HISTORY

NATIONALISM IN EUROPE
1. Explain the measures and practices introduced by the French
revolutionaries to create a sense of collective identity amongst the
French people.

Ans. • The ideas of La Patrie (the fatherland) and Le Citoyen (the

citizen) emphasized the notion of a united community enjoying equal
rights under a constitution.

• A new French flag, the tricolor, was chosen to replace the former
Royal Standard.

• The Estates General was elected by the body of active citizens and
renamed the National Assembly.
• New hymns were composed, oaths taken and martyrs
commemorated all in the name of the nation.

• A centralized administrative system was introduced and it

formulated uniform laws for all citizens.

• Internal customs duties and dues were abolished and a uniform

system of weights and measures was adopted.

• Regional dialects were discouraged and French became the

common language of the nation
2. Evaluate the impact of Napoleonic reforms on the rest of Europe.
Or
How would you evaluate Napoleon as an administrator who created a
more rational and efficient system? Elucidate with suitable examples.

Ans. The impact of Napoleonic reforms on the rest of Europe was:

• Through a return to monarchy, Napoleon destroyed democracy in
France.

• The administrative field was made rational and efficient.

• The Civil Code of 1804 (Napoleonic Code) did away with all the
privileges based on birth, established equality before the law, and
secured the right to property
• In the Dutch Republic, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany, Napoleon
simplified the administrative divisions,

• abolished the feudal system, and freed the peasants from serfdom
and manorial dues.

• In the towns, guild restrictions were removed.

• Transport and communication systems were improved.

3. Describe the ideology of liberalism during the early 19th century.
Or
Ideas of national unity in early 19th-century Europe were closely
allied to the ideology of liberalism. What did it mean for the middle
class in France? Explain.

Ans.
• Liberalism in the early 19th century stood for freedom for the
individual and equality for all before the law for the new middle
classes.
• Politically, it emphasized the concept of government by consent.
• It stood for the end of autocracy and clerical privileges, a
constitution, and a representative government through parliament.
4. What was the main aim of the Treaty of Vienna 1815? What were
the main provisions of the Treaty of Vienna held in 1815?

Ans. The main aim was to undo most of the changes that had come
about in Europe during the Napoleonic wars. The main provisions of
the Treaty of Vienna held in 1815 were:

• The Bourbon dynasty which was destroyed during the French

Revolution was restored to power.

• France lost the territories it had annexed under Napoleon.

• A series of states were set up on the boundaries of France to

prevent French expansion in the future.
• Prussia was given new territories on its western frontiers, and
Austria was given control of northern Italy.

• The German confederation of 39 states set up by Napoleon was

left untouched.

• Russia was given part of Poland and Prussia was given part of
Saxony.

• The monarchy was restored and a new conservative order was

created in Europe
5. ‘Importance of culture – art, poetry, stories, and music help shape
nationalist feelings.’ Justify the statement with respect to European
nationalism.

Ans. Romanticism: It was a cultural movement that sought to

develop a particular form of nationalist sentiment in the following
ways:

• Romantic artists and poets generally criticized the glorification of

reason and science and focused on emotions, intuition, and mystical
feelings.
• The German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder claimed that
through folk songs, folk poetry, and folk dances, the true spirit of
the nation could be popularized.

• They gave emphasis on vernacular language and the collection of

local folklore to recover an ancient national spirit and to carry the
modern nationalist message to large audiences who were mostly
illiterate.
6. Explain the ways in which nationalist feelings were kept alive in
Poland in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Or
Explain the role of language in developing national sentiments in
Europe.
Or
‘Language is power, life and the instrument of culture, the
instrument of liberation.’ justify the statement in light of the
Nationalist sentiments in Poland, and Europe.

Ans. Poland had been partitioned at the end of the 18th century by
the Great Powers – Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Even though it did
not exist as an independent territory, nationalist feelings were kept
alive through music and language.
• Karol Kurpinski, for example, celebrated the national struggle
through his operas and music, turning folk dances like the polonaise
and mazurka into nationalist symbols.

• When Russia occupied Poland, the Polish language was forced out
of schools and Russian was imposed everywhere.

• Many members of the clergy in Poland began to use language as a

weapon of national resistance. Polish was used for Church
gatherings and all religious instruction.
• As a result, a large number of priests and bishops were put in jail
or sent to Siberia by the Russian authorities as punishment for
refusing to preach in Russian.

• The use of Polish came to be seen as a symbol of the struggle

against Russian dominance.
7. “The 1830s were years of great economic hardship in Europe.”
Examine the statement by giving suitable examples.

Ans. The 1830s were years of great economic hardship in Europe in

the following ways:
• The first half of the 19th century saw an enormous increase in
population which led to widespread unemployment.

