Your Nation's Nationalist history

[Ederico]

Salve a tutti belli e brutti, in order to kill time I decided to start what could be a very interesting thread for all us Stirpes members. Why don't we start giving a history of Nationalism (or similar ideologies) in our respective Nations (or groupings we identify with)?

Delve into such a history and provide it to others. Try to be as detailed as possible (I'm particularly interested in the ideological, political, and cultural manifestations) regarding Nationalist movements whether there was a single Nationalist movement for your Nation in a particular time period or more than one.

So come on, go ahead.

I will prepare a history of Nationalism in Malta in due time.

[Archangelos]

This sounds like a good idea. I cant wait to see what will develop.

[Theobald]

One can say that Nationalism in France started with Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars - although there had been some events and uprisings when something that looked like Nationalism emerged before 1792, especially during Hundred Years War.

The fact that France was surrounded by hostile Nations - the whole of Europe united against her - but still managed to secure National soil and eventually to conquer most of Europe during 20 years created a strong National conscience.

The memory of Napoleonic exploits remained among French people during the Restoration and the Monarchy of July and Nationalism then became a primary motivating element which determined the course of events during Napoleon III's regime. Indeed he won election as President of the Second Republic in 1848, and then won the support for his seizure of power and establishment of the Second Empire in 1851-52, because of his successful nationalistic appeal to Frenchmen, regardless of class. His nationalism also made him bring France into the Crimean War, Franco-Austrian War and finally Mexico's disaster.

The French defeat in 1871 and the loss of Alsace-Lorraine was probably the "striking element" that made Nationalistic feelings grow. French Nationalism between 1871 and 1918 was thus very anti-German.
It was mainly influenced by two leaders and theoricians (who happened to be friends) : the first one was Maurice Barrès (1862-1923), a novelist from Lorraine. His nationalism included a strong racist feeling, a vengeful hatred of Germany and a call for "local patriotism", the preservation of the distinctive qualities of the old French provinces against Parisian jacobinism. He supported Georges Boulanger, a French general who was about to seize power in 1887 and saw himself as a future military dictator. Boulanger was supported by monarchists, bonapartists and other nationalists and won many elections through France. He could have made a "coup d'état" but decided to commit suicide in 1889 because he had been dumped by his wife.

The other important leader was Charles Maurras (1868-1952), a poet and critic from Provence. He became involved in politics at the time of the Dreyfus Affair. It was a controversy that occured with the treason conviction of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer who was convicted of being a German spy. It turned into a conflict between pro-Dreyfus liberals and socialists and anti-Dreyfus conservatives and nationalists, defending French army and its honor, and French society was deeply divided.

Of course Maurras was an "anti-Dreyfusard" and he created the Action Française in 1898 with some friends, a nationalist movement and periodical in reaction to the left wing revitalisation that was happening.
Originally a Republican organization it became monarchist under the influence of Maurras. It was a "prominent proponent of integral nationalism, which regarded the Nation as an organic entity of Blood and Soil". The Action Française supported a restoration of the Monarchy and of Roman Catholicism as the state religion - even though Maurras was an atheist. It didn't intend to restore real power to the king, rather to set him up as a rallying point against Third Republic, corrupt and unworkable.
Maurras advocated decentralization ("a federal monarchy") and aimed to achieve a restoration by means of a coup d'état. It denounced four "confederate states", groups of "internal foreigners", l'anti-France, the Jews, the Freemasons, the foreigners residing in France and the Protestants (although anti-Protestant activities were not numerous).

Central to Maurras' political ideas were an intense nationalism (he described it as "Integral Nationalism") and a belief in an ordered and elitist society, hence his support for both the Monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church. He was haunted by the idea of decadence and felt that France had lost its grandeur in 1789, "a grandeur inherited from its classical Roman roots and develoepd by forty kings who in a thousand years made France".
His views were based on reason rather than sentiment and faith. He supported the Catholic Church both because it was so intimately bound up with French history and because with its hierarchical structure and distinct clerical elite it mirrored his image of an ideal society. He considered it was the mortar which held the nation together.

The Action Française considerably rised, published a daily paper, gained large number of readers, even created a paramilitary wing (Les Camelots du Roi) and Maurras became a significant figure in French politics, his influence extending far beyond the extreme right. The Action Française also became a significant actor in French politics.

French Nationalists totally supported France's entry into the First World War : it was the "Union Sacrée" (Holy Union) of all Frenchmen, regardless of political orientation. Maurras even supported Clémenceau, a Republican but an efficient Prime Minister. 1918 victory and the return of Alsace-Lorraine to France generally stopped anti-German orientations in French nationalism - although Barrès supported Rhenan separatists in the 20's for instance.

After 1918 Nationalism remained important and the Action Française was still growing. But in 1926 Pope Pius XI condemned it and several of Maurras' writings were placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum at the same time, in spite of the Action Française's support for Roman Catholicism as state religion and the fact that the vast majority of its members were practising Catholics. This was a devastating blow for the movement, many of its members left and it entered a period of decline, until 1939 when the Pope Pius XII decided to end the condemnation.

However, as increasing numbers of people in France turned to authoritarianism, new Fascist movements were created and many young people joined them : Croix-de-Feu ("Cross of Fire"; 400,000 members), Jeunesses Patriotes (Patriotic Youth; 300,000 members), Francistes (mainly helped by Mussolini), Solidarité Française (300,000 members), Front Paysan, ... In 1934 more than 1.5 million Frenchmen belonged to a fascist or nationalist movement. These organisations organized popular demonstrations against the Republic, hoping to overthrow the government.
They were about to do it in Februar 6, 1934 with mass demonstrations, but they failed because of Croix-de-Feu's leader who was an incompetent and a coward; and it turned into a bloody riot with old veterans or young nationalists being shot by police. These movements also greeted the appearance of the authoritarian governments of Mussolini in Italy and Franco in Spain with delight but generally were less happy about Hitler's rise to power and advocated an alliance with Italy in order to prevent Germany from going on to West.

