describe the features of nationalism in europe after 1830's.
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1) There were no ‘nation states’ in Europe in the mid 18th century. European countries like Germany, Switzerland, and Italy were divided into kingdoms, duchies, cantons whose rulers had their autonomous territories.
2) People living in these territories spoke different languages and belonged to different ethnic groups. These differences did not promote a sense of political unity and the only tie binding them was the common allegiance to the Emperor
3) Ideas of national unity in Europe were closely associated with the ideology of liberalism. The term liberalism means free in Latin.
4) For the new middle classes, liberalism stood for freedom of the individual and equality of all before law. Politically, it emphasised the concept of government by consent.
5) Since the French Revolution, liberalism had stood for the end of autocracy and clerical privileges, a constitution and representative government through parliament. 19th century liberals also stressed the inviolability of private property
6) But, equality before law did not necessarily stand for universal suffrage. Revolutionary France marked the first experiment in liberal democracy, the right to vote, and to get elected was granted exclusively to property owning men
7) In the economic sphere, liberalism stood for the freedom of market and abolition of state imposed restrictions on the movement of goods and capital. During the 19th century, this was a strong demand of the emerging middle classes.
8) Duties were often levied according to the weight or measurement of the goods. As each region had its own system of weights and measures this involved time consuming calculation.
9) Such conditions were viewed as obstacles to economic exchange 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.
10) In 1834, a customs union was formed at the initiative of Prussia and joined by most of the German states. The Union abolished tariff barriers and reduced the number of currencies from over thirty to two.
11) The creation of a network of railways, further stimulated mobility, harnessing economic interests to national unification.
12) A wave of economic nationalism further strengthened the wider nationalist sentiments growing at the time
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