About This Section
This is a collection of important questions with complete model answers covering the whole of Chapter 1 — The Rise of Nationalism in Europe. They are grouped by marks — 1-mark, 3-mark and 5-mark — for thorough Board preparation.
1-Mark Questions
Q1. Who prepared the 1848 prints of a world of democratic and social Republics? Ans. The French artist Frédéric Sorrieu.
Q2. In which year did the French Revolution give the first clear expression of nationalism? Ans. 1789.
Q3. What is the Napoleonic Code also known as? Ans. The Civil Code of 1804.
Q4. Who hosted the Congress of Vienna in 1815? Ans. The Austrian Chancellor Duke Metternich.
1-Mark Questions (continued)
Q5. Who was the architect of German unification? Ans. Otto von Bismarck.
Q6. In which year was Victor Emmanuel II proclaimed king of united Italy? Ans. 1861.
Q7. What was the female allegory of the French nation called? Ans. Marianne.
Q8. Which region was the most serious source of nationalist tension after 1871? Ans. The Balkans.
3-Mark Questions
Q9. Explain the ideas of liberal nationalists in the political and economic spheres. Ans. Politically, liberals stood for government by consent, a constitution and representative parliament, equality before the law and the inviolability of private property (though suffrage was limited to propertied men). Economically, they wanted freedom of markets and the abolition of state restrictions on the movement of goods and capital — a demand met by the zollverein of 1834.
3-Mark Questions (continued)
Q10. Describe the role of the Grimm Brothers in developing German nationalism. Ans. The Grimm Brothers (Jacob and Wilhelm) collected folktales from village to village, publishing their first collection in 1812, and compiled a 33-volume German dictionary. They saw French domination as a threat to German culture and believed folktales expressed a pure and authentic German spirit, thus contributing to a German national identity.
3-Mark Questions (continued)
Q11. What steps did the French revolutionaries take to create a sense of collective identity among the French? Ans. They promoted la patrie and le citoyen, adopted the tricolour, renamed the Estates General the National Assembly, composed hymns and honoured martyrs, set up a centralised administration with uniform laws, weights and measures, abolished internal customs, and made French the common language.
5-Mark Questions
Q12. Describe the process of the unification of Germany. Ans. After the liberal attempt of 1848 failed, Prussia led the unification, backed by the Junkers. Its chief minister Otto von Bismarck used the Prussian army and bureaucracy to fight three wars over seven years with Austria, Denmark and France, all won by Prussia. On 18 January 1871, the Prussian king William I was proclaimed German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. The new state modernised the currency, banking and judicial systems on the Prussian model.
5-Mark Questions (continued)
Q13. Explain the unification of Italy. Ans. Italy was divided into seven states; only Sardinia-Piedmont had an Italian ruler. Mazzini sought a republic through Young Italy, but the risings of 1831 and 1848 failed. Cavour, chief minister of Sardinia-Piedmont, allied with France and defeated Austria in 1859. Garibaldi's Red Shirts led the Expedition of the Thousand (1860) to the south, driving out the Spanish rulers. In 1861 Victor Emmanuel II became king of united Italy, and in 1870 Rome was joined to Italy.
Q14. How did nationalism turn into imperialism by the end of the nineteenth century? Ans. By the last quarter of the nineteenth century, nationalism became a narrow, intolerant creed. Nationalist groups grew ready for war, and the great powers used the nationalist aspirations of subject peoples for their imperialist aims. The Balkans, under a declining Ottoman Empire, became a scene of big-power rivalry (Russia, Germany, England, Austro-Hungary) that led to wars and finally the First World War.