Nationalism in 18th Century Europe
Throughout the nineteenth century three political ideals began influencing states and their citizens like no other ideals had done before. These ideals were liberalism, socialism and, the most important, nationalism. Each one possessed its own uniqueness which inspired mass followings of people that would last thoroughly into the twentieth century. Each one also proved to form a catalyst for the modernisation of many European countries. However, in comparison, none of these ideals had the impact that the nationalistic approach had. This is due to many reasons which ranged from the fact that not everyone was affected by socialism or that ninety percent of people in eighteenth century Europe lived in a ‘nationstate’ which acted as a breeding ground for nationalism growth. A nationstate is a bordered country with its own culture and, the main component of a nation, language. Once politically tapped, this shared heritage and collective ideas could easily take the form of nationalism and depending on the capability of the leadership in control the approach could take many different directions, the most wellknown being: ‘Pride Nationalism’ which originated from France or ‘Blood and Soil Nationalism’ from
Germany. One of the greatest accomplishment of nationalism was its ascension to the dominant doctrine of ordinary people’s lives at the expense of religion whose power had become a tattered shadow of previous centuries. However, that is not to say that, once in power, nationalist government promoted and succeeded in achieving prolonged peace and prosperity; in fact, the opposite usually occurred. Aggressive stances between neighbouring countries during the late
1800s became a formality because every nation looked up their adjoined countries as potential threats. As Charles de Gaulle put it ‘Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.’1 In this scholarly work, I
will
Germany. One of the greatest accomplishment of nationalism was its ascension to the dominant doctrine of ordinary people’s lives at the expense of religion whose power had become a tattered shadow of previous centuries. However, that is not to say that, once in power, nationalist government promoted and succeeded in achieving prolonged peace and prosperity; in fact, the opposite usually occurred. Aggressive stances between neighbouring countries during the late
1800s became a formality because every nation looked up their adjoined countries as potential threats. As Charles de Gaulle put it ‘Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first.’1 In this scholarly work, I
will
Bibliography: Aydelotte, W. O., Bismarck and British Colonial Policy (Philadelphia: Blackwell Publishing, 1937) Fenby, Jonathan, The Long Nineteenth Century (New York: NY, Routledge, 2002) (London: Routledge 1994) Weber, Eugene, Stanford University Press, 1976)