Class 10th History Ch-1 'Rise of Nationalism in Europe.
Topic wise Short Questions
The French Revolution and the Idea of the Nation
Q.When did the first clear expression of nationalism come?Answer: The first clear expression of nationalism came with the French Revolution in 1789.
Q.What led to the transfer of sovereignty from the monarchy to a body of French citizens?
Answer: The political and constitutional changes that came in the wake of the French Revolution led to the transfer of sovereignty from the monarchy to a body of French citizens.
Q. What did the French Revolution proclaim?
Answer: The French Revolution proclaimed that it was the people who would henceforth constitute the nation and shape its destiny.
Q. What did the French revolutionaries do to create a sense of collective identity amongst the French people?
Answer: The French revolutionaries introduced various measures and practices that could create a sense of collective identity amongst the French people.
Q. What did the ideas of la patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen) emphasise?
Answer: The ideas of la patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen) emphasised the notion of a united community enjoying equal rights under a constitution.
Q. How did the National assembly come into existence in France?
Answer: The Estates General was elected by the body of active citizens and renamed the National Assembly. Thus, the National Assembly came into existence.
Q. Name a few things done in the name of the nation during the French Revolution.
Answer: New hymns were composed, oaths taken and martyrs commemorated, all in the name of the nation.
Q. Who formulated uniform laws for all citizens within its territory in France?
Answer: A centralised administrative system was put in place and it formulated uniform laws for all citizens within its territory in France.
Q. Name a few things abolished during the French Revolution.
Answer: Internal customs duties and dues
Q. Why did French become the common language of the nation in France?
Answer: Regional dialects were discouraged and French, as it was spoken and written in Paris, became the common language of the nation in France.
Q. What according to the revolutionaries was the mission and the destiny of the French nation?
Answer: According to the revolutionaries, it was the mission and the destiny of the French nation to liberate the peoples of Europe from despotism, in other words to help other peoples of Europe to become nations.
Q. What happened when the news of the events in France reached the different cities of Europe?
Answer: When the news of the events in France reached the different cities of Europe, students and other members of educated middle classes began setting up Jacobin clubs.
Q. What prepared way for the French armies in the 1790s?
Answer: The activities and campaigns of Jacobin clubs prepared way for the French armies which moved into Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and much of Italy in the 1790s.
Q. Who carried the idea of nationalism abroad from France?
Answer: With the outbreak of the revolutionary wars, the French armies began to carry the idea of nationalism abroad from France.
Q. What did Napoleon do within the wide swathe of territory that came under his control?
Answer: Within the wide swathe of territory that came under his control, Napoleon set about introducing many of the reforms that he had already introduced in France.
Q. What did Napoleon do to make the administrative system more rational and efficient?
Answer: Napoleon incorporated revolutionary principles in the administrative field to make the whole system more rational and efficient.
Q. What do you mean by the Napoleonic Code?
Answer: The Civil Code of 1804 – usually known as the Napoleonic Code – did away with all privileges based on birth, established equality before the law and secured the right to property.
Q. What was the extent of the Napoleonic Code?
Answer: The Napoleonic Code was exported to the regions under French control.
Q. What did Napoleon do to the Dutch Republic, Switzerland, Italy and Germany?
Answer: In the Dutch Republic, in Switzerland, in Italy and Germany, Napoleon simplified administrative divisions, abolished the feudal system and freed peasants from serfdom and manorial dues.
Q. What did Napoleon do to the towns?
Answer: Napoleon removed guild restrictions in the towns. Transport and communication systems were improved.
Q. How did the peasants, artisans, workers and new businessmen feel in the towns after the reforms and improvements brought by Napoleon?
Answer: The peasants, artisans, workers and new businessmen enjoyed a new-found freedom in the towns after the reforms and improvements brought by Napoleon. Businessmen and small-scale producers of goods, in particular, began to realise that uniform laws, standardised weights and measures, and a common national currency would facilitate the movement and exchange of goods and capital from one region to another.
Q. What was the initial reaction of the local populations to French rule under Napoleon?
Answer: Initially, in many places such as Holland and Switzerland, as well in certain cities like Brussels, Mainz, Milan and Warsaw, the French armies were welcomed as harbingers of liberty.
Q. Why did the initial enthusiasm of the local populations soon turn into hostility towards French rule under Napoleon?
Answer: The initial enthusiasm of the local populations soon turn into hostility towards French rule under Napoleon, as it became clear that the new administrative arrangements did not go hand in hand with political freedom.
