Nation State
(Early
Modern Europe)
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Nation State |
| One of the most characteristic European political institutions is the nation-state, which developed over a period of centuries from the late Middle Ages until the era of the French Revolution, based initially on loyalty to a particular monarch or dynasty, and later on the union of a people with a common language and traditions. England, France, and Spain had achieved nationhood by the 15th century; the Netherlands, Sweden, Prussia, and others followed in the 16th and 17th centuries. Out of this process came the doctrine of nationalism, the belief that every national group is entitled to independence and self-determination,which became one of the most powerful ideological forces of the 19th- and 20th- century world. |
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