(a)OR(b)

Explain the process of the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain.

(i) In Britain the formation of the nation-state was not the result of a sudden upheaval or revolution. It was the result of a long- drawn-out process.

(ii) There was no British nation prior to the eighteenth century. Britain was inhabited by the English, Welsh, Scot or Irish. All of these ethnic groups had their own cultural and political traditions. The English parliament, which had seized power from the

(iii) monarchy in $\displaystyle 1688$ 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 ($\displaystyle 1707$) between England and Scotland that

(iv) resulted in the formation of the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain’ meant, in effect, that England was able to impose its influence on Scotland. The growth of a British identity meant that Scotland’s

(v) distinctive culture and political institutions were systematically suppressed. The Scottish Highlanders were forbidden to speak their Gaelic language or wear their national dress and large numbers were forcibly driven out of their homeland.

(vi) Ireland suffered a similar fate. The English helped the Protestants of Ireland to establish their dominance over a largely Catholic country.

(vii) Catholic revolts against British dominance were suppressed. After a failed revolt led by Wolfe Tone and his United Irishmen ($\displaystyle 1798$), Ireland was forcibly incorporated into the United Kingdom in 1801.

(viii) A new ‘British nation’ was forged through the propagation of a dominant English culture. The symbols of the new Britain – the British flag (Union Jack), the national anthem (God Save Our Noble King), the English language – were actively promoted and the older nations survived only as subordinate partner in this union.

(b) Explain the process of German Unification during the Nineteenth century.

(i) After $\displaystyle 1848$, nationalism in Europe moved away from its association with democracy and revolution.

(ii) Nationalist sentiments were often mobilized by conservatives for promoting state power and achieving political domination over Europe. The liberal initiative of $\displaystyle 1848$ to nation-building was

(iii) repressed by the combined forces of the monarchy and the military, supported by the large landowners (called Junkers) of Prussia.

(iv) From then on, 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.

(v) Three wars over seven years – with Austria, Denmark and France – ended in Prussian victory and completed the process of unification.

(vi) In January $\displaystyle 1871$, the Prussian king, William I, was proclaimed German Emperor in a ceremony held at Versailles.

(vii) On $\displaystyle 18$ January $\displaystyle 1871$, an assembly comprising the princes of the German states, representatives of the army, important Prussian ministers including the chief minister Otto von Bismarck gathered in the unheated Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles to proclaim the new German Empire headed by Kaiser William I of Prussia.

(viii) The nation-building process in Germany had demonstrated the dominance of Prussian state power.