Explain five reasons why countries strive hard to acquire the status of a nation-state
Answers
Answer:1.For achieving a core ideological goal.
2. Freedom from external influence
3.For gaining equal status with other nations .
4.For forming a government by the people of the land for serving their own men.
5.For exclusive authority over prioritising one's own needs.
Answer:
Russia is a great example of consolidation of power by monarchs. Throughout most of the medieval era, what became Russia was a minor principality centered on the city of Moscow. Over the course of a few hundred years, the rulers of Moscow took over more land, eventually expanding to cover much of what is now Russia. This expansion came through a mix of diplomacy and war. When Ivan IV—also known as Ivan the Terrible—came of age and assumed the throne in 1547, he was crowned the first czar. He proceeded to devastate the nobility by means of a secret police and gained the loyalty of commercial classes by giving them positions in a new state bureaucracy. These actions led to the deaths of thousands.
THE RISE OF THE EUROPEAN NATION-STATE
Time Frame
Major Event
Pre-1500s Most people lived in small villages; they paid tithes to feudal landlords, didn’t travel, and cared little for anything beyond the village.
1485 Henry VII wins the War of the Roses in England, begins the Tudor dynasty, and starts the development of the English nation-state.
1492 Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella finish taking back all of Spain from the Muslims; the era of Spain as a global power begins.
1547–1584 Ivan the Terrible rules Russia; he unifies the government and creates the first Russian nation-state.
1638–1715 Louis XIV of France creates an absolute monarchy; France emerges as the dominant power in Europe.
1648 Peace of Westphalia cements the legal status of the nation-state as sovereign.
1789 The French Revolution begins; it creates the modern French nation-state and sparks nationalism around Europe.
1871 Unification of Italy and Germany is complete.
1919 Treaty of Versailles ends World War I; it breaks up several multinational empires and creates many new nation-states.
1945 The United Nations forms.
The Catholic Church And The Rise Of The Nation-State
Newly emerging nation-states in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had a complex relationship with the predominant transnational power of the time, the Catholic Church. At times, partial nation-states were useful tools for the Catholic Church. On several occasions, for example, France and Spain intervened in Italy at the invitation of the Pope. But some monarchs wanted control over their national churches in order to get absolute power. In England, the dispute over who controlled the English church led Henry VIII to break from the Pope and establish an independent Protestant church in the 1530s. This break with the Catholic Church gave the English something to rally around, thus encouraging them to develop loyalty toward the English nation-state. At the same time, some devout Catholics in England refused to convert; their displeasure ultimately led to repression and civil war.