In Germany, the revolutionaries promoted the folk culture (folk songs, folk poetry and folk dances) to create a sense of common identity among the people.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nQuestion 3.
\nThrough a focus on any two countries, explain how nations developed over the nineteenth century.
\nAnswer:
\nSeveral nations developed in Europe over the nineteenth century; for example, Italy, Germany, Greece, Poland, Belgium, etc.
\n(i) Italy: Italy had a long history of political fragmentation. Italians were scattered over several dynastic states as well as the multi national Habsburg Empire. It became a nation because of the efforts of Cavour. He made strategic alliances with France to defeat the Austrian forces. After several wars, Italy came to be unified. It emerged as a nation-state.<\/p>\n
(ii) Greece: Greece proclaimed independence from Ottoman Empire by claiming its ancient culture which was entirely different from a Muslim empire. Many Greeks living in exile also supported this movement. The above examples show that various factors helped in the development of nation-states over the nineteenth century. In most of the cases, a history of shared culture, exploitation of the poor by the powerful and the origin of liberalism worked as catalyst in developing the sense of nationalism among the people of Europe.<\/p>\n
Question 4.
\nHow was the history of nationalism in Britain unlike the rest of Europe?
\nAnswer:
\nThe evolution of nationalism in Britain was a different case compared to the rest of Europe.
\n(i) In Britain, the formation of the nation-states was not the result of a sudden 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 and Irish.<\/p>\n
(ii) All these ethnic groups had their own cultural and political traditions. But as the English nation steadily grew in power, it was able to dominate the other nationalities of the British Isles.<\/p>\n
(iii) This resulted in the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain in which England was the dominant partner. It began to subdue other ethnic groups in a very systematic way.<\/p>\n
(iv) The Catholic clans that inhabited the Scottish Highlands suffered terrible repression whenever they attempted to assert their independence. Ireland suffered a similar fate. It was forcibly incorporated into the United Kingdom in 1801.<\/p>\n
(v) A new \u2018British nation\u2019 was forged through the propagation of a dominant English culture. The symbols of the new Britain such as the British flag, the national anthem and the English language were actively promoted and the older nations survived only as subordinate partners in this union.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Question 5.
\nWhy did nationalist tensions emerge in the Balkans?
\nAnswer:
\nThe area called the Balkans was the most serious source of nationalist tension in Europe after 1871.
\nThere were many reasons behind it-<\/p>\n
(i) 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. A large part of the Balkans was under the control of the Ottoman Empire.<\/p>\n
(ii) The spread of the ideas of romantic nationalism in the Balkans together with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire made this region very explosive.<\/p>\n
(iii) All through the nineteenth century the Ottoman Empire tried to strengthen itself through modernisation and internal reforms but achieved little success. One by one, its European subject nationalities broke away from its control and declared independence.<\/p>\n
(iv) The Balkan peoples used history and national identity 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 independence.<\/p>\n
(v) 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. These rivalries were very evident in the way the Balkan problem unfolded. Each power was keen on countering the hold of other powers over the Balkans, and extending its own control over the area.<\/p>\n
Project<\/strong>
\nFind out more about the changes in print technology in the last 100 years. Write about the changes, explaining why they have taken place, what their consequences have been.
\nAnswer:<\/p>\n