Q. According to the local populations, what seemed to outweigh the advantages of the administrative changes made by Napoleon?
Answer: Increased taxation, censorship, forced conscription into the French armies required to conquer the rest of Europe, all seemed to outweigh the advantages of the administrative changes made by Napoleon.
The Making of Nationalism in Europe
Q. Were there any ‘nation-states’ in Europe till the mid-eighteenth-century? How?
Answer: No. Eastern and Central Europe were under autocratic monarchies within the territories of which lived diverse peoples. They did not see themselves as sharing a collective identity or a common culture. Thus, they were not nation-states.
Q. Why were Germany, Italy and Switzerland not ‘nation-states’ till the mid-eighteenth-century?
Answer: Germany, Italy and Switzerland were divided into kingdoms, duchies and cantons whose rulers had their autonomous territories. That is why, Germany, Italy and Switzerland were not ‘nation-states’ till the mid-eighteenth-century.
Q. Describe the Habsburg Empire?
Answer: The Habsburg Empire that ruled over Austria-Hungary was a patchwork of many different regions and peoples. It included the Alpine regions – the Tyrol, Austria and the Sudetenland – as well as Bohemia. It also included the provinces of Lombardy and Venetia.
Q. What was the only tie binding the diverse groups together of the Habsburg Empire?
Answer: The only tie binding the diverse groups of the Habsburg Empire together was a common allegiance to the emperor.
The Aristocracy and the New Middle Class of Europe
Q. Describe the dominant class of Europe during the French Revolution.
Answer: The dominant class of Europe during the French Revolution was socially and politically a landed aristocracy. The members of this class were united by a common way of life that cut across regional divisions. They owned estates in the countryside and also town-houses. They spoke French for purposes of diplomacy and in high society. Their families were often connected by ties of marriage.
Q. What was the difference between the powerful aristocracy and the majority of the population in Europe?
Answer: The powerful aristocracy was numerically a small group. While the majority of the population was made up of the peasantry.
Q. Describe the pattern of landholding in Europe.
Answer: To the west of Europe, the bulk of the land was farmed by tenants and small owners, while in Eastern and Central Europe the pattern of landholding was characterised by vast estates which were cultivated by serfs.
Q. What could make the growth of towns and the emergence of commercial classes possible in Western and parts of Central Europe?
Answer: The growth of industrial production and trade could make the growth of towns and the emergence of commercial classes possible in Western and parts of Central Europe.
Q. When did industrialisation begin in England?
Answer: Industrialisation began in England in the second half of the eighteenth century.
Q. When did industrialisation begin in France and parts of the German states?
Answer: Industrialisation began in France and parts of the German states during the nineteenth century.
Q. Name the new social groups which came into being during industrialisation in Europe.
Answer: The new social groups which came into being during industrialisation in Europe were a working-class population, and middle classes made up of industrialists, businessmen, professionals.
Q. Among whom did the ideas of national unity following the abolition of aristocratic privileges gained popularity?
Answer: The ideas of national unity following the abolition of aristocratic privileges gained popularity among the educated, liberal middle classes.
What did Liberal Nationalism Stand for?
Q. What was the relation between the Ideas of national unity and the ideology of liberalism in early-nineteenth-century Europe?
Answer: The ideas of national unity in early-nineteenth-century Europe were closely allied to the ideology of liberalism.
Q. What did ‘liberalism’ mean for the new middle classes in early-nineteenth-century Europe?
Answer: For the new middle classes in early-nineteenth-century Europe ‘liberalism’ meant freedom for the individual and equality of all before the law.
Q. What do you know about the term ‘liberalism’?
Answer: The term ‘liberalism’ derives from the Latin root liber, meaning free.
Q. What was the political meaning of the term ‘liberalism’ during the French Revolution?
Answer: During the French Revolution, the term ‘liberalism’ politically emphasised the concept of government by consent. Since the French Revolution, liberalism had stood for the end of autocracy and clerical privileges, a constitution and representative government through parliament. Nineteenth-century liberals also stressed the inviolability of private property.
Q. What did equality before the law not stand for in revolutionary France?
Answer: In revolutionary France, equality before the law did not stand for universal suffrage.
Q. What do you mean by ‘Suffrage’?
Answer: ‘Suffrage’ means the right to vote.
Q. Who got the right to vote and to get elected in revolutionary France during the first political experiment in liberal democracy?
