Chapter 1: Rise of Nationalism in Europe
Question 1. Write a note on:
(b) Count Camillo de Cavour
(c) The Greek war of independence
(d) Frankfurt Parliament(e) The role of women in nationalist struggles
Giuseppe Mazzini was an Italian. He was 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 - Young Italy in Marseilles and Young Europe in Berne.
Mazzini believed that God had intended nations to be the natural units of mankind.
(b) Count Camillo de CavourHe was the chief minister of Sardinia-Piedmont state. He led the movement to unify the regions of Italy. He 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.
He engineered a careful diplomatic alliance with France with the help of which Sardinia-Piedmont succeeded in defeating the Austrian forces in 1859. This, consequently helped to free the northern part of Italy from the Austrian Habsburgs.
(c) The Greek war of independence
It was an event that mobilised nationalist feelings among the educated elite across Europe. Greece had been a part of the Ottoman Empire since the 15th century.
The growth of revolutionary nationalism in Europe sparked off a struggle for independence amongst the Greeks which began in 1821.
Nationalists in Greece got support from other Greeks living in exile and also from many Western Europeans who had sympathies for the ancient Greek culture.
(d) Frankfurt parliament
All those political associations existing in the German region whose members were middle-class professionals, businessmen and prosperous artisans, formed an all-German National Assembly.
On Its first meeting was held on 18 May 1848 in the Church of St. Paul at Frankfurt where 831 elected representatives marched in a festive procession to take their places. They drafted a constitution for a German nation to be headed by a monarchy subject to a parliament.
When the deputies offered the crown on these terms to Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia, he rejected it and joined other monarchs to oppose the elected assembly
Question 2. What steps did the French revolutionaries take to create a sense of collective identity among the French people?
Answer. The French revolutionaries took many important steps to create a sense of collective identity among the French people. These were:
The French revolutionaries introduced various measures and practices that could create a sense of collective identity amongst the French people. The ideas of la patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen) emphasized the notion of a united community enjoying equal rights under a constitution.
A new French flag, the tricolour, was chosen to replace the former royal standard.
The Estates General was elected by the body of active citizens and renamed the National Assembly.
New hymns were composed, oaths taken and martyrs commemorated, all in the name of the nation.
A centralised administrative system was put in place and it formulated uniform laws for all citizens within its territory.
Internal customs duties and dues were abolished and a uniform system of weights and measures was adopted.
Regional dialects were discouraged and French, as it was spoken and written in Paris, became the common language of the nation.
Question 3. Who were Marianne and Germania? What was the importance of the way in which they were portrayed?
Answer: Marianne and Germania were female allegories for the French and the German nation respectively. These female allegories were used to portray ideas such as Liberty, Republic and Justice. These allegories remind the public of the national symbol of unity and to persuade them to identify with it.
Question 4. Briefly trace the process of German unification.
Answer: In 1848, the middle class Germans tried to unite the different regions of the German confederation into a nation-state governed by an elected parliament. They were, however, repressed by the combined forces of the monarchy and the military, supported by the large landowners of Prussia. From then on, Prussia took on the leadership of the movement for national unification. Its chief minister Otto von Bismarck was the architect of this process 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 unification. In January 1871, the Prussian king, William I, was proclaimed German Emperor in a ceremony held at Versailles.
Question 5. What changes did Napoleon introduce to make the administrative system more efficient in the territories ruled by him?
Answer: Napoleon introduced the following changes to make
He established civil code in 1804 also known as the Napoleonic Code.
It did away with all privileges based on birth. It established equality before the law and secured the right to property.
1 He simplified administrative divisions, abolished feudal system, and freed peasants from serfdom and manorial dues.
2 In towns too, guild systems were removed. Transport and communication systems were improved.
3 Guild restrictions were removed in the towns. Transport and communication systems were improved.
4 Peasants, artisans, businessmen and workers enjoyed the new found freedom.
Discuss
Question 1. 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 1848 revolution was led by the educated middle classes along with the poor, unemployed starving peasants and workers in Europe. In certain parts of Europe such as Germany, Italy, Poland and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, men and women of the liberal middle classes came together to push their demands for the creation of nation-states based on parliamentary principles.
The political, social and economic ideas supported by the liberals were:
Politically, they demanded constitutionalism with national unification. They wanted the creation of a nation-state with a written constitution and parliamentary administration.
