Nation and Nationalism in Modern German History

Abstract

This review will focus on five themes: the character of the 'national idea' from late eighteenth to mid-nineteenth century; the role of nationalist ideas, movements, and organizations in national unification; the development of the national idea within the second empire; the significance and character of the national idea in Germany since 1945; the degree to which national ideas have contributed to the creation of a unique history. I shall conclude by distinguishing between proper and improper uses of the idea of nationality in the study of modern German history. There is a familiar, conventional treatment of this subject and it can be found in the book by Hagen Schulze.' The reaction to the French revolution and Napoleon created a new sense of national identity, expressed in the writings of men like Fichte and Arndt, and in movements such as the gymnastic societies and the volunteer units which fought Napoleon. I815 shocked these nationalists. The German confederation was a 'Monstrum'. A sense of nationality continued to be cultivated for example, in projects such as the Monumenta Germania Historica and the building of national monuments against the prevailing politics.2 This sense of national identity was deepened and extended in the following years, for example, in the Hambach festival and during the crisis in Franco-German relations in I840. By I848 the national issue was central to German politics. Failure in I848 led more people to look to Prussia as the instrument to realize the national idea. Assisted by economic changes which strengthened Prussia (railway building, the growth of the customs union), and by diplomatic and military setbacks which weakened Austria (Crimea, the war of I859) the stage was set for the entrance of Bismarck. He duly entered and, though not himself enamoured of the national idea, allied with it to bring about unification.3 There were difficulties, as Schulze has stressed elsewhere,4 about providing some political expression to the national idea, though these were as much European as German. However, this conventional argument sees nothing problematic