Describe how the forces of nationalism weakened rather than strengthened Russia and Austria-Hungary in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

ANSWER:
The forces of nationalism weakened rather than strengthened Russia and Austria-Hungary. Their populations were far more divided, socially and ethnically, than were the German, French, or British peoples. Nationalism was most divisive in south-central Europe, where many different language groups lived in close proximity. In 1867 the Austrian Empire renamed itself the Austro-Hungarian Empire to appease its Hungarian critics. Although its attempts to promote the cultures of its Slavic-speaking minorities failed to gain their political allegiance, it still thought of itself as a great power and attempted to dominate the Balkans. This strategy irritated Russia, which thought of itself as the protector of Slavic peoples everywhere. Ethnic diversity also contributed to the instability of imperial Russia. The Polish people rebelled in 1830 and again in 1863–1864. The tsarist empire also included Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine; the Caucasus; and the Muslim population of Central Asia conquered between 1865 and 1881. Furthermore, Russia had the largest Jewish population in Europe, and the harshness of its anti-Semitic laws and periodic pogroms (massacres) prompted many Jews to flee to America. Given this ethnic complexity, the state’s attempts to impose the Russian language on its subjects were divisive instead of unifying.