The Rise of Nationalism in Europe

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CLASS X Social Science ~5 marks/year Ch 1 of 22
The Rise of Nationalism in Europe

Class 10 · Social Science · NCERT chapter notes · Akanksha Classes

Snapshot
  • In the nineteenth century, nationalism reshaped Europe—the multi-national dynastic empires gave way to the modern nation-state.
  • The story begins with the French Revolution (1789), the first clear expression of nationalism, and Napoleon, who spread revolutionary ideas across Europe.
  • Liberalism (freedom, equality before law, government by consent, free markets) drove early nationalism among the educated middle classes.
  • The Vienna Congress (1815) restored conservatism; revolutions in 1830 and 1848, culture and Romanticism kept the national idea alive.
  • Italy (1859–1870) and Germany (1866–1871) were unified; by the late 1800s nationalism turned narrow and combined with imperialism, making the Balkans the flashpoint for World War I.
  • Board weightage: ~5 marks/year—usually one 3–5 mark answer (unification, liberalism, French Revolution measures, or Marianne/Germania) plus 1–2 mark objective questions.
Detailed notes

1. What this chapter is about

This chapter traces how, during the nineteenth century, nationalism emerged as a powerful force that changed the political and mental map of Europe. The end result was the rise of the nation-state in place of the old multi-national dynastic empires.

Nation-state: a state in which a centralised power exercises sovereign control over a clearly defined territory, and in which the majority of citizens (not only the rulers) come to share a sense of common identity, history and descent. This shared feeling did not exist from the beginning—it was forged over time through struggles, leaders and the common people.
Key point — Sorrieu’s prints (1848)

The French artist Frédéric Sorrieu prepared a series of four prints in 1848 visualising a world made up of ‘democratic and social Republics’. Peoples of Europe and America—grouped as distinct nations by their flags and national costumes—march to pay homage to the statue of Liberty (a female figure carrying the torch of Enlightenment and the Charter of the Rights of Man). On the ground lie the shattered remains of absolutist institutions. From the heavens, Christ, saints and angels symbolise fraternity among nations.

Ernst Renan (Source A): In his 1882 Sorbonne lecture ‘What is a Nation?’ the philosopher said a nation is not formed by a common language, race, religion or territory. Rather, a nation is ‘the culmination of a long past of endeavours, sacrifice and devotion’—a large-scale solidarity, ‘a daily plebiscite’. Nations matter because their existence guarantees liberty.

2. The French Revolution and the idea of the nation (1789)

The first clear expression of nationalism came with the French Revolution in 1789. France was already a territorial state under an absolute monarch; the revolution transferred sovereignty from the monarchy to the body of French citizens. The revolution proclaimed that it was the people who would henceforth constitute the nation and shape its destiny.

Steps the revolutionaries took to create a sense of collective identity:
  • Ideas of la patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen) stressed a united community of equal rights under a constitution.
  • A new tricolour flag replaced the royal standard.
  • The Estates General was renamed the National Assembly, elected by active citizens.
  • New hymns composed, oaths taken, martyrs commemorated—all in the name of the nation.
  • A centralised administrative system made uniform laws for all citizens.
  • Internal customs duties abolished; a uniform system of weights and measures adopted.
  • French (as spoken in Paris) became the common national language; regional dialects discouraged.

The revolutionaries declared it the mission of the French nation to liberate the peoples of Europe from despotism. As the news spread, students and educated middle classes set up Jacobin clubs; their work prepared the way for French armies that moved into Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy in the 1790s, carrying the idea of nationalism abroad.

3. Napoleon — reforms and reactions

Napoleon destroyed democracy in France (he returned to monarchy), but in the administrative field he carried revolutionary principles to make the system more rational and efficient.

The Civil Code of 1804 — the ‘Napoleonic Code’:
  • Did away with all privileges based on birth.
  • Established equality before the law.
  • Secured the right to property.
This Code was exported to regions under French control. Napoleon also simplified administrative divisions, abolished the feudal system, freed peasants from serfdom and manorial dues, removed guild restrictions in towns, and improved transport and communications. Businessmen welcomed uniform laws, standardised weights and measures, and a common currency.
Key point — mixed reactions to French rule

Initially the French were welcomed as harbingers of liberty in places like Holland, Switzerland, Brussels, Mainz, Milan and Warsaw. But enthusiasm soon turned to hostility: the new administration did not bring political freedom. Increased taxation, censorship and forced conscription into French armies outweighed the advantages. Fig. 4 (Tree of Liberty, Zweibrücken) sarcastically shows French soldiers as oppressors.

