View source for Romantic nationalism

{{short description|Type of nationalism}}
{{original research|date=September 2024}}
[[File:La Liberté guidant le peuple - Eugène Delacroix - Musée du Louvre Peintures RF 129 - après restauration 2024.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.15|''[[Liberty Leading the People]],'' embodying the Romantic view of the French [[July Revolution|Revolution of 1830]], also known as the [[July Revolution]]; its painter [[Eugène Delacroix]] also served as an elected deputy]]
[[File:Frederic Sorrieu - Universal Democratic and Social Republic 1848.jpg|thumb|The Dream of Worldwide Democratic and Social Republics – The Pact Between Nations, a print prepared by Frédéric Sorrieu, 1848]]
[[File:Adolph Tidemand & Hans Gude - Bridal Procession on the Hardangerfjord - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.15|Brudeferd i [[Hardanger]] (Bridal procession in Hardanger), a monumental piece within [[Norwegian romantic nationalism]]. Painted by [[Hans Gude]] and [[Adolph Tidemand]].]]
'''Romantic nationalism''' (also '''national romanticism''', '''organic nationalism''', '''identity nationalism''') is the form of [[nationalism]] in which the state claims its [[legitimacy (political)|political legitimacy]] as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes such factors as language, [[Race (classification of human beings)|race]], ethnicity, culture, religion, and customs of the nation in its primal sense of those who were born within its culture. It can be applied to [[ethnic nationalism]] as well as [[civic nationalism]]. Romantic nationalism arose in reaction to dynastic or imperial [[hegemony]], which assessed the legitimacy of the state from the top down, emanating from a [[monarch]] or other authority, which justified its existence. Such downward-radiating power might ultimately derive from a [[deity|god]] or gods
(see the [[divine right of kings]] and the [[Mandate of Heaven]]).<ref>Joseph Theodoor Leerssen, Anne Hilde van Baal, and Jan Rock, eds. ''Encyclopedia of romantic nationalism in Europe'' (Amsterdam University Press, 2018.)</ref><ref>Joep Leerssen, "Notes toward a Definition of Romantic Nationalism." ''Romantik: Journal for the study of Romanticisms'' 2.1 (2013): 9-35. [https://tidsskrift.dk/rom/article/download/20191/17807 online]</ref>

Among the key themes of [[Romanticism]], and its most enduring legacy, the cultural assertions of romantic nationalism have also been central in [[Age of Enlightenment|post-Enlightenment]] art and political philosophy. From its earliest stirrings, with their focus on the development of national languages and [[folklore]], and the spiritual value of local customs and traditions, to the movements that would redraw the map of Europe and lead to calls for [[self-determination]] of nationalities, nationalism was one of the key issues in Romanticism, determining its roles, expressions and meanings. Romantic nationalism, resulting from this interaction between cultural production and political thought, became "the celebration of the nation (defined in its language, history and cultural character) as an inspiring ideal for artistic expression; and the instrumentalization of that expression in political consciousness-raising".<ref>[[Joep Leerssen]], "Notes towards a Definition of Romantic Nationalism", ''Romantik: Journal for the Study of Romanticisms'', 2.1 (2013): 9-25 (28).</ref>

Historically in Europe, the watershed year for romantic nationalism was 1848,{{cn|date=September 2024}} when [[Revolutions of 1848|a revolutionary wave]] spread across the continent; numerous [[nationalistic]] revolutions occurred in various fragmented regions (such as Italy) or multinational states (such as the [[Austrian Empire]]).  While initially the revolutions fell to [[reactionary]] forces and the old order was quickly re-established, the many revolutions would mark the first step towards [[Liberalism|liberalisation]] and the formation of modern [[nation states]] across much of Europe.

{{nationalism sidebar|types}}

==Brief history==

===Nationalism and revolution===
[[File:Carga de O'Higgins.jpg|thumb|upright=1.6|Romanticized painting of the [[Battle of Rancagua]] during the [[Chilean War of Independence]] by [[Pedro Subercaseaux]]]]
In the Balkans, Romantic views of a connection with [[classical Greece]], which inspired [[Philhellenism]] infused the [[Greek War of Independence]] (1821–30), in which the Romantic poet [[Lord Byron]] died of high fever. [[Gioachino Rossini|Rossini]]'s opera ''[[William Tell (opera)|William Tell]]'' (1829) marked the onset of the [[Opera|Romantic opera]], using the central [[national myth]] unifying Switzerland; and in Brussels, a riot (August 1830) after an opera that set a doomed romance against a background of foreign oppression ([[Daniel-François-Esprit Auber|Auber]]'s ''[[La Muette de Portici]]'') sparked the [[Belgian Revolution]] of 1830–31, the first successful revolution in the model of Romantic nationalism. [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]]'s opera choruses of an oppressed people inspired two generations of patriots in Italy, especially with "Va pensiero" (''[[Nabucco]]'', 1842). Under the influence of romantic nationalism, among economic and political forces, both Germany and Italy found political unity, and movements to create nations similarly based upon ethnic groups. It would flower in the Balkans (see for example, the [[Carinthian Plebiscite]], 1920), along the Baltic Sea, and in the interior of Central Europe, where in the eventual outcome, the [[Habsburg]]s succumbed to the surge of Romantic nationalism.<ref>[[Miroslav Hroch]], "Introduction: National romanticism", in Balázs Trencsényi and Michal Kopeček, eds. ''Discourses of collective identity in Central and Southeast Europe'', vol. II ''National Romanticism: The Formation of National Movements'', 2007:4ff.</ref>

