Sentence:  Han 's student days were at a time when Europe <WSD>was</WSD> in a new intellectual ferment following the revolutions in America and in France , Germany and Italy were rising from divisive nationalisms and a strong wave of intellectual awareness was sweeping the Continent . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)