Introduction to the Documents, Chapter 24

Following the defeat of Napoleon and his imperial aspirations, a period of ideological development promised to transform the economic and political foundations of Europe. Born in part out of calls for national mobilization in revolutionary France, nationalism gained strength as cultural groups began to seek their own political identity as nation-states. While nationalist rhetoric in Europe often emphasized language, territory, or ethnicity as unifying principles, other movements coalesced around shared identities of gender or social class. In many cases, nationalism, socialism, and other ideologies led to uprisings, revolutions, and wars. In most cases, nationalist movements strengthened states through standardized culture, language, and history as they created both internal solidarity and external threats. Some nationalist movements fought unsuccessfully for recognition, and socialism threatened new nation-states and their nationalist ideologies with a universal call to recognize and respond to the social divisions wrought by the Industrial Revolution. The documents in this chapter present these ideologies as they were proposed and understood by European men and women.