The Role Of Nationalism In The 19th Century

The economic and political changes that occurred across Europe in the nineteenth century made it inevitable for the inhabitants of Palestine and the Jews of Europe to become nationalists. Through the emergence of nationalism, we see the reversal of old practices of empire. Cultures of nationalism developed as the world adopted the the idea that nation’s strength rested in unity and loyalty of its people. To secure unity and loyalty, the concept of a common identity was invented. This concept however, proved to be capable of causing divisions as well. While the spread of cultures of nationalism proved unstoppable, starting a nationalist movement was not. Nationalist movements emerge, when the pressures from existing nations push for the construction

Being a part of a nation goes hand in hand with several assumptions. First is the assumption that every individual belongs to one nation or another. Second is that one can identify nations with certain characteristics like the population’s shared ethnicity, religion, and language. Third, is that self-government is the only type of government that can promote the nation’s common interest. The last assumptions are the belief that nations should be based in a specific territory that they claim is personally significant or related to them and that nations will retain these characteristics over time. The existence of all these ideas together create what could be called a “culture of nationalism.” A culture of nationalism exists when and where these assumptions are being practiced because they are believed to be true.

When a culture of nationalism is established, it is then that people can become nationalists. Thus, the existence of a culture of nationalism provides a place where nationalism comes to be. Being a part of a unified society implies the existence of an “other.” People of another nation different and separate from one’s own. It is when nations come into conflict with some “other,” that nationalist movements are

In Document 4, the Ottoman decree expresses a politician’s desire to make his subjects happy, declaring that all subjects are equal and they are all granted religious freedom. This kind of rhetoric from a legal decree parallels with one of the five assumptions of nationalization--that their own self-government is the one that serves the people’s common interests. The document also discusses the creation of schools, management of the police, court procedures and punishment against corrupt politicians. This goes back to how ideas of nationalism is created through the closer involvement of the government in people’s