NCERT Solutions for class 10th Social Science Chapter 16 History – The Rise of Nationalism in Europe.

Discuss

On Page 3 

Question 1. In what way do you think this print (Fig. 1) depicts a utopian vision?

Answer: ‘Utopian vision’ means that it is depicting something idealistic. The French artist FSorrieu was visualizing a dream of a world made up of nations (all of them did not exist as nations at the time that these prints were made). He showed the German people with a common flag, although actually, they were a number of different states at that time. So it is an idealistic or utopian vision.

On Page 4

Question 1. Summarise the attributes of a nation, as Renan understands them. Why in his view, are nations important?

Answer: Ernst Renan was a French philosopher and attributes of a nation are according to him as follows-

  1.  A nation is not formed by a common language, race, religion or territory.
  2. To form a nation, social capital, common glories and deeds of the past, and common will are necessary.
  3. Nation is a large scale solidarity.
  4. Inhabitants of a nation have the right to be consulted in reference of large scale solidarity.
  5. The existence of a nation is not only a good thing but also a necessity.
  6. A nation has never had any real interest in annexing or holding on to a country against its will.

Importance of Nation according to Renam

  1. The existence of the nation is a guarantee of liberty.
  2.  Liberty will not be more in case the world had only one law and only one master.

On Page 8

Question 1. How did nationalism and the idea of the nation-state emerge?

Answer: Nationalism and the idea of the nation-state emerged within the culturally and regionally diverse groups of Europe. Due to industrialization and transformation of society there emerged a middle class consisting of businessmen, working professionals, industrialists, labourers and working class people. Out of these, the educated people thought of uniting the culturally compatible sections of people in Europe. This le d to nationalism and emergence of the idea of the nation-state.

On Page 10

Question 1. Describe the political ends that List hopes to achieve through economic measures.

Answer: A customs union known as Zollverin was formed at the initiative of Prussia and joined by most of the German states. This union removed internal impediments and summed up 32 currencies into two. Besides this, it the aim of the union is to bind the Germans economically into a nation by strengthening the nation materially through its protection of interests externally and stimulating its internal productivity. It must be awakened and national sentiments should be raised through a fusion of individual and state interests .

On Page 11

Question 1. Plot on a map of Europe the changes drawn up by the Vienna Congress

Answer:

Question 2. What is the caricaturist trying to depict?

Answer: The caricaturist is depicting the club of liberal nationalists which dates back 1820. Conservative regimes were set up in 1815. Th ese regimes were autocratic they were not ready to tolerate criticism and dissent. They curbed all the actions which put a question mark on the legitimacy of autocratic governments. Most of the regimes had imposed censorship law to have control over freedom of the press and over songs motivating the ideas of liberty.

On Page 15

Question 1. Discuss the importance of language and popular traditions in the creation of national identity.

Answer: Language played a very important role in the creation of national identity. Grimm brothers, namely Jacob and Wilhelm Grim, born in Hanau, a German city, wrote ‘Fairy Tales’ which became popular among children and adults. They brought the folktales to the public through their creations in German language which encouraged the feelings of the people to achieve freedom of the press. The Grimm brothers tried to oppose French domination that was a danger to German culture. They did a lot of work for the development of German language and creation of German Nationality in reference to identity. They also published a 33 volume dictionary of German language which was also a wider effort to oppose French domination. Poems, music, stories, folk songs, folk dances, etc are mean s that create the idea of a nation. Besides it they help to express and form national feelings through the creation of shared heritage and common culture. Collective identity among the French people was created by the French revolutionaries by discouraging local dialects and encouraging French. Use of vernacular language in Poland became helpful in dissemination of modern nationalist feelings among the large illiterate population. After Russian occupation, the Polish language was forced out and the Russian language was imposed everywhere. Due to some reasons, Polish came in use for church gathering and preaching and in due course, Polish came to be seen as a symbol of the struggle against Russian domination.

On Page 16

Question 1. Describe the cause of the ‘Silesian weavers’ uprising. Comment on the viewpoint of the journalist.

