The Industrial Revolution and The Rise of Nationalism

Ojas Katiyar
·
Dec 22, 2021

Abstract

Industrialisation and the rise of nationalism are viewed as two significant developments in 19th
century Europe. This paper will study the relationship between the two. The paper begins by
establishing higher education levels and increased migration, the two processes we view as
harbingers of nationalism, as outcomes of industrialisation. Therefore, the paper then seeks to
corroborate whether the rapid spread of nationalism was an outcome of industrialisation. Using
secondary research, the paper presents the idea that increased membership in trade unions coupled
with rising literacy rate, indicators of rising education and migration levels, across Europe came
about in the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution and directly contributed to the sudden upsurge
in national sentiment. Finally, this paper also looks to understand the relationship between these
two factors and whether they act in conjunction or in opposition to each other.

Introduction

As the 18th century came to an end, industrialisation was widely seen as the most perceptible
change in Western Civilisation. In this period, appropriately termed the industrial revolution,
countries moved on from traditional forms of energy- human, animal and wind to new and more
efficient forms like coal. The direct impact of this revolution on civilisations was that it elevated
citizenry to a higher standard of living than ever before. While most historical studies of the
revolution have focused on the rise in living standards, it was not the only impact by any stretch.
Among a flood of changes that accompanied the revolution was the emergence of nationalism.
While ideals of nationalism predate the industrial revolution, in its aftermath, nationalism enjoyed
previously unprecedented popularity.

By examining Europe from the late 18th to 19th century, this paper seeks to substantiate the
notion that nationalism was a product or, atleast, a byproduct of the industrial revolution. It will
evidence this idea by exploring migrational and educational trends in major nation-states and
attempt to show a causal relationship between both these concepts and the spread of nationalism.
Our study begins by providing a background on the industrial revolution, before moving to the
main argument. This analysis will look at migration and education, two practices commonly
associated with the industrial revolution. We conclude this paper by synthesising our arguments.

Background

From the late 18th century to the early 20th century, Europe saw an unprecedented change in the
standard of living, population and manufacturing processes. A personification of how
unprecedented this change was is seen in Malthusian thought. Thomas Malthus, was an 18th
century economist who, in his book “An Essay on the Principle of Population,” theorised that the
population will not be able to break a certain value as the food production will not be able to keep
up with the population. Thus, the population wouldn’t rise above a certain value as the
demographic would perish due to disease, famine or war. This cycle was called the Malthusian
Trap, a theory which provided an explanation for why the global population had not and will not
rise above a certain threshold.

This Trap was broken by the advancements in technology which the industrial revolution brought.
A combination of abundant raw materials, relative peace and an agricultural revolution allowed
for European countries to expand their production at unparalleled levels. The copious amounts of
coal in tandem with the invention of the steam engine led to European’s using a modern source of
power breaking away from the traditional animal and water power. This source of power was
much more reliable and effective, especially when it came to large scale operations. This meant
there was a rise in a new phenomenon, factories. Factories were large scale manufacturing plants
situated in and around the urban areas of a country.

The aforementioned agricultural revolution served as a precursor to the industrial revolution but
left a large gap in terms of employment. Machines were better and more efficient when it came to
farming which led to a dramatic decrease in agricultural related labour. The gap in demand for
work was filled in by the emerging factories in the urban parts of the country. This led to a large-
scale migration movement. Over 90 % of the workforce of the USA were employed in farms in
1800s, by the 19th century under 40% were working in farms. Having established that the apex of
the industrial revolution took place between the 1800 to the 1900s we can deduce that the
industrial revolution did lead to mass migration of the workforce.

Farms rarely ever required skilled labour, as the majority of work was a form of manual labour.
The emergence of factories also saw the inception of specialization, a form of division of labour.
As presented by Adam Smith in “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of
Nations”, dividing the production process into different stages enables workers to focus on
specific tasks. If workers can concentrate on one small aspect of production, this increases overall
efficiency — so long as there is sufficient volume and quantity produced. This demand for
specialisation meant there was an added emphasis on the education of masses. As the only for
workers to be able to meet the requirements of specialisation was education, there was an increase
in overall literacy rate and awareness of the population.

