Page 34 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

nationalism 1335

The Battle of Valmy (1802):

Vive la Nation!

France now calls herself a republic. She first as-
sumed that title on the 20th of September, 1792, Greenfeld and Marx are right in that nationalist rhetoric
on the very day on which the battle of Valmy was was making its appearance in political and cultural dis-
fought and won. The battle of Valmy is rightly course at least four hundred years earlier. In other words,
considered one of the decisive battles of the nationalism may have begun its career as an elite phe-
modern era, and one of the fonts of nationalism. nomenon, and only become a mass possession very
After France declared war on Austria on 20 much later.
April 1792 and following early encounters in
which the French did not distinguish themselves, Definitions
anti-revolutionary forces advanced into France If we are to pursue either question we need a clearer
(18 August 1792).The combined invading force understanding of nationalism. In its most familiar nine-
comprised Prussians, Austrians, and Hessians. teenth- and twentieth-century form, nationalism is the
The allied invasion was aimed at restoring the doctrine that each nation has a right to its own state, and
deposed French King Louis XVI to power and that a state is legitimate only if it represents a nation. In
strangling the emerging republic at birth. When more recent years, however, some nationalist movements
at first it seemed that the plan would succeed, the —for example, the Welsh in the United Kingdom, the
republic seemed to be on its last legs. Kurds in Iraq—have been prepared to settle for some-
In a desperate measure to halt the formidable thing less than full political self-determination.Although
Prussian army, the French unleashed a legendary these concessions may be born out of necessity, they sug-
artillery attack against their invaders. When the gest that we should recognize a more moderate and
Prussians retreated without any serious military inclusive conception of nationalism as the claim that a
engagement, the French revolutionary troops nation has a right to political recognition, perhaps a
who turned them back did so with the cry “Vive degree of autonomy within a federal structure, and that
la nation!” a state is legitimate to the extent that it provides that
The new Republic, based on the ideals of Lib- recognition.
erty Equality and Fraternity, would survive to ulti- But what is the nation? And what is it about the
mately transform the face of Europe. nation that justifies its claim to a privileged political sta-
tus? There is a limit to the extent that we can provide
Source: Creasy, E. S. (1994). Fifteen decisive battles of the world. London:
DeCapo Press. Retrieved from http://www.standin.se/fifteen.htm general answers to these questions. But there are some
general characteristics. Nationalism came on the scene
with the idea that a group of people is constituted as a
Marx (2003) trace the emergence of nationalism back to political community through a shared cultural identity,
the early sixteenth century, and Adrian Hastings (1997) and (enough) people believe that this identity should
has presented a strong case for a sense of English nation- take priority over others.There is an enormous variety in
hood even prior to the Norman Conquest. the constituents of this identity, not only between nations
It is important to separate different questions here. but within a nation at different times. Each nation does
One concerns the extent to which nationalism was a sig- have its own story to tell, but the plot may change. Every
nificant presence in the consciousness of those in whose nation does, however, appeal to a common history, a
name nationalist struggles were carried on.Another con- story of triumphs and disasters, of heroism and betray-
cerns the use of nationalist rhetoric by political leaders, al, through which the nation has come to be what it is.
intellectuals, and cultural figures. It may be that Breuilly Every nation thinks of itself as having a homeland,
is right about the relatively shallow roots of nationalism, which is described and celebrated in the nation’s art, lit-
even in the nineteenth century. But it may also be that erature, and music, and which provides the ground in