Answer: The cause of the Silesian weaver’s uprising was the cheating of the weavers by the contractors. In 1845, the weavers raised a revolt against the contractors who used to supply them raw material to weave textiles in finished form. The contractors drastically reduced their payments. The viewpoint of the journalist Wilhelm Wolft for this uprising was as follows– Weaver’s crowd reached the house of the contractor and demanded higher wages. They were not treated well, so a group of the crowd entered the contractors house forcibly and destroyed the furniture, window panes, plundered it. This shows that the viewpoint of the journalist was biased against the weavers and in favour of the contractor. On the other hand, the journalist did not understand the root cause of the uprising . He did not understand the poverty of weavers.

Question 2. Imagine you are a weaver who saw the events as they unfolded. Write a report on what you saw.

Answer: I have worked very hard to supply the woven cloth in time, but received very less payment than what was agreed to by the contractor. Since other weavers had also got less payment, on the afternoon of June 4, I went along with my partner and other weavers to the contractor’s home for asking for better wages for our weaving. Our demands were scornfully refused and we were even threatened that no more work will be given to us if we did not work at the same rate as what was paid to us. Some of my fellow weavers got angry at this and broke the window panes of the contractor’s house, barged inside and damaged his furniture and crockery. Some weavers also broke open his store of woven cloth and tore it all up. Seeing this, the contractor ran away from the house with his family to a nearby village, but there also he did not get shelter. Next day, the contractor returned with soldiers from the army, who fired at our group of weavers, killing eleven of them. I was injured in the leg by a bullet and am now nursing my wounds as I write this.

On Page 18

Question 1 Compare the positions on the question of women’s rights voiced by the three writers cited above. What do they reveal about liberal ideology?

Answer: The liberal politician Carl Welcker, an elected member of the frankfurt Parliament, says that

  • (i) Woman is weaker than man and her sphere is the home where she keeps children and does household duties such as cooking, washing and cleaning, etc.
  • (ii) Equality between the sexes or woman and man would only endanger harmony and destroy the dignity of the family.
  • (iii) According to Louise Otto-Peters, a political activist and founder of a woman’s journal and a feminist political association, Men who try to gain freedom and liberty for all do not obey this but their untiring efforts are intended for the welfare of only men. She advocated that liberty cannot be divided among the men and women.

An Anonymous writer says that

  • It is unjustice to discriminate against women on the basis of gender.
  • The women should not be deprived of the right to vote while an illiterate man has given the right to vote.
  • The above discussion shows that Louise Otto-Peters and the Anonymous writer favour woman on the basis of rights of liberty and equality.
  • The first writer does not favour woman’s rights of liberty and equality.

On Page 20

Question 1. Describe the caricature. How does it represent the relationship between Bismarck and the elected deputies of Parliament? What interpretation of democratic processes is the artist trying to convey?

Answer: The caricature depicts Bismarck, Chancellor of Germany as holding a whip (signifying that he is a ruthless man ruling with an iron hand) while leading the Parliament. The deputies who were elected are afraid of him and so are hiding under their tables. The caricature depicts the dominance of Bismarck over the deputies and how he despised liberalism and parliamentary assemblies. The artist is trying to convey that the democratic process in Germany was very shallow and the roots of constitutionalism were poor.

On Page 21

Question 1. Look at Fig. 14(a). Do you think that the people living in any of these regions thought of themselves as Italians? Examine Fig. 14(b). Which was the first region to become a part of unified Italy? Which was the last region to join? In which year did the largest number of states join?

Answer: In 1858, Italy was divided into seven states, with the North being under the Austrian Habsburgs, the centre being ruled by the Pope and the Southern regions being under Spain’s domination. Only one state, Sardinia-Piedmont was ruled by an Italian princely house. The Italian language also had not acquired a common form and had many regional and local variations. So people living in these regions, except Sardinia -Piedmont, would not have thought of themselves as Italians. The first regions to become a part of unified Italy in 1858 were Savoy Sardinia followed by the Northern states. The last region to join was the Papal State in 1870. The largest number of states joined in 1860.

On Page 22

Question 1. The artist has portrayed Garibaldi as holding on to the base of the boot, so that the King of Sardinia-Piedmont can enter it from the top. Look at the map of Italy once more. What statement is this caricature making?