• Population from rural areas migrated to the cities to live in

overcrowded slums.

• Small producers in towns faced stiff competition from imports of

cheap machine-made goods from England.
• In those regions of Europe where the aristocracy still enjoyed
power, peasants struggled under the burden of feudal dues and
obligations.

• The rise of food prices or a year of bad harvest led to widespread

pauperism (poverty) in towns and countries.
8. Highlight the role of Otto Von Bismarck in the making of
Germany.

Ans. The Role of Otto Von Bismarck in the Making of Germany:

• Prussia took on the leadership of the movement for national
unification.

• Its chief minister, Otto Von Bismarck, was the architect of this
process 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 the process of unification.
• In January 1871, the Prussian king, William I, was proclaimed
German Emperor in a ceremony held at Versailles.

• On January 1871, an assembly comprising the princes of the

German states, representatives of the army, and important Prussian
ministers including the chief minister Otto von Bismarck gathered
in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles to proclaim the
new German Empire headed by Kaiser William I of Prussia.
9. Describe the process of unification of Italy.

Ans. The process of unification of Italy:

• In the 1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini made efforts to unite Italy. He had

also formed a secret society called Young Italy.

• The failure of revolutionary uprisings both in 1831 and 1848

meant that the mantle now fell on Sardinia-Piedmont under its ruler
King Victor Emmanuel II to unify the Italian states through war.

• Chief Minister Cavour, through a tactful diplomatic alliance with

France, succeeded in defeating the Austrian forces in 1859.
• Also, a large number of armed volunteers under Giuseppe
Garibaldi joined them.

• In 1860, they marched into South Italy and the Kingdom of the
Two Sicilies and succeeded in winning the support of the local
peasants in order to drive out the Spanish rulers.

• In 1861 Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of united Italy

10. ‘In Britain, the formation of the nation-state was not the result
of a sudden upheaval on Revolution.’ Elaborate on this statement.

Ans. • In Britain, the formation of a nation-state was a result of a

long drawn-out process.

• There was no British nation prior to the 18th century.

• The primary identities of the people who inhabited the British

Isles were ethnic ones such as English, Welsh, Scot, or Irish.

• Later the English Parliament, which had seized power from the
monarchy in 1688 at the end of a protracted conflict, was the
instrument through which a nation-state with England at its center
came to be forged
• The Act of Union (1707) between England and Scotland that
resulted in the formation of the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain’
meant, in effect, that England was able to impose its influence on
Scotland.
11. “Nationalism no longer retained its idealistic liberal democratic
sentiment by the last quarter of the nineteenth century Europe.”
Analyse the statement.
Or
Briefly trace the geographical and ethnic variations of the Balkans
region. Why did this region become politically very explosive?
Ans.
• The Balkan was a region of geographical and ethnic variations
comprising modern-day Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece,
Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina Slovenia, Serbia, and
Montenegro. The inhabitants were called Slavs.

• A large part of the Balkans was under the control of the Ottoman
Empire while some other parts were under the control of Russia and
Austria causing a complex problem.
• The spread of ideas of Romantic nationalism in the Balkans
together with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire made the
region very explosive.

• Different Slavic nationalists struggled to define their identities. •

The Balkan region became a region of intense conflict over the
expansion of territory.

• At the same time, the great European Powers – Russia, Germany,

England, and Austro-Hungary were keen on taking the control of the
Balkan region, since it was important from the trade point of view.

• This led to a series of wars in the region and finally became the
cause of the First World War.
NATIONALISM IN INDIA
12. How was the social and political situation of India affected by the
First World War? Explain.
Or
How did the First World War help in the growth of the nationalist
movement in India?

Ans. • The war created a new economic and political situation.

• It led to an increase in defense expenditure which was financed by

war loans and increasing taxes (customs duties were raised and income
tax introduced).

• The war led to a price rise and hardship for common people.
• War led to the forced recruitment of people.

• Acute shortage of food led to famine and misery.

• This was accompanied by an influenza epidemic. Millions of people

perished as a result of famines and epidemics.

• Indians began to realize that they were drawn into the war
unnecessarily. This feeling united Indians against the British.
13. How did the Non-Cooperation Movement unfold in the cities and
towns of India?
Or
The middle classes played an important role in the Non-Cooperation
Movement in the cities. Explain.
Ans. • The movement started with middle-class participation in the
cities.

• Thousands of students left government-controlled schools and

colleges

• Headmasters and teachers resigned.

• Lawyers gave up their legal practices.

• The council elections were boycotted in most provinces except
Madras.

• Foreign goods were boycotted, liquor shops picketed, and foreign

cloth burnt in huge bonfires.

• Merchants and traders refused to trade in foreign goods.

• Production of Indian textile mills and handlooms went up.

