Question: ‘The development of nationalism did not come about only through wars and territorial expansion.’
Answer: ‘The development of nationalism did not come about only through wars and territorial expansion’, it was said so because – wars and territorial expansion were not the only two reason behind the development of nationalism, but there were many other reasons which were:-
1. Art and poetry, stories and music which are the part of Culture and traditions also played a significant role in the development of nationalist sentiments.
2. The concept of Romanticism developed during that time gave rise to the group of romantic artists who started expressing emotions, intuitions, and mystical feelings through their art. They criticised reason and science. Example – Johann Gottfried Herder, German Philosopher, believed that German culture should be introduced among the common people, which should be possible only through folk songs, poetry, and dances. So, the collection of such tradition was necessary for the development of the nationalism.
3. Vernacular Language became the medium to spread the messages as it was essential to include those people too in this goal who were illiterate. For example – in Poland which was not an independent territory kept generating their nationalistic sentiments through music and Language.
4. Language became an essential part of this development. For example – Russians imposed the Russian language everywhere and removed polish language from the schools. This incident made other clergy members to use polish as a weapon against their rule. In church gatherings and religious occasions also, polish language was used. Even though Russians punished all those who used Polish language but the use of it served as a symbol to achieve their own freedom against the Russian rule.
