VISUALISING THE NATION

• Artists in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries portrayed nations as if it were a person.

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• Nations were represented as female figures.

WHAT IS ALLEGORY?

• The representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form is known as ALLEGORY.

• France was portrayed as CHRISTENED MARIANNE, which was a popular Christian name.

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• Christened Marianne underlined the idea of peoples’ nation.

Marianne represented Liberty and the Republic by the cap and the cockade..

Marianne images were marked on coins and stamps.

Similarly , Germania became the allegory of the German nation.

Meanings of symbols

• Broken chains – being freed

Breastplate with eagle – symbol of German empire - strength

Crown of oak leaves - Heroism

Sword- readiness to fight

Black , red and gold tricolour – flag of the liberal nationalists in 1848

Olive branch around the sword- willingness to make peace

Rays of the rising sun – Beginning of a new era

NATIONALISM AND IMPERIALISM-

• By the last quarter of nineteenth century nationalist groups became increasingly intolerant of each other and ever ready to go to war.

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• Nationalism no longer retained its idealistic liberal democratic sentiment.

Balkans-

• The most serious source of nationalist tension in Europe after 1871 was the Balkans.

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• A large part of the Balkans was under the control of the Ottoman empire.

The Balkans comprised of-

• ROMANIA
• BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
• BULGARIA
• ALBANIA
• GREECE
• MACEDONIA
• CROATIA
• SOLVENIA
• SERBIA
• MONTENEGRO

BALKANS

• One by one , European nationalities broke away from its control and declared independence.

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o The Balkan people based their claims for independence or political rights on nationality and used history to prove that they had once been independent but had been subjugated by foreign powers.

Hence the rebellion nationalities in the Balkans thought of their struggles as attempts to win back their long-lost independence.

• The Balkan states were jealous of each other and hoped to gain more territory at the expense of others.

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• During this period, there was intense rivalry among the European powers over trade and colonies as well as naval and military might.

• Russia , Germany , England, Austro- Hungary were keen on countering the hold of other powers over Balkans and extending its own control over that area.

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• This led to a series of wars in the region and finally the First World War.

Many countries in world which had been colonised by the European powers in

the 19^th century began to oppose imperial domination.

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European ideas of nationalism were nowhere replicated , for people

everywhere developed their own specific variety of nationalism.

THANK YOU…