4. The making of nationalism — society and liberalism

In mid-eighteenth-century Europe there were no nation-states. Germany, Italy and Switzerland were divided into kingdoms, duchies and cantons. The Habsburg Empire (Austria-Hungary) was a patchwork of regions and peoples—the Tyrol, Bohemia, Lombardy, Venetia, Hungary (Magyar speakers), Galicia (Polish aristocracy), and many subject peasant peoples (Bohemians, Slovaks, Slovenes, Croats, Roumans). The only tie binding them was a common allegiance to the emperor.

The social groups: the landed aristocracy was the dominant class—united by a common way of life, owning estates, speaking French, connected by marriage—but it was numerically small. The majority were the peasantry. With industrialisation (England from the late 1700s; France and Germany in the 1800s) came new groups: a working class and a middle class (industrialists, businessmen, professionals). It was among the educated, liberal middle classes that ideas of national unity took root.

What did liberal nationalism stand for? The word liberalism comes from the Latin liber, meaning free.
  • Politically: government by consent; end of autocracy and clerical privileges; a constitution and representative government through parliament; inviolability of private property.
  • BUT equality before law did not mean universal suffrage—only property-owning men could vote; women and non-propertied men were excluded. They organised movements demanding equal political rights.
  • Economically: freedom of markets; abolition of state restrictions on the movement of goods and capital.
Key point — the zollverein (1834)

German-speaking lands were a confederation of 39 states, each with its own currency, weights and measures—a merchant crossing them in 1833 paid customs at many borders. In 1834, a customs union or zollverein was formed at the initiative of Prussia, abolishing tariff barriers and reducing currencies from over thirty to two. A railway network further bound economic interests to national unification. Friedrich List (Source B, 1834): the aim of the zollverein was ‘to bind the Germans economically into a nation’.

5. Conservatism after 1815 and the revolutionaries

After Napoleon’s defeat in 1815, European governments embraced conservatism—the belief that traditional institutions (monarchy, Church, social hierarchies, property, family) should be preserved. Conservatives did not want to return to the old society; they accepted that modernisation could strengthen autocratic monarchies.

The Congress of Vienna, 1815: Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria—who defeated Napoleon—met at Vienna, hosted by the Austrian Chancellor Duke Metternich. The Treaty of Vienna (1815) aimed to undo Napoleon’s changes:
  • The Bourbon dynasty was restored to power in France; France lost territories it had annexed.
  • Buffer states were set up on France’s borders—the kingdom of the Netherlands (including Belgium) in the north; Genoa added to Piedmont in the south.
  • Prussia got new western territories; Austria got control of northern Italy; Russia got part of Poland; Prussia got part of Saxony.
  • The aim: restore overthrown monarchies and build a conservative order.

Conservative regimes were autocratic—they imposed censorship to silence criticism. Fig. 6 (Club of Thinkers, c.1820) mocks this. A major issue for liberal-nationalists was freedom of the press.

Key point — Giuseppe Mazzini

Fear of repression drove liberal-nationalists underground into secret societies. The Italian Giuseppe Mazzini (born Genoa, 1805) joined the secret Carbonari, was exiled in 1831, and founded two underground societies—Young Italy (Marseilles) and Young Europe (Berne). He believed nations were the natural units of mankind and that Italy must be forged into a single unified republic. Metternich called him ‘the most dangerous enemy of our social order’.

6. The Age of Revolutions, 1830–1848

Liberalism and nationalism became increasingly linked with revolution, led by the educated middle-class elite (professors, schoolteachers, clerks, commercial classes).

