Nationalism was the European movement in the era of Romanticism. During the Age of the Enlightenment, citizenship became the most important issue, while earlier, in the Middle Ages people believed in the belonging to a specific group. In such a way, the era of Romanticism has opened people their own personal and national identity through the principles of nationalism.
In Europe, nationalism emerged in the 18th century in the Age of Enlightenment. It was primarily a political movement aimed at limiting the power of government and ensuring civil rights. Its main goal was to create a liberal community that should have represented the middle-class living with the spirit of the philosophy of John Locke (Broers 39). As a result of the Napoleonic wars, nationalism entered the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, in Spain and Ireland, where political thinking and structure of society were less developed than in the Western Europe. The middle class in these countries was weak. The nation was divided into the feudal aristocracy and rural proletariat. In those countries, nationalism first became a cultural movement, the dream and the hope of scholars and poets. For example, the British and American nationalism were born as the concept of personal liberty and represented the peoples with the clearly structured concept of a political life. The nationalism of other nations was not seedling in the political and social reality and did not have confidence in their abilities. An inferiority complex was often offset by self-glorification. At that time, German, Russian and Indian nationalism presented something more profound than Western nationalism. It raised more complex issues and was very strong. People tried to find some inner sense and reflections on the national ‘soul’ or ‘missions’. The universalistic and rationalistic ideas have become common in Europe. French became the universal language of the European literate society. Nationalism of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars altered the situation. The victories of France and French domination not only awakened desire to build nations, according to the French model, but drew attention to the French ideas.
The concepts of the early nineteenth-century nationalism were not accepted by asses. Mainly, they remained the fate of intellectuals. Many saw in Napoleon a great conqueror and perfect man. For the elite, he became a transformer and revolutionary praised in prose and in verse. However, as a result of protracted wars and hypertrophied French nationalism, national feelings everywhere gained force and first reached a high point in Russian Patriotic War of 1812. Napoleon lost the battle with the Russians, as well as in the German war of liberation in 1813. That led to the battle of the Nations at Leipzig in October 1813. The Prussian and Austrian troops entered Paris the following year (Simpson 45). Napoleon in Italy and Germany indirectly contributed to the growth of nationalism destroying many remnants of the Middle Ages and laying the foundations of a modern management system. The combination of the nationalism and tradition found the strongest expression in the German Romanticism.
Romanticism as an aesthetic revolution was the European movement. It became a haven for the imagination which created emotionally more profound and powerful poetry than it was in the 18th century. However, German Romanticism was creatively poor and wanted to be more than poetry. It interpreted the history, society and human life in combination with the past ideas. For the German romantics, the state had no public organization. Their concept of nationalism was founded on believing that the state and society were God creation.
The defeat of Napoleon in 1814-1815 ruined the wants and desires of the nationalist youth (Simpson 56). In France that lost its imperial glory, many nationalists bitterly accepted the return of the territory to the borders of 1790. They saw in the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo national humiliation. Youth and intellectual circles, excited by expectations of French Revolution, Napoleonic audacity and passionate Romanticism, hated the calm period of the Restoration, proclaimed at the Congress of Vienna. The Patriots, as they called themselves remembering the principles of the French Revolution, felt the commonality in spite their national differences. Their nationalism emphasized the cooperation of peoples against the monarchs and the pursuit of the Liberal Constitution, which should have limited the absolutism of the rulers. The Patriots showed active sympathy to the people of other nations. In an era, when almost anywhere in Europe except England, there was no free opinion and constitutional political life, the Patriots created a secret society in the hope to achieve the goal. Significant achievements in the science in the first half of the nineteenth century have greatly contributed to the development of a new nationalism in educated segments of society. People published and read the documents of the past, because of the grown interest in their history. It became a new source of pride for people. The signal for the revolution came from Paris on February 24, 1848. People in France proclaimed the Second Republic. Next month, the revolutionary performances took place in Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Milan and Venice. German, Italian, Slavic and Hungarian nationalists in Central Europe welcomed the dawn of a new day. However, the promises and hopes soon ended in bitter disappointment. The proclamation of the Republic in France was seen by Europe as a fulfillment of old hopes and a message addressed to all nations. In the new century, a new nationalism has put the collective strength and unity above individual liberties.
The current form of the nationalism is very different from the nationalism that existed during the periods of Enlightenment and Restauration. According to the Simpson, ‘It lived on the margins of mainstream politics” (Simpson 91). Due to social changes, disturbances, revolutions, protests, the old order was crumbling. It was the process of collapse of the monarchies. The European public and politicians thought that they needed to create a new factor, bringing together people and the national ideas.
Broers, Michael. Europe after Napoleon: Revolution, Reaction, and Romanticism, 1814-1848. Manchester: Manchester UP; 1996. Print.
Simpson, William, and Martin Jones. Europe, 1783-1914. London: Routledge, 2000. Print.
