After reading about mid-eighteenth century Europe what similarities or difference amongst people existed in the context of language, ethnicity, trade practices.

Mid-eighteenth-century Europe saw discontent with the aristocracy and clergy's monopoly on political power in France which led to the French Revolution and the ultimately to the establishment of nation states. Prior to this Eastern and Central Europe were under autocratic monarchies within the territories of which lived diverse peoples. Their language, ethnicity, and trade practices all differed and this often led to discrimination and oppression. The Habsburg Empire that ruled over Austria-Hungary, for example, was a patchwork of many different regions and peoples. It included the Alpine regions – the Tyrol, Austria and the Sudetenland - and Bohemia, where the aristocracy was predominantly German-speaking. It also included the Italian- speaking provinces of Lombardy and Venetia. There also lived within the boundaries of the empire, a mass of the subject, peasant peoples – who were again of different ethnicity. The aristocracy, though small in numbers were the land owners and often had more social and political importance. The majority of the population were the peasant classes who were tenants, and very few were small owners of the land. The towns did have an existing business class, but they grew in number and economic power only after the Industrial Revolution and in the early 19th century. It was among this educated working middle-class population that the concept of nation-state first came into being as they wanted the abolishment of aristocratic privileges and national unity.