Answer: The right to vote and to get elected was granted exclusively to property-owning men in revolutionary France during the first political experiment in liberal democracy.
Q. Who were excluded from political rights in revolutionary France during the first political experiment in liberal democracy?
Answer: Men without property and all women were excluded from political rights in revolutionary France during the first political experiment in liberal democracy.
Q. When did all adult males enjoy suffrage during the revolution in France?
Answer: Only for a brief period under the Jacobins did all adult males enjoy suffrage.
Q. Did the Napoleonic Code grant universal suffrage?
Answer: No. Napoleonic Code went back to limited suffrage and reduced women to the status of a minor, subject to the authority of fathers and husbands.
Q. What did women and non-propertied men do to achieve equal political rights?
Answer: Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries women and non-propertied men organised opposition movements demanding equal political rights.
Q. What did liberalism mean for the economic sphere?
Answer: In the economic sphere, liberalism stood for the freedom of markets and the abolition of state-imposed restrictions on the movement of goods and capital.
Q. What were the demands of the emerging middle classes during the nineteenth century in France?
Answer: The freedom of markets and the abolition of state-imposed restrictions on the movement of goods and capital were the demands of the emerging middle classes during the nineteenth century in France.
Q. How many customs barriers a merchant travelling in 1833 from Hamburg to Nuremberg would have had to pass through? How much did they have to pay?
Answer: A merchant travelling in 1833 from Hamburg to Nuremberg would have had to pass through 11 customs barriers. They had to pay a customs duty of about 5 per cent at each one of them.
Q. What did the new commercial classes in revolutionary France want to overcome the obstacles to economic exchange and growth?
Answer: The new commercial classes in revolutionary France argued for the creation of a unified economic territory allowing the unhindered movement of goods, people and capital.
Q. What do you mean by ‘Zollverein’?
Answer: Zollverein means a customs union which was formed at the initiative of Prussia and joined by most of the German states.
Q. When was Zollverein formed?
Answer: Zollverein was formed in 1834.
Q. How did Zollverein and the creation of a network of railways help in strengthening the wider nationalist sentiments growing at the time?
Answer: Zollverein abolished tariff barriers and reduced the number of currencies from over thirty to two. The creation of a network of railways further stimulated mobility, harnessing economic interests to nation unification. Thus, a wave of economic nationalism strengthened the wider nationalist sentiments growing at the time.
A New Conservatism after 1815 in France
Q. When was Napoleon defeated?
Answer: Napoleon was defeated in 1815.
Q. What happened to the European governments after the defeat of Napoleon?
Answer: After the defeat of Napoleon the European governments were driven by a spirit of conservatism.
Q. What did the conservatives believe after the defeat of Napoleon?
Answer: Conservatives believed that established, traditional institutions of state and society – like the monarchy, the Church, social hierarchies, property and the family – should be preserved.
Q. What did most of the conservatives who did not propose a return to the society of pre-revolutionary days realise after the defeat of Napoleon?
Answer: After the defeat of Napoleon, most of the conservatives who did not propose a return to the society of pre-revolutionary days realised that modernisation could in fact strengthen traditional institutions like the monarchy. It could make state power more effective and strong.
Q. According to most of the conservatives, what could strengthen the autocratic monarchies of Europe?
Answer: According to most of the conservatives, a modern army, an efficient bureaucracy, a dynamic economy, the abolition of feudalism and serfdom could strengthen the autocratic monarchies of Europe.
Q. Who defeated Napoleon?
Answer: Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria collectively defeated Napoleon.
Q. Why and where did the representatives of the European powers who had collectively defeated Napoleon meet?
Answer: The European powers who had collectively defeated Napoleon met at Vienna to draw up a settlement for Europe.
Q. Who hosted the Vienna Congress?
Answer: The Vienna Congress was hosted by the Austrian Chancellor Duke Metternich.
Q. Why did the delegates at the Vienna Congress draw the Treaty of Vienna of 1815?
Answer: The delegates at the Vienna Congress drew the Treaty of Vienna of 1815 with the object of undoing most of the changes that had come about in Europe during the Napoleonic wars.
Q. Which dynasty was restored to power in France by the Treaty of Vienna of 1815?
Answer: The Bourbon dynasty, which had been deposed during the French Revolution, was restored to power in France by the Treaty of Vienna.
Q. What did the Vienna Congress to do the territories annexed under Napoleon?
Answer: France lost the territories annexed under Napoleon.
