NCERT Solutions for Class 10 History Chapter 1 The Rise of Nationalism in Europe

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 History Chapter 1 The Rise of Nationalism in Europe are given in this article. These solutions will help you learn the facts and events easily. With these solutions, you will also learn the right way to write your answers perfectly in exams. We have updated the NCERT Solutions for Class 10 History Chapter 1 Rise of Nationalism in Europe for the current session so that you can easily score high marks in the exams. You can also download PDF of the solutions and use them whenever you are offline.

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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 struggles

Answer: (a) Guiseppe Mazzini: He was an Italian revolutionary who played a significant role in promoting the idea of a unified Italian state. He believed that nations were the natural units of mankind, and so Italy (which was then divided into a number of small states and kingdoms) had to be forged into a single unified republic. During the 1830s, he strived to put together a coherent programme for such a unitary Italian Republic. He also set up two secret societies, namely Young Italy and Young Europe. These societies helped in the dissemination of his ideas.

(b) Count Camillo de Cavour:

He was the chief minister of Sardinia-Piedmont state. He led the movement to unify the regions of Italy. He was neither a revolutionary nor a democrat.
Like many other wealthy and educated members of the Italian elite, he spoke French much better than he did Italian.
He engineered a careful diplomatic alliance with France with the help of which Sardinia-Piedmont succeeded in defeating the Austrian forces in 1859. This, consequently helped to free the northern part of Italy from the Austrian Habsburgs

(c) The Greek war of independence: This was a successful war of independence waged by Greek revolutionaries between 1821 and 1829 against the Ottoman Empire. The Greeks were supported by the West European countries, while poets and artists hailed Greece as the cradle of European civilisation. Finally, the Treaty of Constantinople of 1832 recognised Greece as an independent nation.

(d) Frankfurt parliament: It was an all-German National Assembly formed by the middle-class professionals, businessmen and prosperous artisans belonging to the different German regions. It was convened on 18 May, 1848 in the Church of St. Paul, in the city of Frankfurt. This assembly drafted a constitution for a German nation to be headed by a monarchy subject to a parliament. However, it faced opposition from the aristocracy and military. Also, as it was dominated by the middle classes, it lost its mass support base. In the end, it was forced to disband on 31 May, 1849.

(e) The role of women in nationalist struggles: Artistic representations of the French Revolution show men and women participating equally in the movement. Liberty is personified as a woman; also, liberal nationalism propounded the idea of universal suffrage, leading to women’s active participation in nationalist movements in Europe. Although women had actively participated in nationalist struggles, they were given little or no political rights; an example being the Frankfurt parliament where women were admitted only as observers to stand in the visitors’ gallery.

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 many important steps to create a sense of collective identity among the French people. These were:

The French revolutionaries introduced various measures and practices that could create a sense of collective identity amongst the French people. The ideas of la patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen) emphasized the notion of a united community enjoying equal rights under a constitution.
A new French flag, the tricolour, was chosen to replace the former royal standard.
The Estates General was elected by the body of active citizens and renamed the National Assembly.
New hymns were composed, oaths taken and martyrs commemorated, all in the name of the nation.
A centralised administrative system was put in place and it formulated uniform laws for all citizens within its territory.
Internal customs duties and dues were abolished and a uniform system of weights and measures was adopted.
Regional dialects were discouraged and French, as it was spoken and written in Paris, became the common language of the nation.

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

Answer: Marianne and Germania were respective female allegories for the French and the German nation. They stood as personifications of ideals like ‘liberty’ and ‘the republic’. The importance of the way in which they were portrayed lay in the fact that the public could identify with their symbolic meaning, and this would instil a sense of national unity in them.

Question 4: Briefly trace the process of German unification.

Answer: In 1848, the middle class Germans tried to unite the different regions of the German confederation into a nation-state governed by an elected parliament. They were, however, repressed by the combined forces of the monarchy and the military, supported by the large landowners of Prussia. From then on, Prussia took on the leadership of the movement for national unification. Its chief minister Otto von Bismarck was the architect of this process with the help of the Prussian army and bureaucracy. Three wars over seven years – with Austria, Denmark and France – ended in Prussian victory and completed the process of unification. In January 1871, the Prussian king, William I, was proclaimed German Emperor in a ceremony held at Versailles.

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 in 1804 also known as the Napoleonic Code. It did away with all privileges based on birth. It established equality before the law and secured the right to property.
He simplified administrative divisions, abolished feudal system, and freed peasants from serfdom and manorial dues. In towns too, guild systems were removed. Transport and communication systems were improved.
Guild restrictions were removed in the towns. Transport and communication systems were improved.
Peasants, artisans, businessmen and workers enjoyed the new found freedom.

