the rise kg nationalism in Europe. important questions with answers
Answers
uestion 10.
‘The decade of 1830 had brought great economic hardships in Europe’. Support the statement with arguments.
Answer:
The 1830s were years of great economic hardship in Europe because:
The first half of the nineteenth century saw an increase in population, all over Europe. There was scarcity of jobs and few employment opportunities.
Population from rural areas migrated to the cities in search of jobs. They lived in overcrowded slums.
Small producers in towns faced stiff competition from imports of cheap machine goods from England.
In those parts of Europe where aristocracy was strong and enjoyed enormous powers, the peasants groaned under the burden of feudal dues and taxation.
The rise of food prices or a year of bad harvest, added to the miseries of the common man.
Question 11.
Culture had played an important role in the development of nationalism in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries. Support the statement with examples.
Answer:
Culture played an important role in creating the idea of a nation in Europe in the following ways.
Art, music, literature and drama helped to express, shape and strengthen nationalist sentiments.
Romantics like the German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder held the view that true German culture could be discovered only among the common people, the das volk.
Glorification of reason and science was criticised by the romantic artists, rather they favoured emotions, intuitions and mystical feelings.
Language too boosted nationalism. The Polish people opposed the Russian occupation and the ban on Polish language, by using it in the Church gathering for all religious ceremonies and for religious instruction. The Polish language became a weapon of the nationalists.
Two Germans, Grimm Brothers, used stories and folktales written in German to promote the German spirit against the domination of the French.
Operas and music, like that of Karol Kurpinski, kept alive the national spirit.
Folk dances like the polonaise and mazurki became national symbols