Q. What did the Vienna Congress do to prevent French expansion in future?
Answer: A series of states were set up on the boundaries of France to prevent French expansion. Thus the kingdom of the Netherlands, which included Belgium, was set up in the north and Genoa was added to Piedmont in the south. Prussia was given important new territories on its western frontiers, while Austria was given control of northern Italy.
Q. What happened to the German confederation of 39 states that had been set up by Napoleon?
Answer: The German confederation of 39 states that had been set up by Napoleon was left untouched by the Vienna Congress of 1815.
Q. What did the Vienna Congress of 1815 give Russia and Prussia?
Answer: Russia was given part of Poland while Prussia was given a portion of Saxony.
Q. What was the main intention of the Vienna Congress of 1815?
Answer: The main intention of the Vienna Congress of 1815 was to restore the monarchies that had been overthrown by Napoleon, and create a new conservative order in Europe.
Q. What do you know about the conservative regimes of Europe set up in 1815?
Answer: Conservative regimes set up in 1815 were autocratic. They did not tolerate criticism and dissent, and sought to curb activities that questioned the legitimacy of autocratic governments. Most of them imposed censorship laws to control what was said in newspapers, books, plays and songs and reflected the ideas of liberty and freedom associated with the French Revolution.
Q. Who continued to get inspired from the French Revolution and criticised the new conservative order?
Answer: The memory of the French Revolution nonetheless continued to inspire liberals. Liberal-nationalists criticised the new conservative order.
Q. Name one of the major issues taken up by the liberal-nationalists.
Answer: One of the major issues taken up by the liberal-nationalists was freedom of the press.
The Revolutionaries of Europe
Q. What drove many liberal-nationalists underground during the years following 1815?
Answer: The fear of repression drove many liberal-nationalists underground during the years following 1815.
Q. Why were secret societies set up in many European states after 1815?
Answer: Secret societies were set up in many European states after 1815 to train revolutionaries and spread their ideas.
Q. What did it mean to be revolutionary in Europe after 1815?
Answer: To be revolutionary in Europe after 1815 meant a commitment to oppose monarchical forms that had been established after the Vienna Congress, and to fight for liberty and freedom.
Q. What did most of the revolutionaries in Europe after 1815 think of the creation of nation-states?
Answer: Most of the revolutionaries in Europe after 1815 saw the creation of nation-states as a necessary part of the struggle for freedom.
Q. Who was Giuseppe Mazzini?
Answer: Giuseppe Mazzini was an Italian revolutionary. Born in Genoa in 1807, he became a member of the secret society of the Carbonari.
Q. Why was Giuseppe Mazzini sent into exile at the age of 24 in 1834?
Answer: As a young man of 24, Giuseppe Mazzini was sent into exile in 1831 for attempting a revolution in Liguria.
Q. Name the underground society founded by Giuseppe Mazzini in Marseilles.
Answer: The underground society founded by Giuseppe Mazzini in Marseilles was named Young Italy.
Q. Name the underground society founded by Giuseppe Mazzini in Berne.
Answer: The underground society founded by Giuseppe Mazzini in Berne was named Young Europe.
Q. Who were the members of the secret societies founded by Giuseppe Mazzini?
Answer: The members of the secret societies founded by Giuseppe Mazzini were like-minded young men from Poland, France, Italy and the German states.
Q. What did Giuseppe Mazzini think of nations?
Answer: Giuseppe Mazzini believed that God had intended nations to be the natural units of mankind.
Q. According to Giuseppe Mazzini, what could be the basis of Italian liberty?
Answer: According to Giuseppe Mazzini, Italy could not continue to be a patchwork of small states and kingdoms. It had to be forged into a single unified republic within a wider alliance of nations. This unification alone could be the basis of Italian liberty.
Q. What was it about Giuseppe Mazzini that frightened the conservatives?
Answer: Following Giuseppe Mazzini’s model, secret societies were set up in Germany, France, Switzerland and Poland. Mazzini’s relentless opposition to monarchy and his vision of democratic republics frightened the conservatives.
Q. What did Metternich describe Giuseppe Mazzini as?
Answer: Metternich described Giuseppe Mazzini as ‘the most dangerous enemy of our social order’.
The Age of Revolutions: 1830-1848
Q. When did liberalism and nationalism come to be increasingly associated with revolution in many regions of Europe?
Answer: As conservative regimes tried to consolidate their power, liberalism and nationalism came to be increasingly associated with revolution in many regions of Europe such as the Italian and German states, the provinces of the Ottoman Empire, Ireland and Poland.
