Discuss the development of nationalism and nation-states in modern Europe.

 Idea of Nationalism and Nation-state: Historically, the growth of the nation-state and its developing legitimacy came after the American Revolution and subsequently after the French Revolution. The revolt of the American colonies against the yoke of their mother country in 1776 brought about the political movement and war known as the American Revolution. The American revolution marked other transitions in political thought as well, most notably the growth of new republican ideals, which clashed with the traditional and formerly English set of values. In the wake of the American Revolution, at the Treaty of Paris in 1783-a new nation, the United States of America, was created.

Unlike the English and American Revolutions, the French Revolution went through a series of phases, each of which almost amounted to a revolution in itself. The 1789 revolution was an uprising by the nation against the royal state. Overnight, the revolutionaries seized the state of Ancien Régime and transferred the concept of sovereignty from the monarch to the nation. In that moment the nation was elevated to the condition of statehood. The nation became a state and the state became the embodiment of the nation. The two concepts became totally fused.

“The revolution, and the republic which grew out of 1789, shed light upon the French concept of the nation. This is a political notion because the nation perceives of itself as a body of citizens. The concept of nation is based on the idea of the social contract between the individual citizen and the state-nation, where every citizen is a part of a whole in a universal perspective. This means that every individual can become a citizen in France, or elsewhere, if he agrees to enter into this political and social contract.

The lack of any central authority until the second half of the XIX century did not contribute towards any linguistic unity in the Italic Peninsula, though, the achievements of the writers of the Middle-ages and the Renaissance helped to give Tuscan a leading start. The Unification of Italy in 1861 and the creation of the Kingdom led to the adoption of Tuscan, until then the language of the Tuscan higher classes, as the national language. This was a remarkable step, as only a minority could speak this rather artificial (much as Classical Latin was) language. Mazzini is often described as the prophet of 19th century nationalism and was one of the three great architects of Italian Unification (the other two being Garibaldi and Cavour). The main contribution of Mazzini to the cause of Italian Unification was that he succeeded in impressing on the Italian people that liberation and unification of Italy was not an impossible dream but a practical ideal capable of realization. 

Stages In The Development of Nationalism 

 In broad, the development of nationalism is divided into two broad stages. First, before 18th century, this is considered as an initial stage when the development of nationalism was slow. Second stage is considered after the 18th century when the pace of development of nationalism was very fast.   

Nationalism before 1789: Proto-nationalism: Although Nationalism is unique to the modern world, some of its elements can be traced throughout history. Proto-nationalism, with suffix “proto” literally meaning “first,” refers to the philosophy that one owes patriotism not to the government of the state he physically resides in, but rather to the tribe, race or sect with which he shares an ancestral origin.

The spread of literacy, and thus, of national languages at the expense of the language of the empire; economic reasons, when nationalism could help in creating bigger markets for business, like in Germany and Italy; and the ambitions of national lower gentry to take over middle-class business operated mostly by foreigners, especially in Eastern Europe, are but a few examples of causes for rising nationalistic feeling in Europe. Additionally, the use of nationalism in post-revolution France to counter a foreign threat has been mentioned previously.

The Peasants’ War was a popular revolt that took place in Europe after 13th century. It consisted of a series of both economic and religious revolts in which peasants, townsfolk and nobles all participated. The conflict, which occurred mostly in the southern, western and central areas of what, is now modern Germany plus areas in neighbouring Alsace and modern Switzerland and Austria, involved so many peasant rebels. It was Europe’s largest and most widespread popular uprising prior to the French Revolution of 1789.

Modern Nationalism: The 19th Century: Nationalism emerged in 19th century Europe to such an extent as to change the course of history. However, the year 1789 acts well as a turning point in time after which nationalism becomes more and more a force to be reckoned with. In fact, it is the last time that reactionary forces gain the advantage over nationalism: history henceforth is little more than the triumph of nationalism throughout Europe. 

 The 1848 revolutions went furthest in those areas where nationalism played an important part in the revolutions. But it was only a decade after the revolutions that nationalism began to assert itself in earnest. The first major effect it caused on the European system was in Italy, where it nevertheless remained the ideology of the educated, not of the masses. One criterion that was established early in the 19th century for defining nations was Hobsbawn’s “threshold principle,” which stated that peoples had to be large enough before they could be thought of as nations. This was a commonly accepted idea throughout the 19th century, supported by, among others, the great Italian nationalist Mazzini, who, because of the principle, “did not envisage independence for Ireland.” In fact, the question on the size of viable nations continued well into the 20th century.  

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