Question

Read the given source and answer the questions that follow:

The Revolutionaries During the years following 1815, the fear of repression drove many liberal-nationalists underground. Secret societies sprang up in many European states to train revolutionaries and spread their ideas. To be revolutionary at this time meant a commitment to oppose monarchical forms that had been established after the Vienna Congress, and to fight for liberty and freedom. Most of these revolutionaries also saw the creation of nation-states as a necessary part of this struggle for freedom.

1. Mention any one political demand of the liberals. 1
2. Mention the main cause for the rise of secret societies in European States. 1
3. Analyse the reasons for many liberal-nationalists going underground after 1815. 2

Answer 1

1. Opposing monarchical systems of governance and establishing constitutional governments founded on liberty and freedom was one of the liberals’ political demands.
2. Fear of repression by conservative monarchs created following the Vienna Congress in 1815 was the primary driver behind the emergence of secret organisations.
3. After the Vienna Congress, conservative governments enacted repressive tactics that drove liberal-nationalists underground after 1815. In order to hold onto power, these governments sought to stifle nationalist and liberal forces. Revolutionaries had to work in secret out of fear of being detained, persecuted, or banished. They also established covert organisations to train revolutionaries and propagate their concepts of liberty, freedom, and nation-states because there were no open forums for them to voice their opinions and because they needed to organise resistance against autocratic government.