Q. Who led the revolutions during 1830 and 1848 in Europe?
Answer: The revolutions during 1830 and 1848 in Europe were led by the liberal-nationalists belonging to the educated middle-class elite, among whom were professors, school teachers, clerks and members of the commercial middle classes.
Q. When did the first upheaval by liberal revolutionaries take place? What did they do?
Answer: The first upheaval by liberal revolutionaries took place in July 1830. The Bourbon kings who had been restored to power during the conservative reaction after 1815, were overthrown by liberal revolutionaries who installed a constitutional monarchy with Louis Philippe at its head.
Q. Who said, ‘When France sneezes, the rest of Europe catches cold’?
Answer: Metternich
Q. How did the revolution of July 1830 (July Revolution) impact the United Kingdom of the Netherlands?
Answer: The revolution of July 1830 (July Revolution) sparked an uprising in Brussels which led to Belgium breaking away from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Q. Which event mobilised nationalist feelings among the educated elite across Europe?
Answer: The event which mobilised nationalist feelings among the educated elite across Europe was the Greek war of independence.
Q. When did Greece become part of the Ottoman Empire?
Answer: Greece had been part of the Ottoman Empire since the fifteenth century.
Q. What sparked off a struggle for independence amongst the Greeks?
Answer: The growth of revolutionary nationalism in Europe sparked off a struggle for independence amongst the Greeks which began in 1821.
Q. Why did many West Europeans support nationalists in Greece?
Answer: Many West Europeans supported nationalists in Greece because they had sympathies for ancient Greek culture.
Q. What role did the poets and artists play in the Greek war of independence?
Answer: Poets and artists lauded Greece as the cradle of European civilisation and mobilised public opinion to support its struggle against a Muslim empire.
Q. What do you remember about the English poet Lord Byron?
Answer: The English poet Lord Byron organised funds and later went to fight in the war, where he died of fever in 1824.
Q. Which ‘Treaty’ recognised Greece as an independent nation in 1832?
Answer: The Treaty of Constantinople of 1832 recognised Greece as an independent nation.
The Romantic Imagination and National Feeling
Q. Name a few things that helped in the development of nationalism in Europe.Answer: The development of nationalism did not come about only through wars and territorial expansion. Culture played an important role in creating the idea of the nation: art and poetry, stories and music helped express and shape nationalist feelings.
Q. What do you mean by Romanticism?
Answer: Romanticism was a cultural movement which sought to develop a particular form of nationalist sentiment.
Q. What do you know about romantic artists and poets?
Answer: Romantic artists and poets generally criticised the glorification of reason and science and focused instead on emotions, intuition and mystical feelings.
Q. What was the effort of romantic artists and poets?
Answer: The effort of romantic artists and poets was to create a sense of a shared collective heritage, a common cultural past, as the basis of a nation.
Q. What according to other romantics such as the German Philosopher Johann Gottfried Harder was essential to the project of nation-building?
Answer: Other romantics such as the German Philosopher Johann Gottfrmnhnied Harder claimed that true German culture was to be discovered among the common people – das volk. It was through folk songs, folk poetry and folk dances that the true spirit of the nation (volksgeist) was popularised. So collecting and recording these forms of folk culture was essential to the project of nation-building.
Q. Why was it necessary to give emphasis on vernacular language and the collection of local folklore?
Answer: It was necessary to give emphasis on vernacular language and the collection of local folklore not just to recover an ancient national spirit, but also to carry the modern nationalist message to large audiences who were mostly illiterate.
Q. Which folk dances were turned into nationalist symbols by Karol Kurpinski?
Answer: Folk dances like the polonaise and mazurka were turned into nationalist symbols by Karol Kurpinski.
Q. How did Karol Kurpinski celebrate the national struggle of Poland?
Answer: Karol Kurpinski celebrated the national struggle of Poland through his operas and music, turning folk dances like the polonaise and mazurka into nationalist symbols.
Q. What did the clergy of Poland use as a weapon of national resistance?
Answer: The clergy of Poland began to use language as a weapon of national resistance.
Hunger, Hardship and Popular Revolt
Q. Why were the years of 1830s considered years of great economic hardship in Europe?
Answer: The years of 1830s were considered years of great economic hardship in Europe because the first half of the nineteenth century saw an enormous increase in population all over Europe. In most countries there were more seekers of jobs than employment.
