A Europe of Dynastic States
If you look at the map of mid-eighteenth-century Europe, there were no 'nation-states' as we know them today. What we now call Germany, Italy and Switzerland were divided into kingdoms, duchies and cantons whose rulers had autonomous territories. Eastern and Central Europe were under autocratic monarchies within which lived diverse peoples.
The Habsburg Empire that ruled over Austria-Hungary was a patchwork of many regions and peoples. It included the Alpine Tyrol, Austria and the Sudetenland, as well as Bohemia (where the aristocracy was German-speaking), and the Italian-speaking Lombardy and Venetia. In Hungary half the people spoke Magyar; in Galicia the aristocracy spoke Polish. There also lived Bohemians and Slovaks, Slovenes, Croats and Roumans. The only tie binding these diverse groups was a common allegiance to the emperor.
The Aristocracy and the Peasantry
Socially and politically, the landed aristocracy was the dominant class on the continent. Its members were united by a common way of life that cut across regions: they owned estates in the countryside and town-houses, spoke French for diplomacy and in high society, and were connected by ties of marriage.
This aristocracy was, however, numerically a small group. The majority of the population was the peasantry. To the west, land was farmed by tenants and small owners; in Eastern and Central Europe, landholding was dominated by vast estates cultivated by serfs.
Industrialisation and the New Middle Class
In Western and parts of Central Europe, the growth of industrial production and trade led to the growth of towns and the emergence of commercial classes producing for the market. Industrialisation began in England in the second half of the eighteenth century, but in France and the German states only during the nineteenth century.
In its wake came new social groups: a working class, and middle classes of industrialists, businessmen and professionals. In Central and Eastern Europe these groups were smaller until the late nineteenth century. It was among the educated, liberal middle classes that ideas of national unity — following the abolition of aristocratic privileges — gained popularity.
Questions and Answers
Q1. Why is the Habsburg Empire described as a 'patchwork' of peoples? Ans. Because it contained many different regions, peoples and languages — German-speakers in Bohemia and the Alpine regions, Italian-speakers in Lombardy and Venetia, Magyar-speakers in Hungary, Polish-speaking aristocracy in Galicia, and Slovaks, Slovenes, Croats and Roumans — with no common identity or culture, bound together only by a common allegiance to the emperor.
Q2. Who formed the dominant class in mid-eighteenth-century Europe, and what united them? Ans. The landed aristocracy was the dominant class. Its members were united by a common way of life — owning country estates and town-houses, speaking French in high society, and being connected by ties of marriage.
Questions and Answers (continued)
Q3. Although the aristocracy was the dominant class, why was it not the largest? Ans. The aristocracy was numerically a small group. The majority of the population was the peasantry — tenants and small owners in the west, and serfs working vast estates in Eastern and Central Europe.
Q4. Among which class did ideas of national unity gain popularity, and why? Ans. Among the educated, liberal middle classes that emerged with industrialisation. Following the abolition of aristocratic privileges, these classes embraced ideas of national unity and liberalism.