World Civilizations from 1600 Nationalism in Europe. History Essay

Nationalism in Europe
Student’s Name
Institutional affiliation
Nationalism in Europe
The interests, culture, language and history of a nation are considered of primary importance. Nationalism is considered as a modern concept of people coming together on cultural and historical bond and having a single organized administration. The ideology resulted in the beliefs that the citizens of a nation should pledge their loyalty to the country rather than their leaders like a president or king. Many nations have found acting independently more preferable rather than internationally, and this has helped many countries free from foreign domination. Nationalism, as explained by Beissinger (1996), is above and beyond power, and power involves politics. Different early theorists of nationalism had different views on the subject matter. Some treated the subject as an ideology as a branch of the idea in history while others treated it as a state of mind to the power of the notions of self-determination that were provoked by the French revolution (Beissinger, 1996). The discussions associated with nationalism are a system of group behaviour that is greatly impacted by the speaker’s perspective.
Nationalists aimed at having people bound by ethnic and cultural boundaries being administered by the same government. The idea of unifying similar ethnic and cultural groups reduced the conflicts, making them more local and easier to find resolutions for them. Nationalists worked towards having foreign nations stipulate their intervention and account for any foreign relations. Nationalism worked towards achieving political influence in the form of the mobilization of the masses, discourse that is collective or in the practices of the state. Nationalism is different from ethnical politics, although it intersects and overlaps with it, it is significantly defined by its alignment towards its specific objective (Beissinger, 1996). In most cases, the subject is about defining or redefining the cultural or physical boundaries of an organized society. European nationalism was out of the community’s desire to affirm its harmony and liberation. The desire to assert unity and independence was from the inspiration by the French Revolution, which had spread ideas of equal opportunity and society that bred nationalism. In the 19th century, between 1830 and 1848, several revolutions broke out that ended up with some countries like Belgium being independent. While the Belgium revolt was successful, several others failed, but eventually, Greece became an independent nation which illustrated the triumph of nationalism.
The nationalists were confronted with several difficulties in attaining their goals. The difficulties wer...