Rise of Nationalism in Europe PYQS
Rise of Nationalism in Europe PYQS
Rise of Nationalism in Europe PYQS
ANSWERS
Initially, in many places such as Holland and Switzerland, as well as in cities like
Brussels, Mainz, Milan and Warsaw, the French armies were welcomed as
harbingers of liberty. As new administrative arrangements did not go hand in
hand with political freedom, enthusiasm turned into hostility. Increased taxation,
censorship, forced conscription into the French armies to conquer the rest of
Europe, outweighed the advantages of the administrative changes.
Ans17. The nationalist tensions emerged in the Balkans due to the
following reasons:
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
known as the Slavs. A large part of the Balkans was under the control of the
Ottoman empire.
After the decline of the Ottoman empire and the growth of romantic nationalism
in the Balkans, the region became very explosive. Its European subject
nationalities broke away from its control and declared independence.
As the different nationalities struggled to define their identity and independence,
the Balkan area became an area of intense conflict. The Balkan states were
fiercely jealous of each other and each hoped to gain more territory at the
expense of others.
Ans18.
The year following 1815, was the period of revolutionaries. Most of the
revolutionaries were committed to oppose monarchical forms and to fight for
liberty and freedom
One such prominent revolutionary was "Giuseppe Mazzini", an Italian
revolutionary. Mazzini also saw the creation of nation states as a necessary part in
the struggle for freedom. Ele strongly believed in the unification of Italy as a
single unified republic which could be the basis of Italian liberty.
Mazzini's relentless opposition to monarchy and his vision of a democratic
republic frightened the Conservatives. His ideas also influenced the
revolutionaries of Germany, France, Switzerland and Poland.
Ans19. Napoleon had brought revolutionary changes in the administrative field in
order ton make the whole system rational and efficient. The Civil Code of 1804 is
usually known as the Napoleonic Code.
1 . The first major change was doing away with all privileges based on birth,
establishing equality before law and securing the right to property.
2. Administrative divisions were simplified.
3. Feudal system was abolished and peasants were freed from serfdom and
manorial dues (abuse of manorial lords).
4. In towns, guild restrictions were removed.
5. Transport and communication systems were improved.
Ans20. Following are the causes of economic hardships in Europe
during 1830s:
1. Europe had come under the grip of large scale unemployment. In most of the
countries there were more seekers of jobs than employment.
2. Cities had become overcrowded and slums had emerged as populations from
the rural areas migrated to the cities.
3. Small producers in towns were often faced with stiff competition from imports
of cheap machine-made goods from England where industrialization was more
advanced specially in the field of textile production.
4. In those regions of Europe, where aristocracy still enjoyed power, peasants
struggled under the burden of feudal dues and obligations.
5. The rise of food prices and bad harvests added to the hardships of the peasants.
Ans21.
The first clear-cut expression of nationalism came with the French Revolution in
1789. In 1789, France was under the rule of an absolute monarch.
When the revolutionaries came to power in France, they were determined to
create a new sense of unity and nationhood. For this, they emphasized the
concept of France being the father land (La Patrie) for all French people, who
were from now on addressed as citizens (citoyen). They were given the tricolour
flag, the three colours representing liberty, equality and fraternity.
French revolutionaries introduced various other measures such as:
1. The Estate General was elected by the body of active citizens and renamed the
National Assembly.
2. New hymns were composed, oaths taken and martyrs commemorated all in
the name of the nation.
3. A centralized administrative system was put in place and it formulated uniform
laws for all citizens within its territory.
4. Internal customs, duties and dues were abolished and a uniform system of
weights and measures was adopted.
Ans22. Unification of Germany: In the 18th century, Germany was divided into a
number of states. Some of these states ceased to exist during the Napoleonic
wars. At the end of the war, there were still 39 independent states in Germany.
Prussia was most powerful, dominated by big landlords known as Junkers.
(i) Nationalist feelings were widespread among middle class Germans who had
tried to unite the different regions of the German federation into a nation-state
governed by an elected Parliament.
(ii) In May 1848, a large number of political associations came together to vote for
an All German National Assembly. Their representatives met at Frankfurt and the
Frankfurt Assembly proposed the unification of Germany as a constitutional
monarchy under the King of Prussia as emperor.
(ii) The King of Prussia rejected the offer and the liberal initiative of nation
building was repressed by combined forces of the monarchy, the military and the
'Junkers'.
(iv) Then on, Prussia under its Chief Minister Otto von Bismarck led the movement
for unification of Germany. Bismarck carried out this process with the help of the
Prussian army and the bureaucracy. He fought three wars over seven years with
Denmark, Austria and France. Prussia was victorious in all these wars and the
process of unification was completed as a result of Prussia's victory over France.
(v) Consequently, on 18th January 1871, an assembly of princes of German states,
representatives of the army, important Prussian ministers and Bismarck gathered
in the Palace of Versailles and proclaimed the Prussian King, Kaiser William, the
new German Emperor.
Ans23. During the years following 1815, the fear of repression drove
many liberal nationalists underground.
1. Secret societies sprang up in many European states to train revolutionaries and
spread their ideas. Revolutionary ideas were spread by opposing monarchical
forms and to fight for liberty and freedom.
2. Most of the revolutionaries also saw the creation of nation states as a necessary
part of this struggle for freedom.
3. Giuseppe Mazzini was an Italian revolutionary born in Geneva in 1807. He was a
member of the Secret Society of the Carbonari. He attempted a revolution in 1831
and was sent into exile.
4. He had set up two more underground societies, namely, Young Italy (1832) in
Marseilles and then Young Europe in Berne. The members were like-minded
young men from Poland, France, Italy and Germany.
5. He opposed monarchy and small states and kingdoms and dreamt of a
Democratic Republic. He believed the unification of Italy alone could be the basis
of Italian liberty.
Ans24. Culture, music, dance and religion played an important role in
the growth of nationalism.
(i) Role of culture was important in creating the idea of the nation. Art, poetry,
music etc. helped in developing and expressing nationalist feelings. Romanticism
was a cultural movement that led to the development of nationalist sentiment.
Romantic artists and poets criticized the glorification of reason and science and
instead focussed on emotions and intuition.
(ii) Artists in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries portrayed nations as female
figures. 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 in concrete form. That is, the female figure became the allegory of the
nation. In France, she was named Marianne-a popular Christian name and in
Germany, Germania.
(iii) Language too played an important role in developing nationalist sentiments.
After the Russian occupation, the Polish language was forced out of schools and
the Russian language was imposed everywhere. In 1831, an armed rebellion
against Russian rule took place which was ultimately crushed. Following this,
many members of the clergy in Poland began to use language as a weapon of
national resistance.
(iv) Romantics such as the German philosopher Herder 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
was popularized.
Ans25. Liberalism or Liberal Nationalism stood for freedom for the
individual and equality of all before the law. Lour ideas of
Liberal Nationalists in the economic sphere are:
1 . Liberalism stood for freedom of markets and abolition of state imposed
restriction. For example, Napoleon's administration was a confederation of 29
states, each of these possessed its own currencies, weight and measures. Such
conditions were viewed as obstacles to economic exchange.
2. Liberal Nationalists argued for the creation of a unified economic territory
allowing the unhindered movement of goods, people and capital.
3. In 1834, a customs union or " zollverein" was formed. The union abolished tariff
barriers and reduced the number of currencies from 30 to 2.
4. The creation of a network of railways further stimulated mobility, harnessing
economic interest to national unification.