14. ‘The Non-Cooperation Movement in the cities gradually slowed
down for a variety of reasons’. Examine the reasons.

Ans. The Non-Cooperation Movement in the cities gradually slowed

down because:

• Khadi cloth was more expensive than mass-produced mill cloth and
poor people could not afford to buy it.

• The boycott of British institutions failed because Indian institutions

could not be set up in place of the British ones.
15. The Civil Disobedience Movement saw the participation of
different social classes and groups. Give reasons for the participation
of the following:
1. Rich peasants
2. Poor peasants
3. Business classes
4. Industrial working classes
5. Women
Ans. The reasons for the participation of various social classes and
groups in the Civil Disobedience Movement are as follows:
1. Rich peasants: Rich peasant communities like the Patidars of
Gujarat & the Jats of Uttar Pradesh joined the movement because
being producers of commercial crops they were hard hit by the trade
depression and falling prices. The refusal of the government to reduce
the revenue demand made them fight against high revenues.

2. Poor peasants: Joined the movement because they found it difficult

to pay rent. They wanted the unpaid rent to the landlord to be
remitted.

3. Business class: They reacted against colonial policies that restricted

activities because they were keen on expanding their business and for
this, they wanted protection against imports of foreign goods. They
thought that Swaraj would cancel colonial restrictions and that trade
would flourish without restrictions.
They also wanted protection against the rupee-sterling foreign
exchange ratio. They formed the Indian Industrial and Commercial
Congress in 1920 and the Federation of the Indian Chamber of
Commerce and Industries (FICCI) in 1927.

4. Industrial working class: They did not participate in large numbers

except in the Nagpur region. Some workers did participate, selectively
adopting some of the Gandhian programs, like boycotts of foreign
goods, as a part of their own movements against low wages and poor
working conditions.

5. Women: There was large-scale participation of women in the

movement. They participated in protest marches, manufactured salt,
and picketed foreign cloth and liquor shops. Many went to jail.
16. “Some of the Muslims political organizations in India were
lukewarm in their response to the Civil Disobedience Movement.”
Examine the statement.

Ans. • Large sections of Muslims were lukewarm in their response to

the Civil Disobedience movement.

• The decline of Khilafat and Non-Cooperation movements led to the

alienation of Muslims from Congress.

• From the mid-1920s, the Congress was seen to be visibly associated

with Hindu nationalist groups like the Hindu Mahasabha.
• Relations between Hindus and Muslims worsened and communal
riots took place.

• The Muslim League gained prominence with its claim of

representing Muslims and demanding a separate electorate for them.
17. “The sense of collective belonging came partly through the
experience of united struggles, the role of folklore, songs, icons, &
images.” Analyze the statement.
Or
How did people belonging to different communities, regions, or
language groups develop a sense of collective belonging in 19th-
century India? Explain.

Ans. • The identity of the nation is most often symbolized by the

image of Bharat Mata.

• Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote ‘Vande Mataram’ as a hymn to

the motherland.
• Moved by the Swadeshi movement, Abanindranath Tagore painted
Bharat Mata and portrayed it as an ascetic figure. She is shown as
calm, composed, divine, and spiritual.

• Ideas of nationalism also developed through a movement to revive

Indian folklore.

• Icons and symbols in unifying people and inspire in them a feeling of

nationalism.

• During the Swadeshi movement in Bengal, a tricolor flag (red, green,

and yellow) was designed.

• Reinterpretation of history to instill a sense of pride in the nation..

MAKING OF GLOBAL WORLD
18. “The silk routes are a good example of pre-modern trade and
cultural links between distant parts of the world.” Explain with
examples.

Ans. The silk routes are a good example of vibrant pre-modern trade
and cultural links between distant parts of the world:

• Historians have identified several silk routes over land and by sea
connecting vast regions of Asia with Europe and northern Africa.

• The name ‘silk routes’ points out the importance of West-bound

Chinese silk cargoes along this route.
• Chinese pottery also travelled the same route, as did textiles and
spices from India and Southeast Asia.

• In return, precious metals (gold and silver) flowed from Europe to

Asia

• Early Christian missionaries and Muslim preachers travelled this

route to Asia. Much before all this, Buddhism from Eastern India
spread in several directions through intersecting points on the silk
routes.
19. Illustrate with examples that food offers many opportunities for
long-distance cultural exchange. Or “Traders and travellers
introduced new crops to lands they travelled. “ Substantiate this
statement with illustrations.

Ans.
• Traders and travellers introduced new crops to the lands they
travelled.

• Even ‘ready’ foodstuff in distant parts of the world might share

common origins like spaghetti and noodles or, perhaps, Arab traders
took pasta to 5th century Sicily, an island now in Italy.
• Similar foods were also known in India and Japan, so the truth
about their origins may never be known. Yet such guesswork suggests
the possibilities of long-distance cultural contact even in the pre-
modern world.

