Important Dates And Terms

Important Dates And Terms

IMPORTANT DATES

• Napoleon invades Italy, Napoleonic wars begin in 1947.
• Fall of Napoleon; the Vienna Peace Settlement in 1814-1815.
• Greek struggle for independence begins in 1821.
• Revolutions in Europe; artisans, industrial workers and peasants revolt against economic hardships; middle classes demand constitutions and representative governments, Indian, Germans, Magyars, Potes, Crechs, etc. demand nation-states in 1848.
• Unification of Italy 1859-1870.
• Slav nationalism, gathers force in the Habsbing and Ottoman Empires in 1905.

IMPORTANT TERMS

Plebiscite: A direct vote by which all the people of a region are asked to accept or reject a proposal.

Suffrage: The right to vote.

Conservatism: A political philosophy that stressed the importance of tradition, established institutions and customs, and preferred gradual development to quick change.

Nationalism: A sense of belonging to one nation. Feeling or pride and patriotism towards the country one belongs.

Absolutist: Unrestricted, despotic and authoritarian often refers to a centralized repressive monarchical government.

Utopian: An ideal situation, a vision too good to be realised in practice.

Nation-state: A state having a common and contiguous boundary with inhabitants/ people sharing common language, race and religion. Majority of its citizens develop a sense of common identity and share a common history.

Sovereignty: Supreme power.

Monarchy: Form of government headed by a monarch or a hereditary or dynastic ruler.

The Estates General: Referred to the French parliament-an elected body which was renamed as the National Assembly after the Revolution of 1789.

Civil Code: A systematic set of laws for the citizens.

Habsburg Empire: The Empire that ruled Austria-Hungary including the Alpine region of Tyrol, Austria, Sudetenland Bohemia. It also included Italian provinces of Lombardy and Venetia.

Liberalism: Derived from the word ‘liber’ meaning free. The idea of liberalism stands for freedom of individual and equality of all before law. Politically it refers to representative government.

Elle: Elle was used to measure cloth, prevalent in German states.

Zollverein: A customs union, formed in 1834 in Prussia to remove barriers of trade.

Carbonari: A secret society of Italy-consisting of young revolutionaries.

Young Italy: A secret society founded by Mazzini at Marselles for organizing revolutionary activities.

Ottoman Empire: Turkish Empire ruled by the Caliph–The spiritual and temporal head of the Muslims.

Romanticism: A cultural movement which aimed at developing a particular form of national sentiment and promote a feeling of collective heritage as the basis of nation.

Das Volk: A German word meaning common people.

Republic: A state where the head of the state is elected and does not hold a hereditary position.

Feminist: People who advocate women’s rights on the basis of equality of sexes.

Ideology: System of ideas reflecting a particular social and political vision.

Allegory: Symbol representing an abstract idea, an idea identified through a person or a thing.

Balkan region:

A region in Europe with geographical and ethnic variation. The region covers the states of modern day Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro. The inhabitants of the region are known as the Slavs