  • July 1830 (France): the restored Bourbon kings were overthrown; a constitutional monarchy was set up with Louis Philippe at its head. Metternich remarked, ‘When France sneezes, the rest of Europe catches cold.’ The July Revolution sparked an uprising in Brussels—Belgium broke away from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.
  • Greek War of Independence (1821–1832): Greece had been part of the Ottoman Empire. A struggle began in 1821, supported by Greeks in exile and West Europeans who admired ancient Greek culture. The English poet Lord Byron organised funds and died of fever there in 1824. The Treaty of Constantinople (1832) recognised Greece as an independent nation.
The Romantic Imagination and national feeling: Culture—art, poetry, stories, music—helped shape the idea of the nation. Romanticism criticised the glorification of reason and science and emphasised emotions, intuition and a shared collective heritage.
  • Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803): true German culture is found among the common people—das volk—through folk songs, folk poetry and folk dances (the spirit of the nation, volksgeist).
  • The Grimm Brothers (Box 1): Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm collected folktales (first collection 1812) and wrote a German dictionary, treating folk culture as authentic German spirit against French domination.
  • Poland: though partitioned by Russia, Prussia and Austria, national feeling was kept alive through music and language. Karol Kurpinski turned the polonaise and mazurka into nationalist symbols. After an 1831 rebellion, the clergy used Polish in Church as a weapon of resistance against Russian dominance; priests were jailed or sent to Siberia.
Key point — hunger, hardship and the Silesian weavers

The 1830s brought economic hardship: population growth, unemployment, overcrowded slums, and competition from cheap English machine goods. In 1845, weavers in Silesia revolted against contractors who slashed their payments; the army was called in and eleven weavers were shot (described by journalist Wilhelm Wolff).

7. 1848 — the revolution of the liberals

In 1848, alongside the revolts of the poor and unemployed, a revolution led by the educated middle classes took place. In February 1848 in France, the monarch abdicated; a Republic was proclaimed, with universal male suffrage and the right to work guaranteed (National Workshops set up).

The Frankfurt Parliament (18 May 1848): In the German regions, 831 elected representatives marched to the Church of St Paul in Frankfurt. They drafted a constitution for a German nation to be headed by a monarch subject to a parliament. The crown was offered to Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia, who rejected it and joined other monarchs against the assembly. With aristocratic and military opposition, the parliament lost its social base and was forced to disband.
Key point — women and the liberal movement (Source C)

Women participated actively—forming associations, founding newspapers, joining demonstrations—yet were denied suffrage. At the Frankfurt parliament they were admitted only as observers in the visitors’ gallery. Louise Otto-Peters (1819–95), a feminist, argued ‘Liberty is indivisible!’ Feminist means awareness of women’s rights based on the social, economic and political equality of the genders.

Though conservatives suppressed the 1848 liberal movements, they could not restore the old order. Monarchs realised that concessions to liberal-nationalists could end the cycle of revolution. After 1848, serfdom and bonded labour were abolished in the Habsburg dominions and Russia; the Habsburgs granted the Hungarians more autonomy in 1867.

8. The unification of Germany (1866–1871)

After 1848, nationalism moved away from democracy; it was now used by conservatives to promote state power. The 1848 liberal attempt to unite Germany through an elected parliament was crushed by the monarchy and military, supported by the large landowners (Junkers) of Prussia.

Prussia leads: Its chief minister Otto von Bismarck was the architect of unification, carried out 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 unification. In January 1871, the Prussian king William I was proclaimed German Emperor in a ceremony at the Hall of Mirrors, Palace of Versailles (18 January 1871).

The new German state emphasised modernising the currency, banking, legal and judicial systems; Prussian measures became a model for all Germany. (This was the army as the architect of the nation.)

9. The unification of Italy (1859–1870)

Italy too had a long history of political fragmentation. In the mid-nineteenth century it was divided into seven states; only one, Sardinia-Piedmont, was ruled by an Italian princely house. The north was under Austrian Habsburgs, the centre under the Pope, and the south under the Bourbon kings of Spain. Even the Italian language had no common form.

