Exercise:
Write in brief.
Q1. Write a note on:
(a) Guiseppe Mazzini
(b) Count Camillo de Cavour
(c) The Greek war of independence
(d) Frankfurt parliament
(e) The role of women in nationalist struggles
Answer :
(a) Guiseppe Mazzini : Giuseppe Mazzini was the Italian revolutionary born in Genoa in 1807. He became a member of the secret society of the Carbonari. As a young man of 24, he was sent into exile in 1831 for attempting a revolution in Liguria. He subsequently founded two more underground societies, first, Young Italy in Marseilles, and then, Young Europe in Berne, whose members were like-minded young men from Poland, France, Italy and the German states.
Mazzini believed that God had intended nations to be the natural units of mankind. So 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. Following his 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. Metternich described him as ‘the most dangerous enemy of our social order’.
(b) Count Camillo de Cavour : Cavour was the prime minister, who led the movement to unify the regions of Italy was neither a revolutionary nor a democrat. Like many other wealthy and educated members of the Italian elite, he spoke French much better than he did Italian. Through a tactful diplomatic alliance with France engineered by Cavour, Sardinia-Piedmont succeeded in defeating the Austrian forces in 1859. Apart from regular troops, a large number of armed volunteers under the leadership of Giuseppe Garibaldi joined 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. In 1861 Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of united Italy. Thus Cound Camillo de Cavour played an important role to unit Italy.
(c) The Greek war of independence: Greece had been part of the ottomon empire since the fifteenth century. the growth of revolutionary nationalism in Europe sparked off a struggle for independence among Greeks which began in 1821. Nationalists in greece living in exile and also from many west europeans who had sympathies for ancient Greek culture. Poets and artists lauded greece as the cradle of europeans civilization and mobilised public opinions to support its struggles against a muslim empire. The English poet Lord Bryon, organised funds and later went to fight in the war, where he died of fever in 1824. Finally,the treaty of constantinople of 1832 recognised Greece as an independent nation.
(d) Frankfurt Parliament: In the German region, a large number of political associations came together in the city of frankfurt and decided to vote for an all- German National Assembly. On 18th may 1848, 831 elected representatives marched in a festive procession to take their places in the Frankfurt Prliament convened in the Church of St. Paul. They drafted a constitution for a german nation to be headed by a monarchy subject to a Prliament.
(e) The role of women Nationalists Struggles: Women formed their own political associations. They founded newspapers and took part in political meetings and demonstrations. However5, they were still not deied the right to vote. They could not enter the Frankfurt parliamentr as representative but attente3d only as obsevers.
Q2. What steps did the French revolutionaries take to create a sense of collective identity among the French people?
Answer: 1) The idea of la patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen) emphasized the notion of a united community enjoying equal rights under a constitution.
2) A new French flag, the tricolour, was chosen to replace the formal royal standards.
3) The estates General was elected by the body of active citizens and renamed as a National Assembly.
4) New hymns were composed, oaths were taken and martyrs commemorated, all in the name of the nation.
5) A centralised administrative system was put in place and it formulated uniform laws all citizens within its territory.
6) Internal custom duties and dues were abolished and a uniform system of weights and measures was adopted.
Q3. Who were Marianne and Germania? What was the importance of the way in
which they were portrayed?
Answer: 1) Marianne was the allegory or symbol of french nation. Germania was the allegory or symbol of German nation.
2) They represented their respective country as if, it were a person. It sought to give an abstract idea of the nation in a concrete form.
Q4. Briefly trace the process of German unification.
Answer: The German middle class tried to unite the different regions of German into a nation state this was replaced by the combined forces of the monarchy and the military supported by large landowners then pressure took the initiative in German unification otto Von Bismarck which was the architect of the process carried out with the help of the prussian army in Bureaucracy theory was over seven years with Austria Denmark and finance and intuition victory and completed the process of German unification.
Q5. What changes did Napoleon introduce to make the administrative system more efficient in the territories ruled by him?
Answer: 1) The Napoleonic Code: This code was introduced in 1804. It ended the privilages based on the birth. It established equality before the law and secured the right to property.
2) Reform in Rural administrative system: The administrative divisions were simplified. Feudal system was ended. Peasants were feed from paying dues to the serfs and manors.
3) Reform in urban areas: The guild restrictions were removed. Transport and communication system were improved.
4) Reforms in trade: Introductionof uniform law, standardised weights and measures and common national currency, help the growth of trade and traders, a lot.
Discuss:
Q1. Explain what is meant by the 1848 revolution of the liberals. What were the political, social and economic ideas supported by the liberals?
Answer: The Revolution of 1848 of the liberals incorporates many national movements of professional middle classes, poor, unoccupied and hungry peasants and workers in Europe. The political, social and economic ideas of liberals reflected democracy.The political idea of Liberals emphasized on the notion of government by approval and the abolition of tyranny and special privilege. In short, they wanted Constitutional system of government.Socially they wanted to end the class structure and eradication of discrimination based on birth, which was prevalent in France.Economically the Liberals was that they wanted the emancipation of trade limitations imposed by the state.
Q2. Choose three examples to show the contribution of culture to the growth of nationalism in Europe?
Answer: Yes, it can be agreed that culture played an important role in creating the idea of the nation. The culture, in itself, includes language, folk songs, folk dances, music, operas etc. Let's see how these elements played their roles in giving shape to nationalism.
1) Language: In poland, polish language was banned in schools. In reaction to it, polish became the language of gatherings in Church. The use of Polish became a symbol of the struggle against Russian dominance in Europe.
2) Folk tales: Grimm brothers collected a number of folk tales and made them a weapon against the French dominance of Germany.
3)Music: National feeling were kept alive through music in poland
4) Operas and Folk Dances: Kurpinski used operas to celebrate national struggle. Folk dances like polanaise and mazurka were used in nationalists symbols in Poland.
Q3. Through a focus on any two countries, explain how nations developed over the nineteenth century?
Answer: In the ninteenth century, nation developed in many ways. For example:
1) Italy emerged after the long drawn wars between the forces of Sardinia-Piedmont and those who ruled at different parts of Italy, such as Austria, etc. But, it was only through successful diplomatic engineering that military could attain and results.
2)Britain, on the other hand, does not have any history of bloodshed. There the one ethnic, group -English, exerted its power over the other ethnic groups of the land by abolishing their national symbols, national dresses, national anthems, and by propagating its own national flag, national symbol and antional anthem.
Q4. How was the history of nationalism in Britain unlike the rest of Europe?
Answer: 1) Unlike the Germany and Italy or Franc, formation of nation state in britain was not an outcome of any revolution.
2) Before 18th century, no british nation state existed. The British nation was the result of a long and gradual political, Cultural and economic processes.
3) The parliament in Britain obtained power from the monarch in a long run ideological conflict and Britain emerged as a nation state.
4) A new and enlarged British nation was forged by propagating English culture in the nearby state. Ireland and scotland were the examples.
Q5. Why did nationalist tensions emerge in the Balkans?
Answer: 1) The Balkan was a region of geographical and ethnic variations comprising of modern-day Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro. The inhabitants were called Slavs.
2) The spread of romantic nationalism lead to its disintegration. One by one, it's European subject nationalities broke away.
3) Different Slavic nationalities struggled to define their identity and Balkan region became a region of intense conflict over expansion of territory.
4) At the same time, the great European Powers --Russia, Germany, England and Austro-Hungary were keen on taking the control of the Balkan region, since it was important from trade point of view.
5) This led to series of wars in the region and finally to the First World War.