Answer: The base of the boot symbolises the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which lay in the southernmost part of the Italian peninsula. Garibaldi had won this kingdom and handed it over to King Victor EmmanuelII . This cartoon signifies the unification of Italy and Garibaldi’s role in it.

On Page 24

Question 1. With the help of the chart in Box 3, identify the attributes of Veit’s Germania and interpret the symbolic meaning of the painting.

In an earlier allegorical rendering of 1836, Veit had portrayed the Kaiser’s crown at the place where he has now located the broken chain. Explain the significance of this change.

Answer: The symbolic meaning of the painting is that the German nation has emerged. The female figure of Germania is an allegory of the German nation. All the attributes of the German nation can be seen in the painting as given in Box 3. The replacement of the Kaiser’s crown with the broken chain signifies that the German nation is now free from autocratic monarchical rule.

Question 2. Describe what you see in Fig. 18. What historical events could Hübner be referring to in this allegorical vision of the nation?

Answer: The painter depicted Germania as a fallen woman with the crown and standard thrown aside because German people’s hopes to be united under one monarch (King Friedrich Willhelm IV) were dashed as he rejected their demand in 1848. The artist, Julius Hubner, depicted Germania in a forlorn state due to this rejection by the king. It symbolized the loss of hope. The crown and standard are symbols of the monarchy, which have been cast aside.

On Page 25

Question 1. Look once more at Fig. 10. Imagine you were a citizen of Frankfurt in March 1848 and were present during the proceedings of the Parliament. How would you (a) as a man seated in the hall of deputies, and (b) as a woman observing from the galleries, relate to the banner of Germania hanging from the ceiling?

Answer :

  • As a man seated in the hall of deputies, I would relate positively to the banner of Germania, as I would feel all that it symbolized was coming true.
  • As a woman observing from the galleries, I would consider the banner to depict the truth only partially. Women had participated with men equally in the struggle for constitutionalism with national unification, but they were denied suffrage rights during elections to the National Assembly. Women were only admitted to the assembly as passive citizens and observers.

Exercises

Write in brief

Question 1. 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 Struggle

Answer :

  • (a) Guiseppe Mazzini was an Italian revolutionary. He was born in Genoa in 1807. He was sent into exile at the age of 24 in 1831 for attempting a revolution in Liguria. He founded two secret societies, namely Young Italy and Young Europe. He inspired the young members of these societies to involve in revolutionary activities. Following his ideas and on the model of his secret societies, more such societies were set up in Germany, France, Switzerland and Poland. Austrian Chancellor Duke Mattermich once describe him as ‘the most dangerous energy of our social order’.
  • (b) Count Camillode Cavour was the Chief Minister of Piedmont. He was neither a democrat nor a revolutionary. But he led the movement to unify the regions of Italy. Through tact and diplomacy he entered into an alliance with France and succeded in defeating Austrian forces in 1859.
  • (c) This was a successful war waged by Greek revolutionaries between 1821 and 1829 against the Ottoman Empire. Greek nationalists were influenced by the idea of Liberal nationalism. They were supported by the West European countries in this war of independence. Further, the poets and artists, who added romanticism to the Greek struggle of independence, participated in this war against the Ottoman Empire. With the Treaty of Constantinople in 1832 Greece was recognised as an independent nation.
  • (d) The German middle class decided to vote for an all – German National Assembly in 1848, and 831 persons were elected. They comprised the National Assembly. The assembly decided to organise the Parliament at Frankfurt in the church of St. Paul. Thus, on 18th May, 1848, the famous Frankfurt Parliament was convened. The assembly decided that the German nation would be a constitutional monarchy controlled by Parliament, and offered the crown to the Prussian King, Friedrich Wilhelm IV. But he rejected it and joined other monarchs to oppose the elected assembly. The Parliament also faced strong opposition from the aristocracy and military as it was dominated by the middle class who resisted the demands of workers and artisans. As a result of this the middle class lost their mass support. Ultimately, the monarchy and military combined together with the aristocracy and won over the liberal nationalist middle class. This forced the assembly to disband. Therefore, the Frankfurt Parliament is famous in history as a failure of liberalism and a victory of the monarchy.
  • (e) Women played very significant roles in nationalist struggles all over the world. They actively participated in movements, faced the tortures of police, stood by their male counterparts, spread the idea of liberal nationalism and also were members of various revolutionary organisations. A good example is the French Revolution, in which men and women participated equally. Even the concept of Liberty is personified as a woman. Liberal nationalism proposed the idea of universal suffrage, leading to women’s active participation in nationalist movements in Europe. In spite of this, they were given little or no political rights or right to vote till the end of the 19th century.

