The Bastille's Storming (July 14, 1789)
It is impossible to understand the EU if you forget that European integration started as a way of avoiding inconveniences of “nationalisms” and its tendency to provoke War.
Since 1648 European history is a history of “States” having overcome the Principle of “Universalism”. The result was a lot of wars as National monarchies looked for Supremacy. Spain from the Peace of Cateau Cambressis (1559) to the Pyrenees Treaty (1659). France from then until the Treaty of Utrecht (1714). The United Kingdom until the appearance of Bismarck’s Prussia and the Second Reich (1871-1914).
The States strength was heavily reinforced by the “national” idea. Every state was a nation. French fought Spaniards, and British French. And Germans fought everyone else. The “National narrative” made much more effective the idea of the State, as from being exclusively a way of organizing Public power, it became through nationalism a project of territorial expansion.
How did the nationalist idea got integrated in the State? How the combination of the two principles became such a powerful force in European history? Through the development of a new concept: the Nation-State model. In this Lesson we are going to try to understand why and how it was born. A very important point as the European integration process is conceived as a way of overcoming this political and legal model.
The Nation state is the result of revolutions. A revolution is a violent way of changing the political, legal, social and economical state of things. As the world changes society, economy, political and legal structures have to adapt to the new circumstances. In some cases the rigidity of a regime made this adaptation difficult. Please read about the Prussian example on pages 53-54, where social rigidity of “Junkers” brought one of the most horrid dictatorships in World history: Hitler and its Nazi regime. Frederick the Great was a great Prussian king and an example of Enlightened Monarch, but he id a very poor job on adapting Prussian social structure in his Realm to new times.
Frederick The Great (1740-1786), King o Prussia
In other cases the upper classes were more flexible in admitting new members as it was the case of the British “gentry”, as since the 16th century it invluded not only Landowning nobility but also merchants and bankers. And then it ended up including the Middle Class and the Working class between 1832 and 1928. And this is why the transformation of the British political constitution was gradual (See pages 54-55).
In most cases, nevertheless, the social, political and legal change was the result of a “Revolution”. Violent rupture was the instrument of change. We will examine today two examples: the American Revolution (1776-1783) and the French Revolution (1789-1799), considering both crucial events from the perspective of the idea of the “Nation”, that was the pretext and the driving force of the rupture with the previous regime. The nationalist narrative united most of the people and moved them to fight and get rid of the Old monarchical regime.
We will start with the American Revolution (pages 55-64) because American were pioneers in this matter. Revolution in the New Continent was easier because of the specificities of the British Colonial system (pages 56-58). Opposed to the highly centralized Spanish model of colonization were expeditions were organized by the Crown, English colons went to the New World to make business, according to John Locke’s ideas that State of nature should be replaced by a Common organization in order to get wealthier. This is how appeared the concept of “Commonwealth” referred to a social organization (See pages 59-60 and footnotes 88 and 89).
John Locke (1632-1704)
The result was that Spanish kings controlled their colonies while British kings did not. When they tried to do so, as a result of the War with France (1754-1763) it was too late. George III sent a lot of troops to defend his colons, but then he wanted to recover all the money that cost the heavy military intervention. He tried to tax British colons and they rebelled. The result was war (1776-1783) and independence. Something relatively easy as every one of the 13 colonies had its own charter and elective assembly. It was therefore more than doable to transform charters in constitutions and develop a system of representative government. The most difficult part was to win the War but they could do it because they felt altogether as a “nation”. Read on page 56 the extract of the Declaration of independence of July 4, 1776, specially where it says that Independence is declared by the Representatives of the United States of America in “General Congress assembled” ... “by Authority of the good people”.
Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence
The great invention of the rebel British colons in Western constitutional history was the idea of a “Constituent process” convened by the Representatives of the States in a “Congress”, where all together decided how they wanted to be ruled. The Americans invented a new constitutional model based on congresses, written constitutions and declaration of rights (see on page 61 how Virginia Declaration of rights was established 2 months before the Declaration of independence). And all this was possible because it was a very flexible and participative system, enabling them to evolve from the Article of Confederation system to the Federal System as we will see in Teaching guide nr. 9. And above all because despite the fact that they were 13 independent States, all Americans felt they belonged to ONE NATION.
The US Revolution was an important precedent. When George Washington took office as the first President of the United States on April 30, 1789, on the other side of the Atlantic the French Absolute Monarchy was about to collapse. 6 days later were convened the General estates that will bring the French Revolution.
George Washington (1789-1797)
Revolution in France was more difficult because the Ancien regime was old and strong. France had one of the strongest monarchies in the World. This is why French Revolution is such a mess. Among other reasons because Aristocratic and Popular revolutions were contradictory (see page 67). The key of success was again the idea of “Nation”. American national holyday is on July 4th because that was the day the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed. French national holyday is on July 14th, not because of the Storming of the Bastille on 1789, but because of the Festival of Federation celebrated on July 14th 1790, one year later. When delegations coming from all over France met in Paris in order to celebrate all together that they were ONE NATION. (Read page 69 about national sovereignty and the origins of “national patriotism”). And this strong narrative was enough to overcome chaos.
La Fête de la Fédération. Paris 14 July 1790
The problem was that “nationalism” brought war. The Americans became a new country with 13 States an 1 nation through a terrible war with a lot of cruelty and casualties. The French revolution was saved because the Convention declared war to absolute monarchies of Austria and Prussia in the summer of 1792. Patriotism saved the revolution, but Revolutionary France became imperialistic and brought Napoleonic Wars.
The Nation State idea reinforced the State, but brought violence and tension. And these ideas spread all over Europe during the 19th century. As we will see in Teaching Guide number 5, the history of Europe in this period is the one of the rising of nations and nationalisms. New nations were the result of War. As Belgium in 1830 or Italy from 1848 to 1869.
Nation states are the product of war. And this is why Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman developed on May 19, 1950 the idea of an integrated Europe in order to prevent the possibility that European nation-states fought each other. Nationalism had destroyed European states and it was necessary to stand together to face a World controlled by Americans and Russians. And this what the actual EU is forgetting as you will read in Robert Menasses novel “The Capital”. Heavy nationalists –as it is the case of Brexiters- try to destroy the EU. The problem is that the Legal and Political structures of the EU are still ruled by a lot of people that do not feel “Europeans”, but still essentially members of their old nation-states. From this perspective getting rid of the UK could be a good thing for deepening the integration between the 27 remaining Member states. Provided they leave aside “nationalism”.
EXERCISING:
Besides reading pages 53 to 72, understanding concepts and answering the questions, please consider remembering all the dates of the American Revolution, including the 5 dates prior to 1773. Concerning the French Revolution the crucial dates are: 5 May 1789, Constituent Assembly (June-September 1789), Legislative Assembly (October 1791-August 1792), The Convention (September 1792-October 1795) and the Directory (October 1795-November 1799). Also July 14 1790, April 20 1792, August 10 1792, September 20 1792, and September 22 the same year. January 21 1793, July 1793.
Concerning the readings on education. Please read the text “The loving resistance fighter” excerpted from Neil Postman’s “Technopolis”. We will discuss all this in class.
