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
Answer:
(a) Guiseppe Mazzini - He was a young revolutionary of Italy who played a
significant in promoting the idea of a unified Italian state. He believed that God
intended nations to be the natural units of mankind. At that time Italy was
divided into a number of small states and kingdoms. During the 1830s, Mazzini
tried to overthrow different monarchies and led a revolution to unify Italy. He
also set up two secret revolutionary organizations, namely Young Italy and
Young Europe. But the revolution failed and Mazzini was sent into exile.
However, his ideas later inspired Cavour who ultimately unified in the second
half of the 19th century.
(b) Count Camillo de Cavour - Of the seven states of Italy, only Sardinia -
Piedmont was ruled by an Italian princely house. When the revolutionary
uprisings of 1831 and 1848 failed to unite Italy, the responsibility to establish a
unified Italy fell upon this Italian state. King Victor Emmanuel II was its ruler
and Cavour was the Chief Minister.
Cavour led the movement to unify the separate states of Italy. He was neither a
revolutionary nor a democrat. He had a powerful diplomatic alliance with
France, which helped him to defeat the Austrian forces in 1859. Thus, in 1861,
Italy was unified and Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed as the King of unified
Italy.
(c) The Greek War of Independence - This was a successful war of
independence waged by Greek revolutionaries between 1821 and 1829 against
Ottoman Empire. The Greek nationals got influenced by the idea of Liberal
nationalism. In this war the Greeks were supported by the West European
countries, while the poets and artists, who added romanticism to the Greek
struggle of independence, also participated in this war against Ottoman Empire.
Finally, the Treaty of Constantinople of 1832 recognized Greece as an
independent nation.
(d) Frankfurt Parliament - The German middle class decided to vote for an all -
German National Assembly in 1848, and hence came to Frankfurt. Around 1831
persons were elected. They comprised the National Assembly. The assembly
decided to organize Frankfurt Parliament in the church of St. Paul. Thus, on
18th May, 1848 the famous Frankfurt Parliament was convened. The assembly
decided that the German nation would be a monarchy controlled by Parliament,
and offered this term to the Prussian King. But he rejected it and joined other
monarchs to oppose the elected assembly. The parliament faced strong
opposition from aristocracy and military. The Parliament was dominated by the
middle class who resisted the demands of workers and artisans. As a result of
this the middle class lost their mass support. Ultimately, the monarchy and
military combined together with aristocracy, won over the liberal nationalist
middle class and the assembly was forced to disband.
Therefore, the Frankfurt Parliament is famous in history as a failure of liberalism
and victory of monarchy.
(e) The role of women in nationalist struggles - Women played a very significant
role in the nationalist struggle all over the world. They led the movements,
faced the tortures of police, stood by their male counterparts, spread the idea
of liberal nationalism and also participated in the various revolutionary
organizations. For example, we have studied how men and women participated
equally in the movements of the French Revolution. Liberty is personified as a
women and also liberal nationalism proposed the idea of universal suffrage,
leading to women’s active participation in nationalist movements in Europe. But
in spite of their active participation in nationalist struggles, they were given
little or no political rights, right to vote etc. till the end of 19th century.
(a) GUISEPPE MAZZINI : Guiseppe Mazzini born in Genoa in 1807, was an Italian revolutionary He was a member of the secret society of the Carbonari. At the age of 24, he was sent into exile in 1831 for attempting a revolution in Liguria. He founded underground societies named ‘Young Italy’ in Marseilles and ‘Young Europe’ in Berne, whose members were like-minded young men from Poland, France, Italy and the German States.
(B) COUNT CAMILIO DE CAVOUR : Count Camillo de Cavour was Chief Minister of Sardinia-Piedmont state who led the movement to unify the regions of Italy. ... He engineered a careful diplomatic alliance with France, which helped Sardinia-Piedmont defeat the Austrian forces in 1859, and thereby free the northern part of Italy from the Austrian Habsburgs.
(C) THE GREEK WAR OF INDEPENDENCE : The Greek War of Independence (1821–1829), also commonly known as the Greek Revolution, was a successful war by the Greeks who won independence for Greece from the Ottoman Empire. ... The Greeks were thus the first of the Ottoman Empire's subject peoples to be accepted as an independent sovereign power.
(D) FRANKFURT PARLIAMENT : The Frankfurt Parliament was the first freely elected parliament for all of Germany, which was elected on 1 May 1848. ... It was an all-German National assembly which comprised of Middle-Class professionals, businessmen and prosperous Artisans belonging to different German regions.
(E) THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN NATIONALIST STRUGGLES : Women played a very important role in nationalist struggles all over the world. They participated equally mostly in every movements. ... Liberty is personified as a women and also liberal nationalism proposed the idea of universal suffrage, leading to women's active participation in nationalist movements in Europe.