The figures of Italian unification:
  • Giuseppe Mazzini — sought a unitary Italian Republic through Young Italy; his uprisings of 1831 and 1848 failed.
  • King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia-Piedmont — the mantle passed to him to unify Italy through war.
  • Chief Minister Cavour (Count Camillo de Cavour) — neither a revolutionary nor a democrat; through a tactful diplomatic alliance with France, Sardinia-Piedmont defeated Austria in 1859.
  • Giuseppe Garibaldi — led armed volunteers (the Red Shirts); in 1860 they marched into South Italy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, winning peasant support to drive out the Spanish rulers.
In 1861, Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of united Italy. (Much of the population was illiterate—peasants who supported Garibaldi had never heard of Italia and thought ‘La Talia’ was the king’s wife!)

10. The strange case of Britain

In Britain the nation-state was not the result of a sudden revolution but of a long-drawn-out process. Before the eighteenth century there was no ‘British nation’—the primary identities were ethnic (English, Welsh, Scot, Irish).

How the British nation was forged:
  • The English parliament had seized power from the monarchy in 1688.
  • The Act of Union (1707) between England and Scotland formed the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain’—in effect, England imposed its influence. Scotland’s culture and institutions were suppressed; the Highlanders were forbidden to speak Gaelic or wear their national dress.
  • Ireland, divided between Catholics and Protestants, was forcibly incorporated into the United Kingdom in 1801 after a failed revolt by Wolfe Tone and his United Irishmen (1798).
  • A new ‘British nation’ was promoted through the Union Jack, the national anthem (God Save Our Noble King) and the English language; older nations survived only as subordinate partners.

11. Visualising the nation — Marianne and Germania

To give a face to the abstract idea of a nation, artists in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries personified nations as female figures. The female figure became an allegory of the nation—not a real woman, but a symbol.

Allegory: when an abstract idea (freedom, liberty, justice) is expressed through a person or thing. An allegorical story has two meanings, one literal and one symbolic.
  • Marianne personified France. Her name was a popular Christian name, underlining the idea of a people’s nation. Her attributes came from Liberty and the Republic—the red cap, the tricolour, the cockade. Her statues were erected in public squares; her image marked coins and stamps.
  • Germania became the allegory of the German nation. She wears a crown of oak leaves, as the German oak stands for heroism.
Key point — meanings of Germania’s symbols (Box 3)

Broken chains = being freed; Breastplate with eagle = symbol of the German empire (strength); Crown of oak leaves = heroism; Sword = readiness to fight; Olive branch around the sword = willingness to make peace; Black, red and gold tricolour = flag of the liberal-nationalists in 1848 (banned by the Dukes of the German states); Rays of the rising sun = beginning of a new era.

12. Nationalism and imperialism

By the last quarter of the nineteenth century, nationalism lost its idealistic liberal-democratic sentiment and became a narrow creed. Nationalist groups grew intolerant and ready for war; the major European powers manipulated the nationalist aspirations of subject peoples for their own imperialist aims.

The Balkans — the most serious source of tension after 1871:
  • The Balkans was a region of geographical and ethnic variation—modern Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro—whose inhabitants were broadly called the Slavs.
  • Much of it was under the declining Ottoman Empire. As Slavic nationalities broke away, they based claims on nationality and used history to claim lost independence.
  • The Balkan states were jealous of each other and each hoped to gain territory; the region also became the scene of big-power rivalry (Russia, Germany, England, Austria-Hungary), leading to a series of wars and finally the First World War (1914).

Meanwhile, colonised peoples opposed imperial domination—their anti-imperial movements were nationalist. Europe’s ideas of nationalism were never simply copied; people everywhere developed their own variety of nationalism, but the idea that societies should be organised into nation-states came to be accepted as natural and universal.

13. NCERT ‘Write in brief’ — fully answered

Q1. Write a note on:

(a) Giuseppe Mazzini: Italian revolutionary born in Genoa in 1805; joined the secret society of the Carbonari, exiled in 1831. He founded Young Italy (Marseilles) and Young Europe (Berne). He believed nations were the natural units of mankind and wanted Italy unified into a single republic. Metternich called him ‘the most dangerous enemy of our social order’.

(b) Count Camillo de Cavour: Chief Minister of Sardinia-Piedmont who led Italian unification. He was neither a revolutionary nor a democrat and spoke French better than Italian. Through a tactful diplomatic alliance with France, Sardinia-Piedmont defeated Austria in 1859.

(c) The Greek war of independence: Greece had been under the Ottoman Empire since the fifteenth century. The struggle began in 1821, supported by exiled Greeks and West Europeans (poet Lord Byron died there in 1824). The Treaty of Constantinople (1832) recognised Greece as an independent nation. It mobilised nationalist feeling across educated Europe.

(d) Frankfurt parliament: Convened on 18 May 1848 in the Church of St Paul, Frankfurt, with 831 elected members. It drafted a constitution for a German nation headed by a monarch under a parliament. The crown was offered to Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia, who rejected it. Lacking support, the parliament was forced to disband; women were admitted only as observers.

(e) The role of women in nationalist struggles: Women participated actively—forming political associations, founding newspapers, taking part in meetings and demonstrations—yet they were denied suffrage. The female figure was used as an allegory of the nation (Marianne, Germania). Activists like Louise Otto-Peters demanded equal political rights, arguing ‘Liberty is indivisible’.

Q2. What steps did the French revolutionaries take to create a sense of collective identity among the French people? They introduced the ideas of la patrie and le citoyen; chose a new tricolour flag; renamed the Estates General the National Assembly; composed hymns, took oaths and commemorated martyrs; set up a centralised administration with uniform laws; abolished internal customs duties and adopted a uniform system of weights and measures; and made French the common national language.

Q3. Who were Marianne and Germania? What was the importance of the way in which they were portrayed? Marianne was the female allegory of France and Germania the female allegory of Germany. Marianne’s attributes (red cap, tricolour, cockade) and Germania’s (crown of oak leaves, sword, broken chains, the black-red-gold tricolour) gave the abstract idea of the nation a concrete form. Their statues and images on coins and stamps reminded people of the national symbol and encouraged them to identify with the nation.

Q4. Briefly trace the process of German unification. After the 1848 liberal attempt failed, Prussia led unification under chief minister Otto von Bismarck, using the Prussian army and bureaucracy. Three wars over seven years against Austria, Denmark and France ended in Prussian victory. In January 1871, the Prussian king William I was proclaimed German Emperor at the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles. The new state stressed modernising currency, banking and the legal system on the Prussian model.

Q5. What changes did Napoleon introduce to make the administrative system more efficient in the territories ruled by him? The Civil Code of 1804 (Napoleonic Code) abolished privileges by birth, established equality before law and secured the right to property. Napoleon simplified administrative divisions, abolished feudalism and freed peasants from serfdom and manorial dues, removed guild restrictions, improved transport and communications, and introduced uniform laws, standardised weights and measures, and a common currency.

14. NCERT ‘Discuss’ — fully answered

Q1. Explain what is meant by the 1848 revolution of the liberals. What were the political, social and economic ideas supported by the liberals? In 1848, the educated middle classes led revolutions demanding constitutionalism and national unification (in France a republic with universal male suffrage; in Germany the Frankfurt parliament). Political ideas: government by consent, a constitution, representative government through parliament, freedom of the press and association, and an end to autocracy and privileges. Social ideas: equality before the law (though they hesitated over universal suffrage and women’s rights). Economic ideas: freedom of markets and abolition of state restrictions on the movement of goods and capital.

Q2. Choose three examples to show the contribution of culture to the growth of nationalism in Europe.

  • Romanticism & Herder: the philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder said true German culture lived in the common people (das volk) through folk songs, poetry and dances (volksgeist).
  • The Grimm Brothers: collected German folktales and built a German dictionary, treating folk culture as the authentic spirit of the German nation.
  • Poland: language and music kept national feeling alive—Karol Kurpinski turned the polonaise and mazurka into nationalist symbols, and the Polish language was used in churches as a symbol of resistance to Russian rule.

Q3. Through a focus on any two countries, explain how nations developed over the nineteenth century. See the answers above on Germany (unified 1866–1871 by Prussia under Bismarck through three wars; William I proclaimed Emperor in 1871) and Italy (unified 1859–1870 by Sardinia-Piedmont with Cavour’s diplomacy, Garibaldi’s Red Shirts and Mazzini’s ideas; Victor Emmanuel II proclaimed king in 1861). Both show nations forged through war, diplomacy and leadership rather than from time immemorial.

Q4. How was the history of nationalism in Britain unlike the rest of Europe? In Britain there was no sudden revolution; the nation-state was the result of a long process in which the English nation extended its dominance over the others. Parliament seized power in 1688; the Act of Union (1707) joined England and Scotland; Ireland was incorporated in 1801. Scottish and Irish cultures were suppressed, and a British identity was built through the Union Jack, anthem and English language. So the British nation grew through imposition and absorption, not popular revolution.

Q5. Why did nationalist tensions emerge in the Balkans? The Balkans was an ethnically varied region of Slavs under the declining Ottoman Empire. As subject nationalities broke away and claimed independence based on nationality, they became fiercely jealous of each other and each wanted more territory. The region also became the focus of intense big-power rivalry (Russia, Germany, England, Austria-Hungary) over trade, colonies and naval might—leading to a series of wars and ultimately the First World War.

Project: Find out more about nationalist symbols in countries outside Europe (e.g. India’s Bharat Mata, the national flag and anthem); collect pictures, posters or music and compare them with European examples like Marianne and Germania.

15. Common confusions to avoid

  • Nation vs nation-state: a nation is a people with shared identity; a nation-state is that people organised under sovereign, centralised rule over a territory.
  • Italy unified 1859–1870 (king proclaimed 1861); Germany unified 1866–1871 (Emperor proclaimed 1871)—do not swap the dates or the leaders.
  • Cavour (diplomacy), Garibaldi (Red Shirts, armed volunteers), Mazzini (ideas/Young Italy), Victor Emmanuel II (king)—keep their roles distinct.
  • Bismarck unified Germany; Metternich hosted the Congress of Vienna—different men, different sides.
  • Liberalism meant freedom and equality before law, but not universal suffrage—only property-owning men could vote.
  • Marianne = France, Germania = Germany—do not mix them up.
  • The Frankfurt crown was offered to the King of Prussia (Friedrich Wilhelm IV), who rejected it.

