MULTINATIONAL STATES: 19TH CENTURY, RUSSIAN AND OTTOMAN EMPIRES - HISTORY - 2025

The multinational states are composed of different peoples and cultures, and differentiated by elements of ethnic, religious and linguistic order. They vie for control of power, as happened in Europe, Asia and Africa in the 19th century.

These states were in constant tension, but when power was administered in a balanced way long periods of stability could be achieved. One of its most outstanding characteristics was that, despite being made up of various nations or cultures, only one exercised political, military and cultural dominance or control over the others.

Austro-Hungarian Empire

The multinational states of the nineteenth century were three: the Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The latter was made up of various cultures and nationalities: Hungarians, Austrians, Germans, Croats, Italians, Transylvanians and Czechs, among others.

At present there are also essentially modern and democratic multinational or multinational states such as the United States, Mexico, Canada, Bolivia or Ecuador and many others.

They are integrated under the same rule of law, where different languages ​​are spoken and their respective nations or peoples are constitutionally recognized.

Multinational states of the 19th century

A state is a society established in a defined territory, organized through a normative - legal body that governs the nation and is directed by a common government.

The European multinational states were actually countries or empires formed by force and made up of diverse and even dissimilar nations and cultures.

These empires were formed after the successive wars that occurred in Europe from the seventeenth century and the creation of national states after the Treaty of Westphalia (1648).

The origin of the old multinational states occurred in the early nineteenth century with the fall of Napoléon Bonaparte.

The resolution of the Congress of Vienna (1814) created these macro-national states. There it was decided to divide the territories under French rule between the Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Ottoman Empires.

Entire nations that shared the same conquered and unified territory were integrated into them. They had the same government, institutions and laws, but not a language or a majority and common religion, as exists in almost all nations today.

Very soon the liberal ideas of the French Revolution and the religious, cultural and linguistic differences between these peoples manifested themselves. There was then a process of decline and disintegration of these multinational states in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Modern multinational states

Currently, in modern and democratic multinational or multinational states, their various peoples or nations are integrated and recognized by the constitution that governs them.

But they have a common denominator: they share the same language, law, religion, customs, etc. Despite the diversity, it is respected and recognized. This is the case of Mexico, Bolivia and Ecuador.

Canada along with the United States is another example of a multinational state. The Canadian state was created by the English, French, and Native peoples.

There are even countries in which there are certain forms of autonomy with self-government and their own laws to respect their culture and ensure their survival.

Examples of this exist in nations such as Bolivia, Venezuela, and the United States. The national state delegates rights of self-government to racial minorities.

However, a multinational state is not necessarily shaped by a multiethnic society. There are nations that are united only by religion.

In the same way, there are peoples like the Kurds that do not have a state but are distributed by various countries such as Iraq, Turkey, etc., which are in the strict sense multinational states as well.

Characteristics of multinational states

The main characteristics of multinational states are:

-They are made up of racial minorities with the prevalence of a dominant culture.

-They occupy a clearly delimited and unified territory, which is controlled or directed by a single government, under the same legal regime.

-A multinational state is less likely to remain unified than a national state. Its survival depends on the capacity for inclusion and tolerance as a multiethnic society.

-The multinational characteristic does not always mean that it is made up of different ethnic groups, because they can be unified under the same state for religious reasons.

-Its inhabitants speak different languages, although one prevails as is the case of Mexico.

-They have a common currency that serves all the peoples that make up the country.

Multinational states of the Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was made up of various nations. It was established between the 16th and 19th centuries through the annexation of the European territories conquered in the successive wars fought by the tsarist armies.

The Russian empire grew from the hand of Tsar Peter the Great, who won great victories during the Northern War between 1700 and 1721. This allowed him to get an outlet to the Baltic Sea and conquer several nations.

All this was achieved thanks to the economic and political development that it brought about with a series of reforms adopted. These reforms had a profound impact on Russia's social and cultural life. The modernization of the Russian army made possible the triumphs in the warlike campaigns undertaken during his reign.

These victories increased Russian power and the empire expanded with the annexation of territories in northern Europe, the Urals, the Volga, Siberia, the Caucasus, and the Far East. In addition, other non-Russian peoples voluntarily decided to join the new empire.

When nationalist upheavals and demands for independence occurred within the Russian Empire, a bloody ethnic persecution was unleashed against the Jewish population. Thousands were killed and about two million had to emigrate.

Multinational States of the Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire was growing gradually from a small Turkish state from the year 1288 during the government of Osman I. The governments that succeeded it were expanding their territories.

They survived the barbarian invasions of the Mongols and during the reign of Mehmed II (1451-1481), known as "The Conqueror".

Its greatest splendor as an empire occurred during the 16th and 17th centuries when they managed to expand through the Balkan peninsula in Europe, Asia and North Africa.

The Ottoman Empire stretched from the borders with Morocco in the west, with the Caspian Sea in the east, and in the south with Sudan, Eritrea, Arabia, and Somalia and Arabia. Apart from its 29 provinces, it had Moldavia, Wallachia, Transylvania and Crimea as vassal states.

In Europe, the Ottoman Empire began to disintegrate with the uprisings of the Christian population of the Balkans. As of 1831 with the independence of Greece, the conquered European nations regained their independence and sovereignty: Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania.

This multinational state was abolished in 1922.

References

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4. The Multinational States. Recovered from misecundaria.com
5. The countries of the world that have recognized plurinationality. Recovered from abc.es
6. Ottoman Empire. Recovered from es.wikipedia.org
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