Socially, they wanted to rid society of its class-based partialities and birth rights. Serfdom and bonded labour had to be abolished.
Economically, they wanted freedom of markets and right to property. Abolition of state imposed restrictions on the movements of goods and capital.
Question 2. Choose three examples to show the contribution of culture to the growth of nationalism in Europe.
Answer: Three examples to show the contribution of culture to the growth of nationalism in Europe are:
1Romanticism was a cultural movement which sought to develop a particular form of nationalist sentiment. Romantic artists and poets focused on emotions, intuition and mystical feelings as their effort was to create a sense of a shared collective heritage, a common cultural past, as the basis of a nation.
Folk songs, dances and poetry were regarded as the true spirit of the nation. So collecting and recording the different forms of folk culture was important for building the national consciousness.
The language also played an important role in developing nationalist sentiments. After Russian invasion, the Polish language was forced out of schools and the Russian language was imposed everywhere. After the failure of an armed rebellion against Russian rule in 1831, many members of the clergy in Poland began to use language as a weapon of national resistance. did so by refusing to preach in Russian, and by using Polish for Church gatherings and religious instruction. As a result, a large number of priests and bishops were put in jail or sent to Siberia by the Russian authorities as punishment for their refusal to preach in Russian. The use of Polish came to be seen as a symbol of the struggle against Russian dominance and helped spread the message of national unity.
Question 3. Through a focus on any two countries, explain how nations developed over the nineteenth century.
Answer: The development of the German and Italian nation-states in the nineteenth century.
Unification of Germany with the help of Army: In 1848, an attempt was made to unite different regions of the German Confederation into a nation-state governed by an elected parliament. However, this liberal initiative was repressed by the combined forces of the monarchy and the military, who were supported by the large landowners of Prussia. Thereafter, Prussia took on the leadership of the movement for national unification. Three wars over seven years with Austria, Denmark and France ended in Prussian victory and completed the process of unification. In January I 871, the Prussian king, William I, was proclaimed as the German emperor in a ceremony held at Versailles.
Unification of Italy by a princely house: In the middle of the 19th century, Italy was divided into seven states. Of these, only Sardinia-Piedmont was ruled by an Italian princely house. The north was under the Austrian-Habsburg Empire, the centre was ruled by the Pope while the southern regions were dominated by the Bourbon kings of France. Also, the Italian language had many regional and
local variations.
In the 1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini sought to formulate a coherent programme for a unitary Italian republic and also had established a secret society called Young Italy for the fulfillment of his goals. The revolutionary uprisings in 1831 and 1848 largely failed. Thus, the responsibility of uniting Italian states was now on King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia-Piedmont.
The Chief Minister of Italy, Cavour led the movement to unify the regions of Italy. He was able to conclude a diplomatic alliance with France. Also, 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, also joined the movement. In 1860, these troops marched into south Italy and the kingdom of Two Sicilies. These areas were liberated and later joined with Sardinia. In 1870, Rome was vacated by France and it became a part of Sardinia. Finally, Italy was unified in 1871.
Question 4. How was the history of nationalism in Britain unlike the rest of Europe?
Answer: The history of nationalism in Britain unlike the rest of Europe because:
In Britain the formation of the nation-state was not the result of a sudden upheaval or revolution. It was the result of a long-drawn-out process. There was no British nation prior to the eighteenth century.
The primary identities of the people who inhabited the British Isles were ethnic ones – such as English, Welsh, Scot or Irish.
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. The growth of a British identity meant that Scotland’s distinctive culture and political institutions were systematically suppressed.
The Catholic clans that inhabited the Scottish Highlands suffered terrible repression whenever they attempted to assert their independence. 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
5. Why did nationalist tensions emerge in the Balkans?
Answer: The Balkans was a region of ethnic and geographical variations comprising the modern-day Albania, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Serbia, Herzegovina and Montenegro. A large part of the Balkans was under the control of the Ottoman Empire. The spread of the ideas of romantic nationalism in the Balkans together with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire made this region very explosive. All through the nineteenth century the Ottoman Empire had sought to strengthen itself through modernisation and internal reforms but with very little success. 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. Hence the rebellious nationalities in the Balkans thought of their struggles as attempts to win back their long-lost independence.
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