This research paper will analyse how these developments in education, industry and migration all
add up to the emergence of the nation-state and, by extension, nationalism.

Migration

This section will look at the development of the industrial revolution in Europe and its
consequential impact on society. This societal change seen in the creation of large civil
organisations and trade unions laid the seeds for nationalism in modern states.

The industrial revolution marked a change to all this. An increase in the efficiency of labour-
intensive factories, as well as takeover of industries by machines, resulted in the majority of the
population migrating from farms to cities in search of work.

Factory work was a new concept for the general population and initially, this put workers at the
risk of exploitation. As the business owners held the means of production, they were the ones
employing these workers and subsequently exploiting them. From low wages to unsafe working
conditions, the employer enjoyed unilateral power to impose his will on workers. If individual
workers were to bargain for better conditions it would not get them very far for two main reasons.
Firstly, labour during the industrial revolution was abundant which meant if one worker were
disobedient and demanded better salaries or working conditions, they could be replaced easily.
Evidence for this can be seen in an article by the Globalist written by Sanjeev Sanyal which
mentions “Technological invention was very important for turning Britain, Germany and the
United States into industrial powers, but the key factor that allowed mass production was the
deployment of cheap labor.”. The second reason is that laws were lenient and could not penalise
business owners during the initial stages of the industrial revolution. The absence of even the bare
minimum of laws that prevent child labour exemplifies the extent to which workers were
neglected. Finally, another complication arose from the implicit hand-in-glove relationship
between industrialists and politicians. The money of the former lobbied against worker rights
legislation through various means of coercion.
To overcome this challenge, the workers found power in unity. To go beyond an abstract concept
of unity, workers began organising themselves in trade unions and civil organisations. The reason
why an organisation of the masses seemed like an appealing solution to the workers stems from
the fact that workers did not have much bargaining power individually. If workers bargained
collectively in trade unions they could make effective changes to the system. To deal with the
second problem, that of lenient and lacking legislation, workers opted to form large civil
organisations.

Civil Organisations proved to be an effective solution, as they gave workers an opportunity to

This brings us to the nature of the relationship between trade unions, civil organisations and
nationalism. At the outset, it is important to highlight the importance of workers to the economy.
Without their labour, goods of value could not be generated in factories. Thus, it could be said
that workers were the backbone of the economy. England’s demographic statistics at the
beginning of the 1800s show that more than 90% of the population were employed and therefore,
formally ‘contributing’ to the economy. Workers hence were a vital portion of what makes up a
nation. In accordance with the importance we have established between workers and a nation, we
can demonstrate a positive relationship between the growth of collective workers and a country’s
nationalism. If an increased number of workers were to align and have common opinions behind a
nation’s future; they would be exhibiting care and pride for the nation.

This conclusion reached above can be further supported by looking at specific case studies which
directly substantiate this idea. The first case study is the Prussian civil organization
“Kriegerverein.” In “Industrialization and the Rise of Nationalism in Prussia,” Felix Kersting
said”My results show strong evidence for a causal relationship between industrialization and the
spread of nationalism in the beginning of the 20th century”. This paper establishes a causal
relationship between the increase in participation of the civil organisation and nationalism. The
author does this through establishing civil organisations to be a direct result of the industrial
revolution of Prussia, and then to note the large influence which this organization had. Thus, we
find reason to believe that the “Kriegervereine” and similar civil bodies that came into being in
the aftermath of the industrial revolution have a causal relationship vis a vis nationalism.
 Education

From Ancient Greece to the founding of Universities, up until the industrial revolution had been a
facility exclusive to the nobility and higher classes of society. While education did advance
through the invention of the printing press and the ideological revolution during the renaissance.
For the majority of the population, education was out of reach from the majority of a population.

