nationalism

History & Society

Modern World History

• How the Modern Political Map Was MadeA country map looks like a finished jigsaw. History looks more like repeated rebuilding: political units expand, combine, split, change regimes, and retain parts of earlier administrations. The same place can acquire a new flag without a new population, while a language can cross many borders without producing a single state.
• Vienna, Nationalism, and the Remaking of EuropeEurope in 1815 was not organized into the familiar collection of nation-states. German-speaking and Italian-speaking populations lived across multiple states, while large dynastic empires governed many languages. The defeat of Napoleon created a choice about how to reconstruct order, not an opportunity to restore an unchanged past.