The Influence Of The French Revolution On Modern European Nationalism

Nationalism,as a political trend of thought,came into being in the 17^th century and now has had a wide impact on the whole world.Modern nationalism originated from the establishment of a nation state.Each country and nation has its own nationalism with different connotations.The French Revolution realized the concept of people’s sovereignty for the first time,overthrew the feudal monarchy,established a unified national state,and transformed political legitimacy from monarchy to democracy.After that,France gained tremendous power to expand abroad.Under the pressure of France,Germany began to find new ways to realize self-organization,and express itself as a nation,which formed a series of theoretical construction.Through the construction of German culture,the construction of German nation was formed.Thus,German cultural nationalism came into being.Then cultural nationalism gradually spreads to other countries,forming a process of nationalism generalization.France and Germany have different connotations of nationalism,but they have achieved country and national unity.Therefore,the significance of modern nationalism formed by the French Revolution to European countries is self-evident.