Ans) Giuseppe Mazzini was an Italian revolutionary. He was born in Genoa in 1807 and became a member of the secret society of the Carbonari. Mazzini founded underground societies. The first was Young Italy in Marseilles and the second was Young Europe in Bern, whose members were like-minded young men from Poland, France, Italy and the German states. Mazzini believed that God had made nations the natural unit of mankind. Therefore Italy could not remain a fragment of small states and empires. It had to be molded into a unified republic within a broad alliance of nations. This unification could be the basis of Italian independence. Following his model, secret societies were established in Germany, France, Switzerland and Poland. Mazzini’s consistent opposition to monarchy and his vision of democratic republics frightened conservatives.

Ans) Count Camillo de Cavour was the man who brought the second phase of the independence movement in Italy to fruition. In 1852, Victor Emmanuel made Cavour the Prime Minister of Sardinia-Piedmont. Cavour, 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 Italian. Through a clever diplomatic alliance with France by Cavour, Sardinia-Piedmont succeeded in defeating the Austrian forces in 1859. Cavour died on 6 June 1861. But he succeeded in achieving his objectives, as in February 1861, Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed ‘Emperor of Italy’ by the Italian Parliament.

Ans) Greek War of Independence:- Greece had been part of the Ottoman Empire since the fifteenth century. The rise of revolutionary nationalism in Europe triggered a war of independence among the Greeks, which began in 1821. Greek nationalists were supported by other Greeks in exile as well as many Western Europeans sympathetic to ancient Greek culture. Poets and artists celebrated Greece as the cradle of European civilization and mobilized public opinion in support of its struggle against the Muslim empire. The English poet Lord Byron raised funds and later joined the war, where he died of fever in 1824. Finally, the Treaty of Constantinople of 1832 recognized Greece as an independent nation.

Ans) Role of Women in Nationalist Struggles:- The issue of granting political rights to women has been controversial in the liberal movement, in which a large number of women have actively participated over the years. Women formed their own political organizations, established newspapers, and participated in political meetings and demonstrations. Despite this, they were denied suffrage during elections.

Ans) During the French Revolution, artists used female metaphors to represent ideas such as liberty, justice, and the republic. These ideals were represented through specific objects or symbols. In the 19th century, artists created similar female metaphors.

Statues of Marianne were erected in public squares to remind the public of the national symbol of unity and to inspire them to join it. Her symbols were also derived from the symbols of liberty and the republic—the red cap, the tricolor, and the cockade. Images of Marianne were minted on coins and postage stamps.

Germania became a metaphor for the German nation. In visual depictions, Germania wears a crown of oak leaves because the German oak is a symbol of valor. Germania’s sword reads: “The German sword protects the German Rhine.” In 1848, the black, red, and gold tricolor flag of the liberal-nationalists was banned by the dukes of the German states. The rays of the rising sun represent the beginning of a new era.

Ans) The important events of the French Revolutionaries were as follows-

1. As news of events in France reached various cities in Europe, students and other members of the educated middle class began setting up Jacobin clubs.
2. Their activities and campaigns paved the way for the French armies, which advanced into Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy in the 1790s.
3. With the outbreak of the Revolutionary Wars, French armies began to advance the ideology of nationalism abroad.

Ans) In the 18th and 19th centuries, artists humanized the nation and presented the nation as a person. Nations then began to be depicted as female figures. The female figure chosen to humanize the nation did not represent any specific woman in real life. It was intended to give concrete form to the abstract idea of the nation. Thus, the female figure became the metaphor of the nation. During the French Revolution, artists used female metaphors to express the ideas of liberty, justice, and the republic. These ideals were represented through specific objects or symbols.

Ans) The Frankfurt Parliament was an all-German National Assembly made up of middle-class professionals, merchants, and wealthy craftsmen from various regions of Germany. On May 18, 1848, 831 elected delegates joined a festive procession to take their place in the Frankfurt Parliament. This parliament was convened in St. Paul’s Church. They drafted a constitution for a German nation whose head was to be a monarchy, cut short by a parliament governed by a monarchy. When the delegates offered the crown to King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia, he refused it and joined other monarchs in opposing the elected assembly. While opposition from the aristocracy and the military grew, the social base of the parliament eroded.

