Class 10 History Chapter 2 Practice Question Answers - India and the Contemporary World - II

Q1: What does the first print of the series prepared by Frederic Sorrieu show?
Ans: The first print of the series shows the peoples of Europe and America – men and women of all ages and social classes – marching in a long train, and offering homage to the statue of Liberty as they pass by it.

Q2: What does the female figure of Liberty bear in hands?
Ans: The female figure of Liberty bears the torch of Enlightenment in one hand and the Charter of the Rights of Man in the other.

Q3: Why did Sorrieu show the peoples of Germany, bearing the black, red and gold flag while at the time when Sorrieu created his prints, the German peoples did not yet exist as a united nation?
Ans: Sorrieu showed the peoples of Germany bearing the, black, red and gold flag to represent that the flag they carry is an expression of liberal hopes in 1848 to unify the numerous German-speaking principalities into a nation-state under a democratic constitution.

Q4: What happened in Europe when nationalism emerged as a force during the nineteenth century?
Ans: During the nineteenth century, nationalism emerged as a force which brought about sweeping changes in the political and mental world of Europe.

Q5: What was the concept and practices of a modern state developing over a long period of time in Europe?
Ans: The concept and practices of a modern state developing over a long period of time in Europe was that a modern state should have a centralised power exercising sovereign control over a clearly defined territory.

Q6: How was the commonness forged in a nation-state?
Ans: The commonness in a nation-state was forged through struggles, through the actions of leaders and the common people.

Q7: When did the first clear expression of nationalism come?
Ans: The first clear expression of nationalism came with the French Revolution in 1789.

Q8: What did the French Revolution proclaim?
Ans: The French Revolution proclaimed that it was the people who would henceforth constitute the nation and shape its destiny.

Q9: What did the ideas of la patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen) emphasise?
Ans: The ideas of la patrie (the fatherland) and le citoyen (the citizen) emphasised the notion of a united community enjoying equal rights under a constitution.

Q10: Name a few things done in the name of the nation during the French Revolution.
Ans: New hymns were composed, oaths taken and martyrs commemorated, all in the name of the nation.

Q11: Why did French become the common language of the nation in France?
Ans: Regional dialects were discouraged and French, as it was spoken and written in Paris, became the common language of the nation in France.

Q12: What happened when the news of the events in France reached the different cities of Europe?
Ans: When the news of the events in France reached the different cities of Europe, students and other members of educated middle classes began setting up Jacobin clubs.

Q13: Who carried the idea of nationalism abroad from France?
Ans: With the outbreak of the revolutionary wars, the French armies began to carry the idea of nationalism abroad from France.

Q14: What did Napoleon do to make the administrative system more rational and efficient?
Ans: Napoleon incorporated revolutionary principles in the administrative field to make the whole system more rational and efficient.

Q15: What did Napoleon do to the Dutch Republic, Switzerland, Italy and Germany?
Ans: In the Dutch Republic, in Switzerland, in Italy and Germany, Napoleon simplified administrative divisions, abolished the feudal system and freed peasants from serfdom and manorial dues.

Q16: How did the peasants, artisans, workers and new businessmen feel in the towns after the reforms and improvements brought by Napoleon?
Ans: The peasants, artisans, workers and new businessmen enjoyed a new-found freedom in the towns after the reforms and improvements brought by Napoleon. Businessmen and small-scale producers of goods, in particular, began to realise that uniform laws, standardised weights and measures, and a common national currency would facilitate the movement and exchange of goods and capital from one region to another.

Q17: Why did the initial enthusiasm of the local populations soon turn into hostility towards French rule under Napoleon?
Ans: The initial enthusiasm of the local populations soon turn into hostility towards French rule under Napoleon, as it became clear that the new administrative arrangements did not go hand in hand with political freedom.

Q18: Were there any ‘nation-states’ in Europe till the mid-eighteenth-century? How?
Ans: No. 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. Thus, they were not nation-states.

Q19: Describe the Habsburg Empire?
Ans: The Habsburg Empire that ruled over Austria-Hungary was a patchwork of many different regions and peoples. It included the Alpine regions – the Tyrol, Austria and the Sudetenland – as well as Bohemia. It also included the provinces of Lombardy and Venetia.

Q20: Describe the dominant class of Europe during the French Revolution.
Ans: The dominant class of Europe during the French Revolution was socially and politically a landed aristocracy. The members of this class were united by a common way of life that cut across regional divisions. They owned estates in the countryside and also town-houses. They spoke French for purposes of diplomacy and in high society. Their families were often connected by ties of marriage.

Q21: Describe the pattern of landholding in Europe.
Ans: To the west of Europe, the bulk of the land was farmed by tenants and small owners, while in Eastern and Central Europe the pattern of landholding was characterised by vast estates which were cultivated by serfs.

Q22: When did industrialisation begin in France and parts of the German states?
Ans: Industrialisation began in France and parts of the German states during the nineteenth century.

Q23: Name the new social groups which came into being during industrialisation in Europe.
Ans: The new social groups which came into being during industrialisation in Europe were a working-class population, and middle classes made up of industrialists, businessmen, professionals.

Q24: What was the political meaning of the term ‘liberalism’ during the French Revolution?
Ans: During the French Revolution, the term ‘liberalism’ politically emphasised the concept of government by consent. Since the French Revolution, liberalism had stood for the end of autocracy and clerical privileges, a constitution and representative government through parliament. Nineteenth-century liberals also stressed the inviolability of private property.

Q25: Who got the right to vote and to get elected in revolutionary France during the first political experiment in liberal democracy?
Ans: The right to vote and to get elected was granted exclusively to property-owning men in revolutionary France during the first political experiment in liberal democracy.