These nationalist and fascist movements were all dissolved by the Popular Front in 1936. As a logical consequence a violent fascist and anti-communist group was created : La Cagoule ("The Cowl"). It tried to assassinate Leon Blum two times and undertook various actions aimed at destabilizing the Republic. Organized along military lines, it infiltrated parts of the French army and prepared the overthrowing of the Popular Front. Unfortunately they were themselves infiltrated by the police and in 1937 the Minister of the Interior denounced the plot. The funniest thing about "La Cagoule" is probably that François Mitterrand was one of its members.

In 1940 the French Nationalists were divided : some of them joined - rather created - interior Resistance (since the 2,000 first Resistants were from Action Française or La Cagoule), some of them joined de Gaulle and Free French in London, some of them conducted direct pro-Nazi activies and collaboration (mainly because of antisemitism and anti-communism; Division Charlemagne, Milice, Doriot, ...), but most of them joined Vichy and decided to follow Petain because they saw him as a patriot (the "Hero of Verdun") and because he had nationalist ideas and wanted a "Révolution Nationale", anti-semitic, anti-communist, ... Maurras regarded Petain's accession to power as a "divine surprise" and he opposed both de Gaulle in London and ultra collaborators in Paris. He probably believed that Pétain was the best solution for France.

After 1944 French nationalists were collectively accused of collaboration (a nonsense since the first Resistants were actually Nationalist - and many generals around de Gaulle, such as De Lattre de Tassigny, were very close to nationalist ideals) but it was a convenient way for communists to get rid of Nationalism and impose their own version of History, i.e. that they were the first and only patriots (whereas in fact they collaborated until Operation Barbarossa and USSR's invasion). Maurras and Petain were sentenced to death (but these sentences were commuted to life imprisonment), many Nationalist writers and intellectuals were shot by the communists, their wives being raped ...

During about 10 years Nationalist activies in France were unimportant - one can easily understand why. Nationalism resurged with "Poujadism" (a nationalist, xenophobic and anti-parliamentary movement led by Pierre Poujade which secured 53 seats in the French Assembly in 1956 - and had Le Pen among its members) and especially Algerian war.
Indeed the Pieds-Noirs (French colonizers in Algeria) were generally extremely nationalist and when de Gaulle started giving up Algeria they saw it as a treason and staged an insurrection in Algiers in 1960. Then it was the Army's turn, which was about to seize power during the "generals' putsch" in 1961. Finally radical Pieds-Noirs and nationalists in France-proper decided to form the OAS (Organisation de l'Armée Secrète) after these uprisings, a right-wing terrorist group, in order to keep Algeria French. They assassinated many Algerian independentist leaders, and in 1962 they detonated over 100 bombs a day. After Algeria's independence they didn't stop their fight and attempted to assassinate de Gaulle several times - before being effectively eliminated in 1963.

Then - once again - during about 10 years there wasn't almost any Nationalist activity in France.

Finally in 1972 Jean-Marie Le Pen - a decorated veteran of the French paratroops in Indochina, Suez and Algeria - united French nationalist groups and created the Front National.
Most of us know how it turned : 0,7% of the votes in 1974, 10,9% in 1984, 14,4% in 1988, 15,2% in 1995, 19,2% in 2002 when he finished second in the first round of the presidential election and then faced Chirac... A major political event. 30% of the workmen, 38% of unemployed people, 25% of young people, ... voted for him and he got 30% of the votes in some areas (Provence, Alsace) and even more than 60% in some cities (Orange, Alsatian little towns).

I attached a map of Le Pen's scores in 2002, but in some regions Front National got even more votes in 2004 (regional elections).

So - to summarize - French nationalism appeared during Napoleonic wars, was then used during 19th century by various leaders, grew after 1871 against Republic with two important leaders and theoricians (Barrès and Maurras); was very important, still growing and about to seize power during the Inter-War, almost totally disappeared after 1945 and finally rised again about 30 years later - until now.

[Perun]

Originally Posted by Theobald

One can say that Nationalism in France started with Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars - although there had been some events and uprisings when something that looked like Nationalism emerged before 1792, especially during Hundred Years War.

Well according to Adrian Hastings' theories, "Mark II" nationalism began in France with the Revolution and Napoleon. "Mark I" nationalism can be dated in many ways back to Clovis.

Besides, you forgot to mention Joan of Arc.

[Perun]

If I get some free tim on my hands, I'll write an outline of Ukrainian nationalism. Ironically I'm even re-reading John Armstrong's famous history on the topic.

[Theobald]

Originally Posted by Perun

Well according to Adrian Hastings' theories, "Mark II" nationalism began in France with the Revolution and Napoleon. "Mark I" nationalism can be dated in many ways back to Clovis.

That's arguable. France could be dated back to the Treaty of Verdun - but hardly to Clovis, as explained there. And French Nationalism - i.e. the fact that French peasants (95% of the population in 1789) became aware that they are a Nation, want to defend it and regard themselves as part of a Nation rather than part of a village or of Christendom/Europe as a whole - is younger than French Nation (as it is the case in many countries) and didn't really arise before these 1792-1815 wars.

Originally Posted by Perun

Besides, you forgot to mention Joan of Arc.

No :

although there had been some events and uprisings when something that looked like Nationalism emerged before 1792, especially during Hundred Years War.

[Revolutionary]

Very interesting article Theobald