I don’t understand the concept of nationalism and it shows itself in the modern world. After reading a textbook with past examples, and googling it I still don’t understand it
In: Other
Nationalism was a movement in the late 1800s in Europe and most prominently in what are now Italy and Germany. In the early 1800s, Italy and Germany consisted of many different duchies, principalities, kingdoms, and republics. Nationalists sought to unify these small states for cultural, linguistic, and economic reasons. They looked to Britain and France, which were relatively large, unified states and wanted to emulate their greatness and power.
The modern concept of the nation developed gradually. After the fall of Rome, Europeans were not citizens of nations, but subjects of kings. Kings ruled over territories consisting of nobles, many of whom fought among one another to expand territory within the kingdom.
For example, French noblemen were constantly raising armies and going to battle against one another, even though they were subjects of the same king which is unthinkable in a modern nation. They did this for several reasons. First, they had to command armies and go to battle to be obtain the honor and prestige of being noblemen. Second, when they went to war, the king would summon them to the palace and arbitrate the terms of peace. Being in the king’s presence was very prestigious and while they were at the palace, they could lobby the king for privileges within the kingdom and try to expand their power.
In the 1600s, a new state position began to become prominent. This was the prime minister. In France, the prime minister was the Catholic cardinal, Richelieu, often called the father of modern statecraft. He subordinated many of the semi-autonomous towns and cities in France to the centralized power of the French state. He began the separation of the government and the state. As prime minister, he was the head of government-the day to day administration of a nation, while the king was the head of state-the personal embodiment of the nation as an entity.
After Richelieu and the king he served under died, King Louis XIV became king, and his prime minister, Cardinal Mazarin, came to power. Louis XIV’s idea of how to end the battles between the noblemen within his kingdom was to build an enormous palace, Versailles. Instead of raising armies and fighting to get the king’s attention, Louis XIV wanted his noblemen to simply come to his palace and pay their court to him. He wanted a palace large enough to accommodate all of them. And instead of fighting each other, he wanted his nobles to lead armies against surrounding states. In this way, Louis XIV consolidated power, brought peace to kingdom, and got France closer to what we understand as a modern nation.
After the French Revolution, the modern concept of citizen, as opposed to subject of a king, was born.
In 1688, Britain underwent the Glorious Revolution. This event brought about constitutional monarchy. This changed the monarch from ruling by divine right to ruling by consent of the governed. It also made the monarch subordinate to the law, rather than above the law. Eventually, the prime minister became a permanent, institutional position rather than an advisor the monarch could appoint at will. This permanently separated the position of head of state and head of government. England and Scotland also became the United Kingdom, or Britain in 1707.
Germans and Italians wanted the different states in their regions to do the same and for the same reason.
Latest Answers