19th Century Europe: Imperial And Nationalistic Movements

In 19th century Europe the conflict between the notions of the nation state and empire were created through the desire for more supremacy and division of ideas, being both imperial and nationalistic. This tension was mostly centered around the ideas of what Europe was at the time and what is would work to become. Ideological differences between nations and empires created geo-political conflict. Many thinkers of the time espoused individual rights and, detested many forms of imperial rule. With the rise of nationalistic movements such as the French revolution highlight the struggle of social groups in Europe fighting for the right to self-governance. Upon the invasion of Prussia by Napoleon, philosopher Gottlieb Fichte withdrew from the belief that foreign rule over the nation was possible and went through an intellectual opposition toward any form of occupation from a foreign power and rather urged Germans to
45). His views which were posed in his Addresses to the German Nation in 1808, indicate that were was a growing sense of nationalism which was significantly affected by post French revolution, and such tensions also illustrate the growing fears of occupation and being stripped of any form of autonomy which could result in some form of republican nation state. Thus, this is a reflection of some of the attitudes to the tension of the idea of nation state, which forms as one of the various implications of the tensions and interdependence regarding ideas of empire. One of the tensions between the ideas of empire and the nation state in 19th century Europe was the advocacy of the division of Europe into nation states, partly accounting for the