Q. Why did the peasants struggle in those regions of Europe where the aristocracy still enjoyed power?
Answer: The peasants struggled in those regions of Europe where the aristocracy still enjoyed power because they were under the burden of feudal dues and obligations. The rise of food prices or a year of bad harvest led to widespread pauperism in town and country.
Q. What brought the population of Paris out on the roads in 1848?
Answer: Food shortages and widespread unemployment brought the population of Paris out on the roads in 1848.
Q. Why was Louis Philippe forced to flee?
Answer: Food shortages and widespread unemployment brought the population of Paris out on the roads. Thus, Louis Philippe was forced to flee.
Q. What happened after Louis Philippe fled away?
Answer: After Louis Philippe fled away, a National Assembly proclaimed a Republic, granted suffrage to all adult males above 21, and guaranteed the right to work. National workshops to provide employment were set up.
1848: The Revolution of the Liberals
Q. Which classes of the European countries joined the revolution in the year 1848?Answer: Parallel to the revolts of the poor, unemployed and starving peasants and workers in many European countries in the year 1848, a revolution led by the educated middle classes was under way.
Q. How did the events of February 1848 in France help start a revolution in many European countries?
Answer: The events of February 1848 in France had brought about the abdication of the monarch and a republic based on universal male suffrage had been proclaimed. In other parts of Europe where independent nation-states did not yet exist – such as Germany, Italy, Poland, the Austro-Hungarian Empire – men and women of the liberal middle classes combined their demands for constitutionalism with national unification.
Q. Who decided to vote for an all-German National Assembly in 1848?
Answer: In the German regions a large number of political associations whose members were middle-class professionals, businessmen and prosperous artisans came together in the city of Frankfurt and decided to vote for an all-German National Assembly.
Q. Who drafted a constitution for a German nation to be headed by a monarchy subject to a parliament?
Answer: 831 elected representatives of an all-German National Assembly drafted a constitution for a German nation to be headed by a monarchy subject to a parliament.
Q. When and where was a constitution for a German nation to be headed by a monarchy subject to a parliament drafted?
Answer: A constitution for a German nation to be headed by a monarchy subject to a parliament was drafted in the Frankfurt parliament convened in the Church of St Paul. It was drafted in 1848.
Q. What did Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia, do when he was offered the crown?
Answer: When Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia, was offered the crown with the terms, he rejected it and joined other monarchs to oppose the elected assembly.
Q. Why was an all-German National Assembly forced to disband?
Answer: While the opposition of the aristocracy and military became stronger, the social basis of parliament eroded. The parliament was dominated by the middle classes who resisted the demands of workers and artisans and consequently lost their support. In the end troops were called in and the assembly was forced to disband.
Q. Were political rights extended to women in the liberal movement?
Answer: No, the issue of extending political rights to women was a controversial one within the liberal movement.
Q. Did women take part in the liberal movement?
Answer: Yes. Women had participated in the liberal movement actively over the years.
Q. How did women take part in the liberal movement?
Answer: Women had formed their own political associations, founded newspapers and taken part in political meetings and demonstrations.
Q. What was the status of women during the election of the Assembly that convened in the Church of St Paul?
Answer: Women were denied suffrage rights during the election of the Assembly. When the Frankfurt parliament convened in the Church of St Paul, women were admitted only as observers to stand in the visitor’s gallery.
Q. How were serfdom and bonded labour abolished in the Habsburg dominions and in Russia?
Answer: Monarchs were beginning to realise that the cycles of revolution and repression could only be ended by granting concessions to the liberal-nationalist revolutionaries. Hence, in the years after 1848, the autocratic monarchies of Central and Eastern Europe began to introduce the changes that had already taken place in Western Europe before 1815. Thus serfdom and bonded labour were abolished both in the Habsburg dominions and in Russia.
The Making of Germany and Italy
Q. What changed about nationalism after 1848 in Europe?Answer: After 1848, nationalism in Europe moved away from its association with democracy and revolution. Nationalist sentiments were often mobilised by conservatives for promoting state power and achieving political domination over Europe.
Q. What did the middle-class Germans do for the unification of Germany?
Answer: The middle-class Germans, in 1848, tried to unite the different regions of the German confederation into a nation-state governed by an elected parliament.
Q. What happened to the liberal initiative to nation-building in Germany?
Answer: The liberal initiative to nation-building in Germany was repressed by the combined forces of the monarchy and the military, supported by the large landowners (called Junkers) of Prussia.
