The Rise of Nationalism After Nepolean
...urope, nationalism occurred in two stages, where first there was a cultural nationalism, and then a political nationalism. The cultural nationalism maintained that each group had their own distinct culture, and political nationalism maintained that each nation should become sovereign. However, the idea of political nationalism was feared to disrupt the balance of power established after the Congress of Vienna. Thus, revolutionaries were regarded by the conservative governments in Europe with contempt, and therefore often had to organize into secret societies. In Italy the nationalistic movement was led by Joseph Mazzini, who founded the society of Young Italy. Although his movement did not produce an Italian political union, it helped ignite the spark that eventually resulted in the creation of a unified Italy toward the end of the 19th century. Soon after Mazzini’s creation of Young Italy, we see the creation of a Young Germany. Indeed, nationalism had the strongest affect in the areas that later became Germany. During and immediately after the Napoleonic era, the development of Germanic cultural nationalism was largely a reaction to the imposition of French culture. However, German cultural nationalism found deep roots in itself. This new emerging era, known in music and literature as the Romantic period, found its highest expressions through the growing concept of a unique German culture. This was especially expressed in music, since German composers during this period became recognized for their creativity and nationalistic expressions. Of course, Beethoven is the best example and the last movement of his n...