-
French Revolution
Eugène Delacroix, “La Liberté guidant le peuple”, Oil on Canvas, 260 cm × 325 cm (102.4 in × 128.0 in), 1830, (France) The French Revolution was the first time National identity and Nationalism were used to mobilize the masses and illicit major change. This set precedence and allowed nationalism to become a driving force for change throughout European history -
Napoleonic Wars
William Sadler II, “The Battle of Waterloo”, Oil on Canvas, 81 cm × 177 cm (32 in × 70 in), 1815. The Napoleonic wars accidentally fostered Nationalist sentiment in central Europe, giving the people a shared experience and a common enemy. This later led to a call for German unification -
Brothers Grimm transcribe old German folktales
Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen
(lit. Children's and Household Tales), Germany, 1812-1858. To create a national German identity old folk tales were used to show that the "Germanic" shared more than a common language but a common culture, ancestry and ideology. -
“Smail-Aga Čengić’s Death” Poem by Ivan Mažuranić
Ivan Mažuranić, “Smail-Aga Čengić’s Death” (1845). The dramatic retelling of the death and defeat of the Ottoman Lord Smail-Aga Čengić shows how land ownership and ancestral birthright became the basis of Balkan nationalism and mobilized the Montenegrins to free themselves from the oppressive Ottoman Empire. -
German Unification
Anton von Werner, “Ausrufung des Deutschen Reiches”, Oil on canvas, 1.67 x 2.02m, 1883, (Berlin) This painting shows the even of the Proclamation of the king of Prussia Wilhelm I as the German Emperor. German nationalism and the creation of a united German identity based on a shared language, culture, ideology and experience facilitated the unification of German. -
The Great War
"Are we Afraid? NO!". 1915. Poster. World War I became a time when nationalism was used to ensure that enemies of the state became thought of as enemies of the people. In addition, this British propaganda poster was used to garner the support of the colonies, making them identify with the greater British identity. -
World War II
Entartete Musik. 1938. Nazi propaganda poster. Nazis used nationalism to create an "Other" and produce sentiments of German national superiority. Making it so the German Aryan race was considered far superior to any others. This form and weaponization of nationalism allowed for the atrocities of the Holocaust to occur.