Q. How was Germany unified?
Answer: After the failure of the liberal initiative, Prussia took on the leadership of the movement for national unification. Its chief minister, Otto von Bismarck, was the architect of this process. He carried out with the help of the Prussian army and bureaucracy. Three wars over seven years – with Austria, Denmark and France – ended in Prussian victory and completed the process of the unification of Germany.
Q. When was Kaiser William I proclaimed German Emperor?
Answer: William I was proclaimed German Emperor in a ceremony held at Versailles in January 1871.
Q. Which process demonstrated the dominance of Prussian state power in Germany?
Answer: The nation-building process in Germany had demonstrated the dominance of Prussian state power. The new state placed a strong emphasis on modernising the currency, banking, legal and judicial systems in Germany. Prussian measures and practices often became a model for the rest of Germany.
Italy Unified
Q. What had Giuseppe Mazzini sought to do during the 1830s?
Answer: During the 1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini had sought to put together a coherent programme for a unitary Italian Republic.
Q. Who formed the secret society called Young Italy?
Answer: Giuseppe Mazzini formed the secret society called Young Italy for the dissemination of his goals.
Q. After the failure of revolutionary uprisings both in 1831 and 1848, who took the responsibility of unifying Italy?
Answer: After the failure of revolutionary uprisings both in 1831 and 1848, the ruler of Sardinia-Piedmont King Victor Emmanuel II took the responsibility of unifying Italian states through war.
Q. What did the ruling elites of the Italian states think about a unified Italy?
Answer: In the eyes of the ruling elites of this region, a unified Italy offered them the possibility of economic development and political dominance.
Q. How did Sardinia-Piedmont succeed in defeating the Austrian forces in 1859?
Answer: Through a tactful diplomatic alliance with France engineered by Cavour, Sardinia-Piedmont succeeded in defeating the Austrian forces in 1859.
Q. When Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of united Italy?
Answer: Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of Italy in 1861.
Q. How did Giuseppe Garibaldi succeed in driving out the Spanish rulers from Italy?
Answer: Giuseppe Garibaldi led a large number of armed volunteers in the fray. In 1860, they marched into South Italy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and succeeded in winning the support of the local peasants in order to drive out the Spanish rulers.
Q. Who remained unaware of liberal-nationalist ideology in Italy?
Answer: Much of the Italian population, among whom rates of illiteracy were very high, remained blissfully unaware of liberal-nationalist ideology.
Q. Who believed that ‘La Talia’ was Victor Emmanuel’s wife?
Answer: The peasant masses who had supported Garibaldi in southern Italy had never heard of Italia, and believed that ‘La Talia’ was Victor Emmanuel’s wife.
The Strange Case of Britain
Q. What according to some scholars is the model of the nation or the nation-state?
Answer: According to some scholars the model of the nation or the nation-state is the Great Britain.
Q. What resulted into the formation of the nation-state in Britain?
In Britain the formation of the nation-state was not the result of a sudden upheaval or revolution. It was the result of a log-drawn-out process.
Q. What were the primary identities of the people who inhabited the British Isles prior to the eighteenth century?
Answer: The primary identities of the people who inhabited the British Isles prior to the eighteenth century were ethnic ones – such as English, Welsh, Scot or Irish. All of these ethnic groups had their own cultural and political traditions.
Q. What was the instrument through which a nation-state, with England at its centre, came to be forged?
Answer: The English parliament, which had seized power from the monarchy in 1688 at the end of a protracted conflict, was the instrument through which a nation-state, with England at its centre, came to be forged.
Q. What did the Act of Union (1707) between England and Scotland mean in effect?
Answer: The Act of Union (1707) between England and Scotland that resulted in the formation of the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain’ meant, in effect, that England was able to impose its influence on Scotland. The British parliament was henceforth dominated by its English members.
Q. What did the growth of a British identity mean?
Answer: The growth of a British identity meant that Scotland’s distinctive culture and political institutions were systematically suppressed.
Q. Who were forcibly driven out of their homeland during the growth of a British identity?
Answer: The Scottish Highlanders were forbidden to speak their Gaelic language or wear their national dress, and large numbers were forcibly driven out of their homeland during the growth of a British identity.
Q. How was Ireland incorporated into the United Kingdom?
Answer: Ireland was a country deeply divided between Catholics and Protestants. The English helped the Protestants of Ireland to establish their dominance over a largely Catholic country. Catholic revolts against British dominance were suppressed. After a failed revolt led by Wolfe Tone and his United Irishmen (1798), Ireland was forcibly incorporated into the United Kingdom in 1801.