The industrial revolution expanded the availability of education from one select group to a larger
demographic. One of the reasons for this increase in education is due to the Government Acts and
regulations mandating the education of children. As we will study below, the rise in the overall
availability of education can also be attributed to the emergence of the middle class as more
people were able to take up skilled labour in turn increasing their income which would ultimately
allow them to rise to a middle economic class.

As highlighted in the migration section, working conditions for manual labour were atrocious.
Workers had to work long and arduous hours and were exposed to harmful environments in which
injuries were incessant. Moreover, child labour was rampant, children from the ages of 5–16 were
exposed to the same condition which men in their 30s were. This glaring issue rose due to the
owners of the means of production doing everything in their power to cut cost, in turn raise profit.
Wages are the most significant costs of production therefore, the firms would do anything to drive
these costs down such as child labour. With the rise of trade unions, however, the issue of child
labour could no longer be ignored by governments. . Their response was to institute various
reforms. These reforms decreased working hours and made child labour illegal. In addition to
these decreases, they also made education a right for children. . In the 1833 factory act which
employed various reforms relating to child labour, education was also mandated for children.

The idea let alone the emergence of the middle class was a concept introduced due to the
industrial revolution. The middle class was an economic class that constituted a divergence from
the traditional rich and poor. The class was defined by households being able to afford only a few
items of luxury which were previously exclusive to the rich. With education often exclusive to the
rich due to the inability of poorer households to pay for it, the middle class was able to bridge the
gap. So, as incomes rose and education became more affordable, a larger demographic of people
than ever before could access education and the benefits it brings.

An increasingly educated population can also be cited as a major reason behind the rise of
nationalism. A population’s ability to comprehend novel ideas such as nationalism, to question
state behaviour and to understand the notion of working in ‘national interest’ stems from their
education. If more people have an affinity to understand what is going on in their country and the
power to talk about such issues they can evoke nationalism within the people. Furthermore as
Brain Street states in Literacy and Nationalism, the fundamental ideas of nationalism stem from
education. For a working class within which divisions were starting to formalise through, for
instance, hierarchies within trade unions, “The nation-state is the only agency capable of
providing an equipped workforce through its support for the mass, public compulsory and
standardized education system.”.

The idea that education supports the growth of nationalism is also seen in the idea that education
allows for a national standard to be built. As seen in the book by Brian Street education allowed
for the development of a “shared national standard”. This shared national standard which has its
foundation laid on a country’s literacy allows for the creation of a national standard which in turn
allows for ideas of nationalism to rise. A definitive culture can only be present when one is
educated, a specific literacy that is part of a specific culture allows a sense of national identity to
build up which in turn relates to nationalism. Education can be seen as the basis of an individual’s
national identity, therefore an increase in education would consequently lead to a rise in
nationalism.

Conclusion

In conclusion the paper uses information relating to the impact which education and migration
had on nationalism, using this, the paper establishes a causal relationship between nationalism and
industrialisation. Through using secondary research combined with population and literacy rates,
the paper corroborates argumentation with statistical evidence. The increasing literacy rates and
rise in trade union membership as a result of the industrial revolution evidence the idea that
nationalism is a direct result of industrialisation. There are some limitations, however, in terms of
factors that aren’t taken into consideration. Chief among these is the view that it was, in fact, the
rise of direct rule that actually led to industrialisation and the rise of nation-states. Although the
philosophical origins can be contested, we find evidence that industrialisation was a precursor to
direct rule and, in many ways, aided the process of democratisation.

Urban migration of the population, as well as their education, are both linked by not only their
causal relationship with nationalism but how both factors impact each other. The migration of
people to urban parts of a country increased the demand for education in these areas. With the rise
of factories, the only way households could sustain themselves in urban areas was if they could
employment in skilled labour and education presented the only avenue to acquire the necessary
skills. Additionally, education was the only way large worker groups could effectively recognize
and voice their concerns as workers became more cognizant of the manner in which they were
being systematically exploited. This link between both migration and education shows how the
two also served to enable the other, furthering the cause of nationalism in the process.. Starting
from the industrial revolution causing migration as well as developments in education which
ultimately led to ideals of nationalism to emerge.

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