Ans) The Revolutions of 1830 in France, particularly the July Revolution, led to the end of the Bourbon Restoration and the establishment of the July Monarchy under Louis-Philippe. Metternich once remarked, “When France sneezes, the rest of Europe catches a cold. The July Revolution sparked an upheaval in Brussels, due to which Belgium broke away from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Ans) The 1830s were indeed a period of significant hardship in Europe, marked by widespread economic and social problems. Following are more detailed explanation: 

1. Population Growth and Unemployment – In the first half of the 19th century the population increased rapidly all over Europe. This surge in population led to a greater demand for resources and jobs, but Available employment opportunities have not kept pace, resulting in widespread unemployment and poverty.
2. Rural Exodus and Overcrowding – Many people from rural areas migrate to cities in search of work, leading to overcrowding and the formation of slums.
3. Agricultural Distress – The 1830s were also characterized by poor harvests and rising food prices.
4. Industrial Competition – Countries like England, which had already begun to industrialise, were producing goods more efficiently with machines. This made imports cheaper, which reduced the market for small-scale producers in other European countries and increased economic instability.

Ans) The important events of the French revolutionaries were as follows-

1. As the news of the events in France reached the different cities of Europe, students and other members of the educated middle classes began setting up Jacobin clubs.
2. Their activities and campaigns paved the way for the French armies, which moved into Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, and Italy in the 1790s.
3. With the upsurge of the revolutionary wars, the French armies started to spread the nationalist ideology abroad.

Ans) In the large areas conquered by Napoleon, businessmen, particularly small-scale producers of goods, began to feel that uniform laws, standardized weights and measures, and a common national currency would facilitate the movement and exchange of goods and capital from one region to another.

But this initial enthusiasm soon turned into aggression, as the new administrative arrangements did not go according to the political freedom. Increased taxation, censorship, and forced recruitment into the French armies needed to conquer the rest of Europe all seemed to overcome the advantages of the administrative changes.

Ans) The ideology of liberalism of the early 19th century was as follows-

1. In the early 19th century in Europe, ideas of national unity were closely associated with the ideology of liberalism.
2. For the new middle classes, ‘liberalism’ meant freedom of the individual and equality before the law.
3. In the political sense, liberalism stressed the concept of government by consent.
4. Liberalism advocated the end of autocracy and clerical privileges, a constitution, and representative government through parliament. Liberals of the 19th century also emphasized the necessity of private property.

Ans) The purpose of the Treaty of Vienna of 1815 was to end most of the changes that had come about in Europe during the Napoleonic wars-

1. The Bourbon dynasty, which had been deposed during the French Revolution, was restored to power, and France lost the territories it had annexed under Napoleon.
2. Many states were set up on the boundaries of France to prevent French expansion in future.
3. The kingdom of the Netherlands was established in the north, which included Belgium, and Genoa was added to Piedmont in the south.
4. Austria was given control of northern Italy. In the east, Russia was given part of Poland whereas Prussia was given a portion of Saxony.

Ans) After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, the European governments were driven by a spirit of conservatism. Conservatives believed that established, traditional institutions of state and society, such as monarchy, the church, social hierarchies, property, and the family, should be preserved.

But most conservatives did not want to move back to the society of pre-revolutionary days. They had understood from the changes initiated by Napoleon that modernization could, infact, strengthen traditional institutions like the monarchy. It could make state power more effective and stronger. A modern army, an efficient bureaucracy, a dynamic economy, and the abolition of feudalism and serfdom could strengthen the autocratic monarchies of Europe.

Ans) The points of unification of Italy were as follows:-

1. In the mid-19th century, Italy was divided into seven states, of which only Sardinia-Piedmont was ruled by an Italian monarchy.
2. In the 1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini attempted to formulate a coherent programme for a unified Italian republic. He also formed a secret society called Young Italy to propagate his goals.
3. The responsibility for unifying the Italian states fell on Victor Emmanuel II, ruler of Sardinia-Piedmont. A unified Italy offered the ruling elite the prospect of economic growth and political dominance.
4. Through a shrewd diplomatic alliance with France by Cavour, Sardinia-Piedmont succeeded in defeating the Austrian forces in 1859.
5. Large numbers of armed volunteers led by Giuseppe Garibaldi took part in the war. In 1860, he entered Southern Italy and the Two Sicilies and succeeded in winning the support of the local peasantry to overthrow the Spanish rulers. In 1861, Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of a united Italy.

Ans) Attributers of Germania

Ans) During the 19th century in Europe, liberalism in the economic sphere can be expressed in the following points-

1. In the economic sphere, liberalism favored the freedom of markets, abolition of state-imposed restrictions on the movement of goods and capital.
2. Different currencies and many units of measurements, and customs barriers became hurdles in the economic field.
3. The new commercial classes viewed these conditions as obstacles to economic exchange and growth and argued for the creation of a unified economic territory allowing the unhindered movement of goods, people, and capital.
4. A wave of economic nationalism strengthened the wider nationalist sentiments growing at that time.