How did culture play an important role in creating the idea of the nation in Europe? Explain it by giving four examples. (CBSE 2011)

How did culture play an important role in creating the idea of the nation in Europe? Explain it by giving four examples. (CBSE 2011)

Ans. Art, poetry, stories, music and language helped shape nationalist feelings.

Examples: Germany, Poland and Greece.

(i) Romanticism, a cultural movement sought to develop a particular form of nationalist movement. Romantic artists were against the glorification of reasoning and science and focused on emotions, intuitions and mystical feelings. They wanted to share a collective heritage and a common cultural past as the basis of a nation.

(a) Johann Gottfried famous Romantic German philosopher claimed true German culture was to be discovered among the common people "Das Volk".

(b) In Germany, collecting and recording forms of folk culture became an integral part of nation building e.g., Grimms Fairy Tales.

(ii) Language:

Through the use of vernacular language and folklore, the ancient national spirit was revived and modern nationalist message carried to large audience which was mostly illiterate e.g., Poland.

(a) Though Poland continued to be under Russian occupation, the clergy in Poland began to use language as a weapon of national resistance. Polish became a common language in church gatherings and for religious instructions.

(b) Karol Kurpinski celebrated the national struggle through his operas and music. He turned folk dances like the ‘Polonaise' and 'mazurka' into nationalist symbols.

(iii) Art and Artists: Greece was a part of the Ottoman empire since the fifteenth century. In 1821 when the Greeks began their struggle for independence; culture played a significant role in uniting the Greeks against the Muslim empire.

(a) The poets and artists lauded Greece as a cradle of European civilization and mobilised support among Greeks living in exile and among educated elite of Western Europe. For example, English poet Lord Byron organised funds for the Greek cause.

(b) French painter Delacroix through his painting on massacre of Greeks by Turks appealed to the emotions of the spectators and sought to create sympathy for the Greeks.