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 the following steps to create a sense of collective identity among the French people

  • (i) They introduced the ideas of lapatrie (the fatherland) and lecitoyen (the citizen), emphasizing the concept of a united community enjoying equal rights under a Constitution.
  • (ii) They choose a new French flag, the tricolour, to replace the royal standard.
  • (iii) The Estates General was elected by the body of active citizens and renamed the National Assembly.
  • (iv) In the name of the nation, new hymns were composed, oaths taken and martyrs commemorated.
  • (v) They established a centralised administrative system, which formulated uniform laws for all citizens.
  • (vi) They adopted a uniform system of weights and measures.
  • (vii) All internal custom duties were abolished.
  • (viii) They promoted the French language, as spoken and written in Paris, over regional dialects.
  • (ix) They declared that it was the mission and destiny of the French nation to liberate people of Europe from despotism. What it meant was that they would help other people of Europe to become nation-states like them.

Question 3. Who were Marianne and Germania? What was the importance of way in which they were portrayed?

Answer : Marianne and Germania were the female allegories of France and German nations respectively. They stood as personifica tions of the ‘Republic’ and ‘Liberty’. They were portrayed such that the y gave the abstract idea of a nation in a concrete form. Thus they would i nstill a sense of nationality in the citizens of these countries.

Question 4. Briefly trace the process of German unification.

Answer : The Frankfurt Parliament, which was convented in 1848, was t he first major step taken towards the unification of German sta tes. But this liberal initiatives of nation building was repressed by the combined forces of the Monarchy and big landlords of Prussia. From then Pruss ia took the initiative to unify Germany. Otto Von Bismarck, the Chief Minister of Prussia, carried ou t the process of unification with the help of ths Prussian army and bureaucra cy. Bismarck was convinced that the unification of Germany could be only a chieved by the princes, not by the people.

He wanted to achieve his aim by merging Prussia into Germany. In 1867, Bismarck became the chancell or of the North confederation. Bismarck’s main objective was to unify Germany and was accomplished by three wars which were fought in a brief period of seven years. These wars were ended with the victory of Prussia which helped in compteting the process of German unification on 18th January, 1871, in the Royal Palace of Versalles, the king of Prussia was crowned as the German Emperor. It symbolised the birth of a united Germany.

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 the administrative system more efficient in the areas ruled by him

  • He established Civil Code of 1804, also known as the Napoleonic Code. This did away with all privileges based on birth. It established equality before law and secured the right to property.
  • He simplified administrative divisions, abolished the feudal system, and freed peasants from serfdom and manorial dues.
  • In towns, guild systems were removed. Transport and communication systems were improved.

Due to the above measures, peasants, artisans, businessmen and workers enjoyed a new found freedom. Businessmen and small-scale producers realised that uniform laws, a common currency and standardised weights and measures would facilitate movement and exchange of goods between regions.

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 : By the 1848 revolution of the liberals we mean, the revolution led by the educated middle classes of Europe. Events of February 1848, in France brought about the abdication of the monarchy and a republic based on universal male franchise was formed.
Ideals Supported

  • Politically, it emphasised the concept of government by consent, abolition of autocracy and special privileges.
  • Socially, the liberals supported the abolition of discrimination based on birth.
  • Economically, it stood for the abolition of trade restrictions imposed by the state.

Question 2. Choose threee examples to show the contribution of culture to the growth of nationalism in Europe.

