinked.
- Travelers, traders, priest and pilgrims travelled vast distance for carrying goods, money, ideas, skills, inventions and even germs and disease.
- Indus Vally civilisation was linked with West Asia.
- Cowries a form of currency from the Maldives.
Silk Route Link the World
- The silk routes were regarded as the most important route linking the distant parts of the world.
- Routes were existed even before the Christian Era and flourished till the 15th century.
- The Buddhist preachers, Christian missionaries and later on Muslim preacher used to travel by Routes.
- Routes proved to be a great source of trade and cultural links between distinct parts of the world.
Conquest, Disease and Trade:
- In 16th century after European sailors found a sea route to Asia and America.
- The Indian subcontinent had been known for bustling trade with goods, people, customs and knowledge. It was a crucial point in their trade network.
- After the discovery of America, its vast lands and abundant crops and minerals began to transform trade and lives every where.
- Precious metals, particularly silver from mines located in Peru and Maxico enhanced Europe’s wealth and financed its trade with Asia.
- The Portuguese and Spanish conquest and colonisation of America was under way.
- The most powerful weapon of the Spanish conquerors was not a conventional military weapon but germs of small pax which they carried.
- America’s original inhabitants had no immunity against such type of diseases.
A World Economy Takes Shape :
- Abolition of the Corn law.
- Under pressure from landowners groups the government restricted the import of food grains.
- After the carn laws were scrapped, food could be imported into Britain more cheaply than it could be produced in the country.
- British farmers were unable to compete with imports. Vast areas of land were left uncultivated.
- As food prices fell, consumption in Britain rose.
- Faster industrial growth in Britain led to higher incomes and more food imports.
The role of Technology:
- Technology had a great impact on the transformation of 19th century world such as Railways, steamship and telegraph.
- Technological advances were often the results of social, political and economic factors.
- The refrigerated ships greatly helped to transport the perishable food items over a long distance.
- It greatly facilitated the shipment of frozen meat from America, Australia Or New Zealand to different European Countries.
The Nineteenth Century (1815 to 1914)
In the 19th Century, Economic, Political, Social, Cultural and technological factors interacted in complex ways to transform societies and reshape external relations.
Indentured Labour Migration from India
Meaning of Indentured Labour
- Indentured labour means a bonded labourer under contract to work for an employer for a specific amount of time.
- It brought higher income for some and poverty for others.
Causes of Migration of Indian Indentured Workers
- Most came from the present day regions of eastern Utter Pradesh, Bihar, Central India and Tamil Nadu.
- These regions of India experienced many social changes like cottage industry declined, land rents rose and the lands were cleared for mines and plantation.
- In 19th century indenture described as a new system of slavery.
- Hosay, A riotous carnival in Trinidad when workers of all races and religions join in celebrating.
The Inter War Economic
- The first World war was mainly fought in Europe.
- During this time, the world experienced economic, political instability and another miserable war.
- The first world war was fought between tow power bloc. On one were the allies - Britan, France, Russia and later joined the US. and on the opposite side -Germany, Austria, Hungary and Ottoman and Turkey.
- this war lasted for 4 years.
Technological Transformations
- First-time modern weapons like Machine gun, tanks, aircraft, chemical weapons etc were used on a massive scale.
- Millions of soldiers had to be recruited from around the world. and most of them were men of working age.
Bretton Woods Institutions:
- To deal with external surpluses and deficits a conference was held in July 1944 at Bretton woods in New Hampshire, U.S.A.
- International Monetary Fund and World Bank were set up to finance post war restructuring.
- The past war international economic system is known as Bretton Woods systems.
- This system was based on fixed exchange rates.
- IMF and World Bank are referred as Bretton Woods Twins.
- U.S has an effective right of veto over key IMF and World Bank.
The Great depression
Factors responsible for depression
- Agricultural overproduction remained a problem. It makes the price of agriculture products slumping.
- Many countries financed their investment through the loan they got from the USA.
- American capitalists stopped all loans to European countries.
- In Europe, it led to a failure of some major banks and collapse of currencies like Sterling.
- Doubling the import duties by the USA, which hit the world trade badly.
New International Economic Order - NIEO
- Most developing countries did not benefit from the fast growth of Western economies in 1950’s & 60’s.
- They organised themselves as a group. The group of 77 or G-77 to demand a New International Economic Order (NIEO).
- It was a system that would give them real control over their natural resources more development assistance, fairer prices for raw materials and better access for their manufactured goods in developed countries markets.
New Economic Policy In China
- Wages were very low in countries like China.
- The low-cost structure of Chinese economy made its products cheaper.
- China became a favourite destination for MNCs to invest.
- New Economic policy of China back into the fold of world Economy.
MNCs:
- Multinational corporations are large companies that operate in several countries at the same time.
- The world wide spread of MNCs was a notable feature in the 1950s and 1960s as US business expanded worldwide.
- High imports tariffs imposed by different governments forced MNCs to locate their manufacturing units.
Conclusion:
In last two decades, the economy of the world has changed a lot as countries like China, India and Brazil have achieved rapid economic development.
CHAPTER 5
The Age of Industrialisation
- Prior the industrialisation revolution, industrial production meant factory production and industrial production worker meant factory workers. This phase is known as proto-industrialisation.
- Protective Tariff - To stop the import of certain goods and to protect the domestic goods a tariff was imposed. This tariff was imposed in order to save the domestic goods from the competition of imported goods and also to save the interest of local producers.
- Life of the Workers
- After the busy season was over, labourers looked for even odd jobs.
- The wages increased somewhat in the 19th century.
- The income of workers dependent not on the wage rate alone, it also depended on a number of days of their work.
- Fear of unemployment made workers hostile to the new introduction of new technology and then introduced woolen industry.
- Laissez, Faire - According to the economists, for the fast trade a policy of Laissez Faire should be applied whereby government should neither interfere in trade nor in the industrial production. This policy was introduced by a British economist named Adam Smith.
- A policy of Protection - The policy to be applied in order to protect the newly formed industry from stiff competition.
- Imperial preference - During the British period, the goods imported from Britain to India be given special rights and facilities.
- Chamber of Commerce - Chamber of Commerce was established in the 19th century in order to take collective decisions on certain important issues concerning trade and commerce. Its first office was set up in Madras.
- Nationalist Message - Indian manufacturers advertised the nationalist message very clearly. They said, if you care for the nation then buy products that Indians produce. Advertisement became a vehicle of a nationalist message of Swadesh.
Conclusion
The age of industries has meant major technological change, growth of factories and making of the new industrial labour force.
Small scale industry production and hand technology also played a key role in Industrial revolution.