War and Nation Building

Dynamic leaders in the German and Italian states used the opportunity provided by the weakened concert of Europe to unify their fragmented countries through warfare. When national disunity threatened, the United States waged a bloody civil war, which opened the way for further expansion and vigorous economic growth. The rise of powerful nation-states such as Italy, Germany, and the United States was accompanied by a sense of pride in national identity—or nationalism—among their peoples. (See “Contrasting Views: The Nation-State in the Mid-Nineteenth Century.”) This was not an inevitable or universal trend in the West, however. Millions of individuals in the Austrian Empire, Ireland, and elsewhere maintained a regional, local, or distinct ethnic identity even as the nation-state was strengthening and national sentiment was on the rise. (See “Terms of History: Nationalism.”)