Answer : Examples of contribution of culture to the growth of nationlism in Europe are:

  • The idea of a nation can be created through stories, poets and writings. Music too can help in expressing nationalist feelings or sentiments.
  • Romanticism, a cultural movement which emerged in Europe, sought to develop a particular form of nationlist sentiments or national feelings. The main aim of romantic artists was to create a sense of a shared collective heritage and a common cultural past.
  • Language also played an important role in developing the national sentiments or nationalist feeling. e.g ., in Poland, language began to be used as a weapon of national resistance. The wide scale use of Polish language came to be seen as a symbol of struggle against national dominance.

Question 3. Through a focus on any two countries, explain how nations developed over the 19th century.

Answer : We will focus on the development of the German and Italian nation states in the nineteenth century, considering the following points

  • Political Fragmentation Till the middle of the 19th century, the present-day states of Germany and Italy were fragmented into separate regions and kingdoms ruled by different princely houses.
  • Revolutionary Uprisings Nineteenth-century Europe was characterised by both popular uprisings of the masses and revolutions led by the educated, liberal middle classes. In the case of the German people, the middle classes belonging to different German regions came together to form an all-German National Assembly in 1848. However, on facing opposition from the aristocracy and military, and on losing its mass support base, it was forced to disband. In the Italian region, during the 1830s, revolutionaries like Giuseppe Mazzini tried to establish an Italian Republic. However, the revolutionary uprisings of 1831 and 1848 failed to unite Italy.
  • Unification with the Help of the Army After the failure of the revolutions, the process of unification was pursued by the aristocracy and the army in both these nations. Germany was united by the Prussian Chief Minister Otto von Bismarck with the help of the Prussian army and bureaucracy. Finally the German empire was proclaimed in 1871. The Italian state of Sardinia-Piedmont played the role of uniting Italy, similar to that played by Prussia in the case of Germany. Count Camillo de Cavour (the Chief Minister of Sardinia-Piedmont) led the movement to unite the separate states of nineteenth-century Italy with the help o f the army and an alliance with France. The regions annexed by Giuseppe Garibaldi and his Red Shirts joined with the Northern regions to form a united Italy in 1861. The Papal states joined it in 1870.

Question 4. How was the history of nationalism in Britain unlike the rest of Europe?

Answer : No British Nation was in existence before the 18th century. Different ethnic groups of people were there in the British Isles such as English, Welsh, Scot and Irish. Each of these ethnic groups had their own cultural and political traditions. On the other hand, the rest of Europe had no such arrangements. Nationlism in Britain was not the result of a sudden upheaval or revolution. It was due to a long drawn process. The English nation possessed the other three nations of the islands through a steady growth in property, wealth and power. Besides this, the English language, British Flag and National Anthem were promoted as national symbols to identify the nationality of the nation.

The British Parliament became the chief instrument to curb the power of the monarchy in 1688 through a bloodless revolution. The Act of Union (1707) between England and Scotland formed the United Kingdom of Great Britain. With the advent of English power the English removed the cultural, political institutions of Scotland forcefully and the scots were banned from speaking the Gaelic language and put on the national dress.

There were two classes of the people in Ireland; Catholics an d Protestants. The English liked the Protestants in comparison to Catholics. The English with the help of the Protestants supressed the Catholics and forcibly united Ireland with the United Kingdom in 1801. The symbols of the new Britain-the National Flag (Union Jack ), the National Anthem (God save our Noble king) and the English language were actively promoted. Scotland and Ireland became the subordinate partners of the United Kingdom.

Question 5. Why did national tensions emerge in the Balkans?

Answer : Nationalist tension emerged in the Balkans because the Balk an states were aspiring for nationalism.

The Balkans was a region comparising modern day Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro and their inhabitants were called slavs. The major portion of the Balkans was under the Ottoman empire.

In the 19th century, the Ottoman empire attempted to remove t he internal backwardness of the state and its people by adopting modern techniques, but could not succeed.

There was jealousy among the Balkan states and each hoped to expand the boundaries of their land. The ideology of Europe was changed during this period and liberal democratic feelings became a narrow creed with limited ends. There were intolerance towards each other and they were always ready to fight a war. The European powers, Russia, Germany, Austria, Hungary and Britain were also interested to further their own imperialism.

Besides during this period, these European powers were involved in an intense struggle over trade, colonies and naval and military might. Each power was keen on countering the hold of the other powers and extending its own control.

Share this: