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
Answers
The Ottoman Empire had ruled all of Greece, with the exception of the Ionian Islands, since its conquest of the Byzantine Empire over the course of the 14th and 15th centuries. But in the 18th and 19th centuries, as revolutionary nationalism grew across Europe (due, in part, to the influence of the French Revolution) and the power of the Ottoman Empire declined, Greek nationalism began to assert itself and drew support from western European “philhellenes.”By that time, the desire for independence was common among Greeks of all classes, whose Hellenism, or sense of Greek nationality, had long been supported by the Greek Orthodox Church, by the survival of the Greek language, and by the administrative arrangements of the Ottoman Empire.
Write a note on:
a. Guiseppe Mazzini
Answer:
During the 1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini had sought to put together a coherent programme for the unitary Italian Republic. He had also formed a secret society called ‘Young Italy’ for the dissemination of his goals.
b. Count Camillo de Cavour
Answer:
Led the movement to unify Italy
He was neither a revolutionary nor a democrat.
Through a tactful diplomatic alliance engineered by Cavour, Sardini-Piedmont succeeded in defeating the Austrian forces in 1859.
c. The Greek war of independence
Answer:
Greece had been part of the Ottoman Empire since the fifteenth century. The growth of revolutionary nationalism in Europe sparked off a struggle for independence amongst the Greeks, which began in 1821.
Poets and artists lauded Greece as the cradle of European civilisation and mobilised public opinion to support its struggle against a Muslim empire.
Nationalists in Greece got support from other Greeks living in exile and also from many West Europeans, who had sympathies for ancient Greek culture.
Finally, the Treaty of Constantinople of 1832 recognised Greece as an independent nation.
d. Frankfurt parliament
Answer:
It was an all-German National assembly formed by Middle-Class professionals, businessmen and prosperous Artisans belonging to different German regions.
It was convened on 18 May 1848.
It was disbanded on 31 May 1849 as it lost support.
e. The role of women in nationalist struggles
Answer:
Women of the liberal middle classes combined their demands for constitutionalism with national unification. They took advantage of the growing popular unrest to push their demands for the creation of a nation-state on parliamentary principles – a constitution, freedom of the press and freedom of association.
Women had formed their own political associations, founded newspapers and taken part in political meetings and demonstrations.