Young Europe (Italian: Giovine Europa; German: Junges Europa; Polish: Młoda Europa) was an international political association founded in 1834 by Giuseppe Mazzini on the model of Young Italy. It was composed of the national societies of Young Italy, Young Poland and Young Germany, which, independent in their own spheres, acted in common, through a central committee, for the furthering of the principles of liberty, equality, and humanity in Europe. The headquarters of the society were in Switzerland, where, in 1835–36, the organization of a French society, Young France, was brought about. The activity of the society speedily aroused the opposition of the Swiss authorities, who expelled many of its members from the country.

Young Europe
Italian nameGiovine Europa
German nameJunges Europa
Polish nameMłoda Europa
FounderGiuseppe Mazzini
FoundedApril 15, 1834 (1834-04-15)
Dissolved1836 (1836)
HeadquartersBern, Switzerland
IdeologyRepublicanism[1]
Nationalism
Italian branchYoung Italy
German branchYoung Germany
Polish branchYoung Poland [pl]
"In the Spring of 1834, while at Berne, Mazzini and a dozen refugees from Italy, Poland and Germany founded a new association with the grandiose name of Young Europe. Its basic, and equally grandiose idea, was that, as the French Revolution of 1789 had enlarged the concept of individual liberty, another revolution would now be needed for national liberty; and his vision went further because he hoped that in the no doubt distant future free nations might combine to form a loosely federal Europe with some kind of federal assembly to regulate their common interests. [...] His intention was nothing less than to overturn the European settlement agreed in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, which had reestablished an oppressive hegemony of a few great powers and blocked the emergence of smaller nations. [...] Mazzini hoped, but without much confidence, that his vision of a league or society of independent nations would be realized in his own lifetime. In practice Young Europe lacked the money and popular support for more than a short-term existence. Nevertheless he always remained faithful to the ideal of a united continent for which the creation of individual nations would be an indispensable preliminary."[2]

Young Ireland was a contemporary nationalist organisation which, though not affiliated with Young Europe, took its name in reference to Young Italy and Young Europe. [3]

References

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  1. ^ Young Europe in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
  2. ^ Mack Smith, Denis (September 25, 1996). Mazzini. Yale University Press. pp. 11–12. ISBN 978-0300068849.
  3. ^ Moody, T. W. (Autumn 1966). "Thomas Davis and the Irish nation". Hermathena (103): 5–31. JSTOR 23039825. Archived from the original on 22 September 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
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