Give two examples to show that in the 18th century Europe there were no nation states.
In the mid-eighteenth-century Europe there were no nation-states' as we know them today. The countries such as Germany, Italy and Switzerland, which we know today were divided into kingdoms, duchies and cantons whose rulers had their autonomous territories. Eastern and Central Europe were under autocratic monarchies within the territories of which lived diverse peoples. They did not see themselves as sharing a collective identity or a common culture. Often, they even spoke different languages and belonged to different ethnic groups.
The Habsburg Empire that ruled over Austria-Hungary, for example, was a patchwork of many different regions and peoples. It included the Alpine regions the Tyrol, Austria and the Sudetenland – as well as Bohemia, where the aristocracy was predominantly German-speaking. It also included the Italian-speaking provinces of Lombardy and Venetia.
In Hungary, half of the population spoke Magyar while the other half spoke a variety of dialects. In Galicia, the aristocracy spoke Polish. Besides these three dominant groups, there also lived within the boundaries of the empire, a mass of subject peasant peoples Bohemians and Slovaks to the north, Slovenes in Carniola, Croats to the south, and Roumans to the east in Transylvania. Such differences did not easily promote a sense of political unity. The only tie binding these diverse groups together was a common allegiance to the emperor.
Explain what is meant by the 1848 revolution of the liberals. What were the political, social and economic ideas supported by the liberals?
What changes did Napoleon introduce to make the administrative system more efficient in the territories ruled by him?
Who were Marianne and Germania? What was the importance of the way in which they were portrayed?
What steps did the French revolutionaries take to create a sense of collective identity among the French people?
What was the cause of Silesian weavers uprising? Comment on the viewpoint of the journalist.