The Politics of Patriotism

Between the 1830s and 1880s European problems had a profound impact on British politics. Jonathan Parry examines the effect on the British Liberal movement of the most significant of these, such as the 1848 Revolutions, the unification of Italy, the Franco-Prussian War and the Eastern Question, arguing that these European problems made patriotism a major political question: governments were judged by their success in promoting British interests abroad, but also by the purity, potency and 'Englishness' of the political values they represented. This volume makes a major contribution towards understanding three important aspects of nineteenth-century British history: British attitudes to Europe, contemporary notions of national identity, and the nature and dynamic of British Liberalism. Setting foreign and domestic policy discussions in a patriotic framework, Parry offers an analysis of the ideas that influenced the Liberal political coalition and the turning-points affecting its vigour and unity as a political movement.

Introduction; Part I. English Liberalism and National Identity: 1. The English constitution and the liberal state; 2. Character, morals and national identity; Part II. Europe and Liberal Politics: 3. Liberalism and the continent, 1830-47; 4. The 1848 revolutions and the triumph of liberal patriotism; 5. Italian unification and the search for an ethical nationhood; 6. The Franco-Prussian War and the destruction of the first Gladstone government, 1870-4; 7. The Eastern question and its consequences, 1875-6; Conclusion; Abbreviations and bibliography.