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: The 1848 revolution of the liberals refers to the various national movements pioneered by educated middle classes alongside the revolts of the poor, unemployed and starving peasants and workers in Europe. While in countries like France, food shortages and widespread unemployment during 1848 led to popular uprisings, in other parts of Europe (such as Germany, Italy, Poland and the Austro-Hungarian Empire), men and women of the liberal middle classes came together to voice their demands for the creation of nation-states based on parliamentary principles.

In Germany, for example, various political associations comprising middle-class professionals, businessmen and prosperous artisans came together in Frankfurt to form an all-German National Assembly. This Frankfurt parliament drafted a constitution for a German nation to be headed by a monarchy subject to a parliament. Though such liberal movements were ultimately suppressed by conservative forces, the old order could never be restored. The monarchs realised that the cycles of revolution and repression could only be ended by granting concessions to the liberal-nationalist revolutionaries.

The political, social and economic ideas supported by the liberals were clearly based on democratic ideals. Politically, they demanded constitutionalism with national unification—a nation-state with a written constitution and parliamentary administration. They wanted to rid society of its class-based partialities and birth rights. Serfdom and bonded labour had to be abolished, and economic equality had to be pursued as a national goal. The right to property was also significant in the liberals’ concept of a nation based on political, social and economic freedom.

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

Answer: Apart from wars and territorial expansion, culture also played a crucial role in the development of nationalism. Romanticism was a European cultural movement aimed at developing national unity by creating a sense of shared heritage and common history. The Romantic artists’ emphasis on emotions, intuition and mystical feelings gave shape and expression to nationalist sentiments. The strength of art in promoting nationalism is well exemplified in the role played by European poets and artists in mobilising public opinion to support the Greeks in their struggle to establish their national identity.

Folk songs, dances and poetry contributed to popularising the spirit of nationalism and patriotic fervour in Europe. Collecting and recording the different forms of folk culture was important for building a national consciousness.

Language also played a very important role. After the Russian occupation, the Polish language was forced out of schools, and the Russian language was imposed everywhere. The Clergy in Poland began using language as a weapon of national resistance. Polish was used for Church gatherings and all religious instructions. The use of Polish came to be seen as a symbol of struggle against Russian dominance.

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

Answer: The development of the German and Italian nation states in the nineteenth century Political fragmentation: Till the middle of the nineteenth century, the present-day nations 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. The middle classes belonging to the 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 sought to establish a unitary 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 German and Italian unification was continued by the aristocracy and the army. Germany was united by the Prussian chief minister Otto von Bismarck with the help of the Prussian army and bureaucracy. The German empire was proclaimed in 1871.

The Italian state of Sardinia-Piedmont played a role similar to that played by Prussia. Count Camillo de Cavour (the Chief Minister) led the movement to unite the separate states of nineteenth-century Italy with the help of 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. The Italian nation was proclaimed in 1861. The Papal States joined in 1870.

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

Answer: The history of nationalism in Britain unlike the rest of Europe because:

In Britain the formation of the nation-state was not the result of a sudden upheaval or 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 or Irish.
The Act of Union (1707) between England and Scotland that resulted in the formation of the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain’ meant, in effect, that England was able to impose its influence on Scotland. The British parliament was henceforth dominated by its English members. The growth of a British identity meant that Scotland’s distinctive culture and political institutions were systematically suppressed.
The Catholic clans that inhabited the Scottish Highlands suffered terrible repression whenever they attempted to assert their independence. The Scottish Highlanders were forbidden to speak their Gaelic language or wear their national dress, and large numbers were forcibly driven out of their homeland

Question 5: Why did nationalist tensions emerge in the Balkans?

Answer: Nationalist tensions emerged in the Balkans because of the spread of ideas of romantic nationalism as also the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire that had previously ruled over this area. The different Slavic communities in the Balkans began to strive for independent rule. They were jealous of each other and every state wanted more territory, even at the expense of others. Also, the hold of imperial power over the Balkans made the situation worse. Russia, Germany, England, Austro-Hungary all wanted more control over this area. These conflicts ultimately led to the First World War in 1914.

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 History Chapter 1 Chapter Overview

In this chapter you learn about the following topics:

The French Revolution and the Idea of the Nation
The Making of Nationalism in Europe
The Age of Revolutions: 1830-1848
The Making of Germany and Italy
Visualising the Nation
Nationalism and Imperialism