Social Studies VSQ (2 Marks)

The following were consequences of the Liberal Revolution of 1848 :
i. It became a basis for the unification of Germany and Italy.
ii. Conservatives could not restore the old order.
iii. The realised that they would have to give concessions to the liberal nationalist revolutionaries.
iv. Abolition of serfdom and bonded labour took place both in Habsburg dominions and in Russia.
v. The Hungarians were granted more autonomy by the Habsburg rulers in 1867.

The Portuguese and Spanish started the conquest and colonisation of America. The most interesting fact is that it was not a result of any military or political action. It was through a global transfer of diseases, which took place in the following ways:
i. America was long isolated from the rest of the world. Its inhabitants had no knowledge and immunity against diseases of Europe.
ii. The Spanish conquerors used their instance to introduce germs of smallpox through their smallpox-infected person. It proved to be a deadly killer.
iii. These germs killed and wiped out whole communities, paving the way for foreign domination. Weapons and soldiers could not be used against the colonies as they might have proved fatal for the colonizers as well. The diseases were the only weapons that could not be fought against.