16. Quick revision checklist

  • French Revolution 1789 — first expression of nationalism; sovereignty to the people.
  • Napoleonic Code 1804 — equality before law, end of feudal privileges, right to property.
  • Congress of Vienna 1815 — Metternich; conservatism; Bourbons restored.
  • Liberalism = liber (free); constitution, consent, free markets; limited suffrage.
  • 1830 July Revolution (Louis Philippe; Belgium independent); 1821–32 Greek independence.
  • 1848 liberal revolutions; Frankfurt parliament (18 May); crown rejected by Prussia.
  • Germany unified by Bismarck/Prussia, Emperor William I, 1871 at Versailles.
  • Italy unified by Cavour, Garibaldi, Mazzini, Victor Emmanuel II, king in 1861.
  • Marianne (France) and Germania (Germany) — allegories of the nation.
  • Balkans + imperial rivalry → First World War 1914.
Practice MCQs
1. The first clear expression of nationalism came with:
  1. The Congress of Vienna
  2. The French Revolution of 1789
  3. The unification of Italy
  4. The Greek war of independence
Answer: (B) The French Revolution of 1789 transferred sovereignty to the body of French citizens.
2. The Napoleonic Civil Code of 1804 did all of these EXCEPT:
  1. Abolished privileges based on birth
  2. Established equality before the law
  3. Secured the right to property
  4. Granted universal suffrage to women
Answer: (D) The Code reduced women to the status of a minor; it did not grant women suffrage.
3. The customs union formed in 1834 at the initiative of Prussia was called the:
  1. Carbonari
  2. Zollverein
  3. Junker
  4. Plebiscite
Answer: (B) The zollverein abolished tariff barriers and reduced currencies from over thirty to two.
4. The Congress of Vienna (1815) was hosted by:
  1. Otto von Bismarck
  2. Giuseppe Mazzini
  3. Duke Metternich
  4. Louis Philippe
Answer: (C) The Austrian Chancellor Duke Metternich hosted the Congress.
5. Marianne and Germania were:
  1. Real queens of France and Germany
  2. Female allegories of the French and German nations
  3. Secret revolutionary societies
  4. Famous Romantic poets
Answer: (B) They were female personifications giving the abstract nation a concrete form.
6. The leader who founded ‘Young Italy’ was:
  1. Count Cavour
  2. Giuseppe Garibaldi
  3. Giuseppe Mazzini
  4. Victor Emmanuel II
Answer: (C) Mazzini founded Young Italy in Marseilles and Young Europe in Berne.
7. The German Empire was proclaimed in January 1871 at the:
  1. Church of St Paul, Frankfurt
  2. Hall of Mirrors, Versailles
  3. University of Sorbonne
  4. Palace of Vienna
Answer: (B) William I was proclaimed German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.
8. Garibaldi’s volunteers in the unification of Italy were popularly known as the:
  1. Junkers
  2. Carbonari
  3. Red Shirts
  4. Jacobins
Answer: (C) About 30,000 volunteers, known as the Red Shirts, joined Garibaldi.
9. The Act of Union (1707) united England with:
  1. Ireland
  2. Wales
  3. Scotland
  4. France
Answer: (C) The Act of Union formed the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain’ (England and Scotland).
10. The most serious source of nationalist tension in Europe after 1871 was the region of the:
  1. Rhineland
  2. Balkans
  3. Tyrol
  4. Saxony
Answer: (B) The Balkans, inhabited by the Slavs, became explosive and led towards the First World War.
11. According to Ernst Renan, a nation is best described as:
  1. A common race and religion
  2. A common language only
  3. A daily plebiscite and a large-scale solidarity
  4. A territory ruled by one king
Answer: (C) Renan said a nation is ‘a daily plebiscite’, the culmination of a shared past of sacrifice.
12. The crown of the German nation, offered by the Frankfurt parliament, was rejected by:
  1. Otto von Bismarck
  2. Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia
  3. Victor Emmanuel II
  4. Kaiser William I
Answer: (B) Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia, rejected the crown and joined other monarchs against the assembly.
Assertion–Reason
A: The educated middle classes were the main carriers of liberal nationalism in early-nineteenth-century Europe.   R: Liberalism stood for freedom of the individual, equality before law and government by consent.
Answer: Both A and R are true, and R correctly explains A—liberal ideas appealed most to the educated, professional middle classes who benefited from freedom and free markets.
A: Liberalism in the nineteenth century meant equal political rights for all adults.   R: In liberal France, the right to vote was granted only to property-owning men.
Answer: A is false, R is true—liberalism did not mean universal suffrage; women and non-propertied men were excluded, which is exactly what R states.
Previous-year questions
Q1. Explain any three steps taken by the French revolutionaries to create a sense of collective identity among the French people. (CBSE, 3 marks)
Answer: (i) Ideas of la patrie and le citoyen; (ii) a new tricolour flag and renaming the Estates General the National Assembly; (iii) a centralised administration with uniform laws, abolition of internal customs duties, uniform weights and measures, and French as the national language. (Any three.)
Q2. Describe the process of unification of Germany. (CBSE, 5 marks)
Answer: The 1848 liberal attempt failed; Prussia then led unification under Otto von Bismarck with the Prussian army and bureaucracy. Three wars over seven years (against Austria, Denmark and France) ended in Prussian victory. In January 1871, William I was proclaimed German Emperor at the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles; Prussian systems became the model for the new German state.
Q3. Who was Giuseppe Mazzini? Explain his role in the making of nationalism in Europe. (CBSE, 3 marks)
Answer: An Italian revolutionary (born Genoa, 1805), member of the Carbonari, founder of Young Italy and Young Europe. He believed nations were the natural units of mankind and sought a unified Italian republic; his secret societies inspired others across Europe, and Metternich called him ‘the most dangerous enemy of our social order’.
Q4. What was the role of women in the nationalist struggles of nineteenth-century Europe? (CBSE, 3 marks)
Answer: Women formed their own political associations, founded newspapers and joined meetings and demonstrations, yet were denied suffrage (admitted only as observers at the Frankfurt parliament). The female figure became an allegory of the nation (Marianne, Germania), and activists such as Louise Otto-Peters demanded equal political rights.
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