The Rhine Crisis of 1840 and German Nationalism: Chauvinism, Skepticism, and Regional Reception*
The Rhine Crisis began with French imperialism. Aiming to expand its influence to Egypt and the Levant, France lent its support in 1839 to Mehmet Ali, Egypt’s pasha, whose ambition to seek hereditary rule in Egypt and Syria challenged Ottoman suzerainty. After Egyptian-led troops pushed theOttoman army beyond Syria’s border in April 1839, Adolphe Thiers, the French president, envisioned a new sphere of influence in the Orient. He thus played with the fragile equilibrium of the Eastern Question, Western diplomacy’s contest to fill the power vacuum of a reduced Ottoman Empire. The démarche stalled, however, during the opening months of 1840, culminating in dramatic failure on July 15with the London Convention: a four-power treaty ðwithout the consultation of FranceÞ that supported the sultan’s retention of his imperial territories. Isolated and humiliated by this diplomatic loss, Thiers’s government and the Chamber of Deputies sought an honorable retreat through compensation elsewhere and therefore reasserted the claim that France’s frontier extended to the Rhine. The French state thus compounded a diplomatic setback with a political dispute over “natural borders.” In
Nationalism and the reshaping of urban communities in Europe, 1848-1914
List of Illustrations Preface Notes on Contributors Introduction: Nationalism's Urban Imagination W.Whyte & O.Zimmer PART I: CONTESTED TERRITORY The Municipal and the National in the Bohemian Lands, 1862-1914 J.King Venice 1848-1914: The Venetian Sense of the Past and the Creation of the Italian Nation D.Laven Contesting Images of the Nation between Spain and Catalonia: The Barcelona World Fair of 1888 S.Jacobsen An Urban Civilization: The Nation and the Town in Belgian History, 1848-1914 M.Van Ginderachter PART II: TOWNS AND THE NATION STATE Nationalism and the Defence Town: The Case of Karlskrona M.Hilson The Garrisons Market in France in the Early Years of the Third Republic J-F.Chanet Wither the Local? Nationalization, Modernization, and the Mobilization of Urban Communities in England and France, 1900-1918 P.Purseigle Building the Nation in the Town? Architecture and Identity in Britain W.Whyte The Nation is a Town: The Netherlands and the Urban Content of the National 'Imagined Community' H.te Velde Urban Economies and Imaginating Nationhood in the German South, 1860-1900 O.Zimmer Conclusion J.Brueilly Concluding Remarks and Observations
EFFECT OF SAMPLE PREPARATION ON WATER TREE RESISTANCE OF XLPE/SEBS BLENDS
The effects of an aromatic polymer, such as poly[styrene-b-(ethylene-co-butylene)b-styrene] (SEBS), and its preparation processes on water tree resistance, morphology, crystallinity, dielectric constant and dielectric loss tangent of crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE)/SEBS and XLPE/SEBS/ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) blends were investigated. The XLPE/SEBS samples were characterized by means of differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, dielectric spectral analysis and the accelerated water treeing experiment. The results clearly showed that although SEBS was partially compatible with LDPE and it was dispersed evenly in XLPE matrix, the blends demonstrated excellent dielectric performances, such as dielectric constant and dissipation factor. The crystallinity of XLPE/SEBS blends was decreased with increase in SEBS content and it was further decreased with the addition of EVA. SEBS could effectively improve the water-tree resistance of XLPE and both SEBS and EVA were found to improve the water tree resistance of XLPE synergistically as expected. The differences in sample preparation processes could change the phase morphology and dielectric performance of the blends, and could also influence the dispersion of SEBS in XLPE matrix as well as the crystallinity of the blends. Different preparation processes led to different water tree resistance behaviours of the samples. The improvement of SEBS dispersion in XLPE matrix helped to improve the water tree resistance of XLPE.