• Many of our common foods such as potatoes, soya, groundnuts,

maize, tomatoes, chilies, sweet potatoes, and so on were not known to
our ancestors until about five centuries ago.

• These foods were only introduced in Europe and Asia after

Christopher Columbus accidentally discovered the vast continent that
would later become known as the Americas.
20. “The new crops could make the difference between life and death”.
Explain the above statement in context of Irish Potato Famine.
Answer:

• Sometimes the new crops could make the difference between life and
death.

• Europe’s poor began to eat better and live longer with the
introduction of the humble potato.

• Ireland’s poorest peasants became so dependent on the potatoes that

when disease destroyed the potato crop in the mid-1840s, hundreds of
thousands died of starvation.
• Hungry children dug for potatoes in a field that had already been
harvested, hoping to discover some leftovers.

• During the Great Irish Potato Famine around ten lakh people died of
starvation in Ireland and double the number emigrated in search of
work.
21. The silk routes offer a good example of vibrant pre-modern trade
and cultural links between distant parts of the world.’ Support the
statement with three valid points.
Answer:
• Before its discovery, America had been cut off from regular contact
with the rest of the world for millions of years. But from the sixteenth
century, its vast lands, abundant crops and minerals began to transform
trade and lives everywhere.

• Precious metals like silver from mines located in present-day Peru

and Mexico also enhanced Europe’s wealth and financed its trade with
Asia.
• China and India were pre-eminent in Asian trade. But from the
fifteenth century, China restricted overseas contacts and retreated
into isolation. China’s reduced role and the rising importance of the
Americas gradually moved the centre of world trade westwards.
Europe now emerged as the centre of world trade.
PRINT CULTURE AND THE MODERN WORLD
22. What was the impact of Print Revolution?

Ans. Print Revolution:

• The shift from hand printing to mechanical printing led to the print
revolution.

• It changed people’s relationship with information and knowledge and

with institutions and authorities.

• It influenced people’s perceptions and opened up new ways of

looking at things.
23. What was the importance of the printing press in the spread of
the Protestant Reformation?
Or
Martin Luther remarked, "Printing is the ultimate gift of God and the
greatest one." Explain his remarks in light of religious reforms that
took place in Europe.
Ans. Importance of the printing press in the spread of the Protestant
Reformation:
• In 1517, the religious reformer Martin Luther wrote Ninety-Five
Theses criticizing many of the practices of the Catholic Church.

• A printed copy of this was posted on a church door in Wittenberg.

• His writings were read and reproduced in vast numbers using the
printing press.
• This print brought about a new intellectual atmosphere, which
helped in the spread of new ideas. This also paved the way for the
reformation of the practices of the church.

• This led to a division within the Church and to the beginning of the
Protestant Reformation.

• Print encouraged people to think reasonably and question the

customs followed in the Church, which enraged the Roman Catholics.
24. “The print culture created the conditions within which the French
Revolution occurred.” Support the statement by giving necessary
arguments explaining the Impact of print on the French revolution.
Ans. The print culture created the conditions within which the French
Revolution occurred:

• Print popularized the ideas of enlightened thinkers like Voltaire and

Rousseau. They attacked the sacred authority of the Church and the
despotic power of the state. They wanted the rule of reason,
questioning, and rationality.

• Print created a new culture of dialogue and debate. This resulted in

the re-evaluation of the values, norms, and institutions. Within this
public culture, new ideas of social revolution came into being.
• By the 1780s there was an outpouring of literature that mocked the
royalty and criticized their morality. Cartoons and caricatures typically
suggested that the monarchy remained only in sensual pleasures while
the common people suffered immense hardships.
25. "Printing technology gave women a chance to share their feelings
with the world outside." Support the statement with suitable
examples.
Ans. Print culture and its impact on women:

• The rise of print culture in India during the 19th century played a
crucial role in awakening the social life of women. The printing press
allowed women to access information, knowledge, and ideas that were
previously inaccessible to them.

• Rashundari Devi, a young married girl in a very orthodox household,

learned to read in the secrecy of her kitchen. Later she wrote her
autobiography Amar Jiban which was published in 1876. It was the
first full-length autobiography in Bengali.
• Many other women writers, like Kailashbhashini Debi, highlighted
experiences of women like their imprisonment at home, ignorance,
and unjust treatment in their writings.

• Tarabai Shinde and Pandita Ramabai narrated the plight of upper-

caste Hindu women, especially widows.

• Tamil writers expressed the poor status of women.

• By the early 20th century, journals written by women became

popular, which highlighted issues like women's education, widowhood,
and widow remarriage. Some of them highlighted fashion lessons to
women and entertainment through short stories and serialized novels.