Explain the main features of Romanticism. How did it help in generating the spirit of nationalism in Europe?

OR

Who was Paul Bernard? Examine his ideas about the economic development of Vietnamese colonies.

Romanticism or Romantic era/ period was an artistic, intellectual driven movement that began in the latter half of the 18th century in Europe, and further strengthened with the growth of the Industrial Revolution. It was inspired by the Rousseau and of Johann Gottfried von Herder.

Certain key features of this movement are:

1. Romanticism was a national movement and focused on the cultural aspect of society.

2. Romantic artists denied the use of scientific principles and promoted the use of culture, emotions, intuitions, and feelings.

3. Some romantic nationalists such Hedger focused on the fact that true spirit of romanticism can be found in the common public. This implied the folk songs, folklore, books etc.

4. More emphasis was given on Vernacular language. This was to preserve the ancient traditions as well as to carry forward this for the future generations.

5. Brothers Grimm believed that the fairytales were a preserved form of a country and unless misused with any form of literary writing, it proved to a good source of history of a country. It also inspired many other collectors to believe that such tales were a representation of that country.

6. Many national epics were given importance during this period such as The Tale of Igor’s Campaign, Odyssey, and LLiad.

7. The national struggle was depicted through music and art.

8. The language was an important tool here after the Russian schools were driven out of Russian language and Polish was made compulsory everywhere.

Romanticism legalized that an individual mind is important for developing his critical thinking behaviour. This kind of thinking would ultimately lead to freedom in the form of music, art, poetry etc.

OR

Paul Bernard was a French author and a leader. He had certain strong opinions regarding the developing colonies.

His views about the development of Vietnamese colonies are summarised below:

1. These colonies need to be developed as they are a way of showing interest in serving one’s country.

2. The acquiring of such colonies led to an addition in the profit.

3. If the economy developed, it would create economic activities, and employment would increase. This would increase the per capita income and the demand for goods by the consumers. The market size would expand, and more profits would be gained by the French community.

4. Bernard took the experience from Japan’s development. Japan had focused on industrialization for creating job opportunities and further improving the pace of economic development.

5. He also proclaimed that land reforms are necessary to boost up ate the agriculture sector.

However, Bernard noticed a few barriers to the development of colonies in Vietnam such as:

1. A high level of population

2. A low level of agricultural productivity

3. High degree of indebtedness among the peasants