Q. When was Ireland incorporated into the United Kingdom?
Answer: Ireland was forcibly incorporated into the United Kingdom in 1801.
Q. How was a new ‘British nation’ forged?
Answer: A new ‘British nation’ was forged through the propagation of a dominant English culture.
Visualising the Nation
Q. How were nations portrayed by the artists in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries?
Answer: Artists in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries found a way out by personifying a nation. Nations were then portrayed as female figures.
Q. What became an allegory of the nation?
Answer: The female form that was chosen to personify the nation did not stand for any particular woman in real life; rather it sought to give the abstract idea of the nation a concrete form. That is, the female figure became an allegory of the nation.
Q. What did artists use to portray ideas such as Liberty, Justice and the Republic during the French Revolution?
Answer: During the French Revolution artists used the female allegory to portray ideas such as Liberty, Justice and the Republic.
Q. Name the female allegory used in France to represent the nation.
Answer: The female allegory used in France to represent the nation is named Marianne. Marianne is a popular Christian name which underlines the idea of a people’s nation.
Q. What were the characteristics of the female allegory ‘Marianne’?
Answer: The Characteristics of the female allegory ‘Marianne’ were drawn from those of Liberty and the Republic – the red cap, the tricolour, the cockade.
Q. Why were the statues of Marianne erected in public squares?
Answer: The statues of Marianne were erected in public squares to remind the public of the national symbol of unity and to persuade them to identify with it.
Q. Name the female allegory of the German nation.
Answer: The female allegory of the German nation was named Germania.
Q. Which crown does Germania wear?
Answer: Germania wears a crown of oak leaves, as the German oak stands for heroism.
Nationalism and Imperialism :
Q. What was the most serious source of nationalist tension in Europe after 1871?
Answer: The most serious source of nationalist tension in Europe after 1871 was the area called the Balkans.
Q. Describe the region of the Balkans.
Answer: The Balkans was a region of geographical and ethnic variation comprising modern-day Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro whose inhabitants were broadly known as the Slavs.
Q. Who had the control over a large part of the Balkans?
Answer: A large part of the Balkans was under the control of the Ottoman Empire.
Q. What made the Balkans very explosive?
Answer: The spread of the ideas of romantic nationalism in the Balkans together with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire made the Balkans very explosive.
Q. How had the Ottoman Empire sought to strengthen itself all through the nineteenth century?
Answer: All through the nineteenth century the Ottoman Empire had sought to strengthen itself through modernisation and internal reforms.
Q. What was the basis of the claims for independence by the Balkan peoples?
Answer: The Balkan peoples based their claims for independence or political rights on nationality and used history to prove that they had once been independent but had subsequently been subjugated by foreign powers.
Q. What did the rebellious nationalities in the Balkans think of their struggles?
Answer: The rebellious nationalities in the Balkans thought of their struggles as attempts to win back their long-lost independence.
Q. Why did the Balkan area become an area of intense conflict?
Answer: As the different Slavic nationalities struggled to define their identity and independence, the Balkan area became an area of intense conflict.
Q. How did the conflict of the Balkans lead to the First World War? Or
What led to the First World War?
Answer: The Balkan states were fiercely jealous of each other and each hoped to gain more territory at the expense of the others. Matters were further complicated because the Balkans also became the scene of big power rivalry. During this period, there was intense rivalry among the European powers over trade and colonies as well as naval and military might. These rivalries were very evident in the way the Balkan problem unfolded. Each power – Russia, Germany, England, and Austro-Hungary – was keen on countering the hold of other powers over the Balkans, and extending its own control over the area. This led to a series of wars in the region and finally the First World War.
Q. What led Europe to disaster in 1914?
Answer: Nationalism, aligned with imperialism, led Europe to disaster in 1914.
Q. Where were the European ideas of nationalism replicated?
Answer: European ideas of nationalism were nowhere replicated, for people everywhere developed their own specific variety of nationalism.
Q. Why the European ideas of nationalism were not replicated anywhere else in the world?
Answer: The European ideas of nationalism were not replicated anywhere else in the world because people everywhere developed their own specific variety of nationalism.
Q. Name any European idea that came to be accepted as natural and universal?
Answer: The idea that societies should be organised into ‘nation-states’ came to be accepted as natural and universal.
