The Balkan region during 1871 comprised modern-day states like Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro. Its inhabitants were known as Slavs.
(a) This region had various ethnic and geographical diversities and was under the Ottoman Empire for a long period. As the ideas of romantic nationalism spread in this region, it resulted in breaking up of the Ottoman Empire which made the situation even more serious.
(b) The Ottoman Empire could not do much to integrate these regions. As a result, most of the European subject nationalities broke away from the Ottoman Empire's control and declared their independence.
(c) The Balkan people based their claim to be independent on the basis of nationality. They referred to the examples from history as a proof that they were once independent and were subjugated by foreign powers. Therefore, they thought of their struggles as attempts to win back their long-lost independence.
(d) Because of this development, various other Slavic nationalities also struggled to define their identity and independence which made the Balkan a region of severe conflicts. At the same time they were jealous, of each other and wanted to gain more territory at the expense of the others.
(e) European powers like Russia, Germany, England, Austro-Hungary too fought with each other to control more colonies and establish their naval and military might. They were also keen to grab more of the Balkan region for expanding their trade. This made the situation more serious which ended up with the waging of the First World War.

Women played a vital role in the nationalist struggles around the World.
(a) Women from many parts of Europe like Germany, Italy and Poland actively supported the liberals demanding constitutional monarchy with national unification.
(b) They too joined their demands for political rights like suffrage along with the struggle of the liberals. But in spite of their active participation, extension of political rights to them remained a controversial issue.
(c) They took advantage of the unrest in Europe to press their demands for freedom of press and expression and creation of a nation-state.
(d) They even formed their political associations and founded their newspapers.
(e) They held political meetings and staged demonstrations to gain support to their demands. But they were denied suffrage rights during the assembly elections. What the Frankfurt parliament was being convened in the St Paul Church, they were granted admission merely as spectators.

In 1848 Europe, the poor, unemployed workers and starving peasants led many revolts. In France, the educated middle class too started a revolution for the abolition of monarchy and establishment of a  republic based on universal male suffrage. They took advantage of the growing popular unrest to put forward their demands for the creation of a nation-state based on parliamentary principles with an issue in which large number of women took active part. They formed political associations and published newspapers voicing their demands. Men and women from the liberal middle classes around Europe combined their demands for constitutionalism along with national unification.

Greece was the part of Ottoman Empire since the fifteenth century.
(a) The Greeks were influenced by the growth of revolutionary nationalism in Europe and they started a struggle for their independence in 1821.
(b) Nationalists in Greece got support from the Greeks residing in different countries.
(c) Even the West European countries sympathised with the Greek and their ancient culture.
(d) Poets and artists too admired Greece as the basis of European civilisation and mobilised public opinion in its support. English poet Lord Byron even organised fund and participated in the war.
(e) Finally, in 1832, Greece was recognised as an independent nation by the Treaty of Constantinople.

The following were the reasons that led to the rise of revolutionaries after the establishment of conservative regimes in Europe after 1815.
(a) During the years following 1815, the conservative regimes began curbing activities that questioned the legitimacy of the autocratic governments in Europe.
(b) Criticism and dissent was not tolerated.
(c) Censorship was imposed to control the spread of the ideas like liberty and freedom.
(d) Freedom of expression was curbed as thinkers were not allowed to raise their views.
(e) But for the liberal nationalists the memory of the French Revolutions continued to inspire and they began to carry their opposition secretly and formed secret societies to spread the ideas of nationalism and train the revolutionaries.

During the early nineteenth century, Europe was closely allied to the ideology of liberalism. Two economic obstacles that the liberal-nationalists wanted to overcome were:
(a) Restricted movement of goods and capital;.
(b) Existence of countless small principalities and different currencies, weights and measures.
These barriers created obstacles to economic exchange and growth of the new commercial classes. To sort out this problem, a customs union called zollverein was formed by Prussia in 1834 along with most of the German states. The following steps were taken to resolve this issue:
(i) Tariff barriers were abolished.
(ii) Number of currencies operating were reduced to two.
(iii) A network of railways was created for harnessing economic interests.

The German people did not exist as a united nation. Men and women of middle classes combined their demands for constitution with national unification. In 1848, the popular effort was failure to succeed in forming constitution (Frankfurt Parliament) in Germany due to the combined forces of the monarchy and the military, supported by the large landowners (Junkers) of Prussia. Prussia took on the leadership of the movement for national unification with its chief minister as Otto Von Bismarck. He reached his goal with the help of Prussian army and bureaucracy. The process of unification was ended with three wars over 7 years with Austria, Denmark and France. In Jan 1871, an assembly consisting of the princes of German states, representatives of the army, important Prussian ministers including Otto von Bismarck gathered in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles to proclaim the new German head as Kaiser William I of Prussia. The new state placed a strong prominence on modernizing the currency, banking, legal and judicial systems in Germany. Prussian measures and practices became a model for the rest of Germany.

During the middle of the nineteenth century, Italy was divided into seven states, of which only one, Sardinia-Piedmont, was ruled by an Italian princely house. The north was ruled by Austrian Habsburgs, the centre by the Pope and the southern regions by the Bourbon kings of Spain. Italian language had varieties of dialects; therefore, it was not stable in its form. During the 1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini had sought to put together a coherent programme for a unitary Italian Republic. He had also formed a secret society called 'Young Italy' for the dissemination of his goals. The failure of revolutionary uprisings both in 1831 and 1848 fell on Sardinia-Piedmont under its ruler King Victor Emmanuel II to unify the Italian states through war. A unified Italy offered them the possibility of economic development and political dominance. Chief Minister Cavour who led the movement to unify the regions of Italy was neither a revolutionary nor a democrat. With a tactful diplomatic alliance with France by Cavour, Sardinia-Piedmont succeeded in defeating the Austrian forces in 1859. In 1859, a large number of armed volunteers under the leadership of Giuseppe Garibaldi joined the fray. In 1860, Sardinia- Piedmont's forces marched into south Italy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and drove out the Spanish rulers. In 1861, Victor Emmanuel was declared as the king of united Italy and Rome was declared the capital of Italy.

During the middle of the nineteenth century, Italy was divided into seven states, of which only one, Sardinia-Piedmont, was ruled by an Italian princely house. The north was ruled by Austrian Habsburgs, the centre by the Pope and the southern regions by the Bourbon kings of Spain. Italian language had varieties of dialects; therefore, it was not stable in its form. During the 1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini had sought to put together a coherent programme for a unitary Italian Republic. He had also formed a secret society called 'Young Italy' for the dissemination of his goals. The failure of revolutionary uprisings both in 1831 and 1848 fell on Sardinia-Piedmont under its ruler King Victor Emmanuel II to unify the Italian states through war. A unified Italy offered them the possibility of economic development and political dominance. Chief Minister Cavour who led the movement to unify the regions of Italy was neither a revolutionary nor a democrat. With a tactful diplomatic alliance with France by Cavour, Sardinia-Piedmont succeeded in defeating the Austrian forces in 1859. In 1859, a large number of armed volunteers under the leadership of Giuseppe Garibaldi joined the fray. In 1860, Sardinia- Piedmont's forces marched into south Italy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and drove out the Spanish rulers. In 1861, Victor Emmanuel was declared as the king of united Italy and Rome was declared the capital of Italy.