What is a nation and what is nationalism?
A nation is a large community of people who feel they belong together. They often share a language, culture, history and memories, sometimes a religion or a homeland, and above all a wish to decide their own future.
Nationalism is the idea that each nation should have its own say, usually its own state or at least self-rule. A nation-state is a state where most people see themselves as one nation.
Before 1800 most people were loyal to a ruler, a religion or a village, not a nation. The French Revolution (1789), the growth of printing, schools and railways, and new ideas of popular sovereignty (power comes from the people) made national feeling spread in the 19th century.
Nationalism can unite people and win freedom, but it can also exclude minorities or lead to conflict when one group claims to be superior.
How national movements grow: stages A, B and C
Historians who compared many small nations in Europe noticed three common stages (this model is linked to the Czech historian Miroslav Hroch):
- Stage A: cultural revival. A few scholars, teachers and priests study the people's language, folk songs, customs and history. They write the first grammars, dictionaries and poems in the language.
- Stage B: organisation. Activists form study circles, reading rooms, Sunday schools, newspapers and societies to spread national ideas to more people.
- Stage C: mass movement. Ordinary people join. Political parties form, people sign petitions, vote and protest. Demands grow from cultural rights to autonomy (self-rule inside the empire) or full independence.
Not every movement passes all stages, and the speed depends on schools, cities, newspapers, laws on voting and how the empire reacts.
1848 and the empires' response
In 1848 revolutions broke out in many European cities: the 'Springtime of Peoples'. People demanded constitutions, freedom of the press and national rights. In the Austrian Empire serfdom (forced unpaid labour for landlords) was abolished. Most revolutions were defeated by 1849, but the ideas survived.
Empires responded in two main ways:
- Reform: allowing schools, newspapers or parliaments in local languages, widening the vote (for example Austria-Hungary's move to equal male suffrage in 1907).
- Repression: banning books and newspapers in a language, closing societies, arresting or exiling activists, or crushing armed risings such as the Polish uprisings of 1830–31 and 1863–64.
Repression often slowed a movement for a while but also made it more determined.
Case study: the Ukrainian national movement in two empires
Ukrainians in the 19th century lived divided between the Russian Empire and the Austrian (later Austro-Hungarian) Empire. Their movement shows all three stages:
- Stage A: from the early 1800s, scholars around the new university in Kharkiv and gentry 'autonomist' circles collected songs and wrote histories. In Galicia, three young writers known as the 'Ruthenian Triad' published a book in the people's spoken language (1837); in Transcarpathia local 'awakeners' did similar work.
- Stage B: the secret Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood in Kyiv (1845–47) dreamed of a free union of Slavic peoples and was crushed. In 1848 the Supreme Ruthenian Council in Lviv and the first Ukrainian-language newspaper appeared. From the 1860s hromadas (community societies) ran Sunday schools; young gentry who chose to live like peasants were nicknamed 'khlopomany'. Thinkers such as Volodymyr Antonovych and Mykhailo Drahomanov argued for work among the people and for a federal, democratic future. The Russian government answered with the Valuev circular (1863) and the Ems decree (1876), which banned most printing in Ukrainian.
- Stage C: in Austria-Hungary, where some freedom existed, rival currents (pro-Russian 'Russophiles' and pro-Ukrainian 'populists') competed, deputies sat in the Galician Diet and the Vienna parliament, and the first parties formed, starting with the Radical Party (1890). Its members first called openly for an independent, united Ukraine. In the Russian Empire parties appeared around 1900 and grew in the 1905–07 revolution; reaction followed until 1914. These lands were also home to Jewish, Crimean Tatar, Polish and other communities; economic tension and violent attacks on Jews (pogroms) were part of this troubled period.
National movements in Asia and Africa
Outside Europe nationalism grew mainly as a response to imperialism: people wanted to modernise their country and free it from foreign control.
- Japan: the Meiji reforms (from 1868) built schools, an army, industry and a constitution, making a strong nation-state that avoided colonisation.
- Ottoman Empire: reforms (Tanzimat) and the Young Turk revolution (1908) tried to save the empire; after 1918 the Republic of Turkey was founded (1923).
- China: after defeats by foreign powers, reformers and revolutionaries led by Sun Yat-sen ended the dynasty in the 1911 revolution.
- India: the Indian National Congress (1885) began with petitions; under Gandhi it became a mass non-violent movement and India became independent in 1947.
- Korea: under Japanese colonial rule, the peaceful March 1st Movement (1919) called for independence.
- Africa: educated leaders, trade unions and parties demanded freedom; after 1945 most colonies won independence, beginning south of the Sahara with Ghana in 1957.
New states then faced nation-building: uniting many languages and religions, writing constitutions, building schools and economies.
Try it: the timeline and at home
In the 3D: drag the year from 1800 to 1960. Which continent's movements come first? Which decade has the most independence events?
At home: ask an older family member which songs, festivals or stories make them feel part of a community. Which of these could a stage-A scholar collect? Write a short list.
Key formulas and definitions
- Nation = people who feel they belong together (language, culture, history, will)
- Nationalism = the idea that a nation should govern itself
- Stage A (cultural revival) → Stage B (organisation) → Stage C (mass political movement)
- Empire's answer: reform or repression
- In colonies: nationalism = struggle against foreign rule → independence → nation-building
Worked examples
1. A teacher in 1830 writes the first grammar of her people's spoken language. Which stage is this?
Stage A, cultural revival: scholars study and record the language and culture.
2. In 1880 a society opens reading rooms in 40 villages and prints a weekly newspaper. Which stage?
Stage B, organisation: activists spread national ideas through institutions.
3. Why did the Valuev circular and the Ems decree not destroy the Ukrainian movement?
The bans stopped printing in the Russian Empire, but activists printed in Austrian Galicia, where there was more freedom, and the bans made many people more determined.
4. Compare Japan and India around 1900.
Japan modernised from above (Meiji reforms) and stayed independent. India was a colony, so nationalism became a movement against British rule, growing from petitions (INC 1885) to mass campaigns.
5. Give one positive and one negative effect of nationalism.
Positive: it helped peoples win self-rule and independence. Negative: it could exclude minorities or lead to conflict between groups.
Common mistakes
- Thinking nations always existed. Most national feeling spread only in the 19th and 20th centuries.
- Thinking a nation must have one religion or one race. What matters most is shared identity and the wish to govern together.
- Mixing up autonomy (self-rule inside a bigger state) and independence (a fully separate state).
- Thinking national movements started with violence. Most began with books, schools and newspapers.