In [[Norway]], romanticism was embodied, not in literature, but in the movement toward a national style, both in architecture and in ''[[ethos]]''.<ref>Oscar Julius Falnes, ''National romanticism in Norway'', 1968.</ref> Earlier, there was a strong romantic nationalist element mixed with [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] rationalism in the rhetoric used in [[North America]], in the American colonists' [[United States Declaration of Independence|declaration of independence]] from [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] and the drafting of the [[United States Constitution|U.S. Constitution]] of 1787, as well as the rhetoric in the [[Spanish American wars of independence|wave of rebellions]], inspired by new senses of localized identities, which swept the American colonies of Spain, one after the other, from the May Revolution of [[Argentina]] in 1810.{{cn|date=August 2018}}

===Conservatism and revolution in the 19th century===
{{see also|Concert of Nations|Revolutions of 1848}}

Following the ultimate collapse of the [[First French Empire]] with the fall of Napoleon, conservative elements took control in Europe, led by the Austrian noble [[Klemens von Metternich]], ideals of the [[balance of power (international relations)|balance of power]] between the [[great powers]] of Europe dominated continental politics of the first half of the 19th century.  Following the [[Congress of Vienna]], and subsequent [[Concert of Europe]] system, several major empires took control of European politics.  Among these were the [[Russian Empire]]; the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|restored French monarchy]]; the [[German Confederation]], under the dominance of [[Prussia]]; the [[Austrian Empire]]; and the [[Ottoman Empire]].{{cn|date=August 2018}}

The conservative forces held sway until the [[Revolutions of 1848]] swept across Europe and threatened the old order.  Numerous movements developed around various cultural groups, who began to develop a sense of national identity.  While initially, all of these revolutions failed, and [[reactionary]] forces would re-establish political control, the revolutions marked the start of the steady progress towards the end of the Concert of Europe under the dominance of a few multi-national empires and led to the establishment of the modern [[nation state]] in Europe; a process that would not be complete for over a century and a half. [[Central and Eastern Europe]]'s political situation was partly shaped by the two [[World Wars]], while many national identities in these two regions formed modern nation states when the collapse of the [[Soviet Union]] and the multinational states [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] and [[Czechoslovakia]] led to numerous new states forming during the last decade of the 20th century.{{cn|date=August 2018}}

[[File:American Progress (John Gast painting).jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.35|[[John Gast (painter)|John Gast]], ''American Progress,'' (circa 1872) celebrates [[United States|U.S.]] romantic nationalism in the form of westward expansion&nbsp;– an idea known as "[[Manifest Destiny]]".]]

===Folk culture===
Romantic nationalism inspired the collection of [[folklore]] by such people as the [[Brothers Grimm]].  The view that fairy tales, unless contaminated from outside literary sources, were preserved in the same form over thousands of years, was not exclusive to Romantic Nationalists, but it fit in well with their views that such tales expressed the primordial nature of a people.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mason.gmu.edu/~svu5/pages/introduction.html |title=The Brothers Grimm - National Acclaim }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.scienceabc.com/humans/why-did-the-grimms-fairy-tales-get-linked-to-nationalism.html |title=Why Did the Grimm's Fairy Tales Get Linked to Nationalism? |date=17 September 2023 }}</ref>

The [[Brothers Grimm]] were criticized because their first edition was insufficiently German, and they followed the advice.  They rejected many tales they collected because of their similarity to tales by [[Charles Perrault]], which they thought proved they were not truly German tales; ''[[Sleeping Beauty]]'' survived in their collection because the tale of [[Brynhildr]] convinced them that the figure of the sleeping princess was authentically German. They also altered the language used, changing each "Fee" (fairy) to an enchantress or wise woman, every "prince" to a "king's son", every "princess" to a "king's daughter".<ref>[[Maria Tatar]], ''The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales'', p31, {{ISBN|0-691-06722-8}}</ref>   Discussing these views in their third editions, they particularly singled out [[Giambattista Basile]]'s ''[[Pentamerone]]'' as the first ''national'' collection of fairy tales, and as capturing the [[Naples|Neapolitan]] voice.<ref>Benedetto Croce, "The Fantastic Accomplishment of Giambattista Basile and His ''Tale of Tales''", Jack Zipes, ed., ''The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Strap Arola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm'', p 888-9, {{ISBN|0-393-97636-X}}</ref>

The work of the Brothers Grimm influenced other collectors, both inspiring them to collect tales and leading them to similarly believe that the fairy tales of a country were particularly representative of it, to the neglect of cross-cultural influence.  Among those influenced were the Russian [[Alexander Afanasyev]], the Norwegians [[Peter Christen Asbjørnsen]] and [[Jørgen Moe]], and the Australian [[Joseph Jacobs]].<ref>Jack Zipes, ''The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm'', p 846, {{ISBN|0-393-97636-X}}</ref>

===National epics===
[[Image:BattleofRoncevauxWvBibra.jpg|thumb|A painting of an episode from the [[Song of Roland]], a French national epic]]
{{Main|National epic}}
The concept of a "[[national epic]]", an extensively mythologized legendary work of poetry of defining importance to a certain nation, is another product of Romantic nationalism. The "discovery" of ''[[Beowulf]]'' in a single manuscript, first transcribed in 1818, came under the impetus of Romantic nationalism, after the manuscript had lain as an ignored curiosity in scholars' collections for two centuries. ''Beowulf'' was felt to provide people self-identified as "[[Anglo-Saxon]]" with their missing "national epic",<ref>The section "III.Early National Poetry" of ''The Cambridge History of English and American Literature'' (1907–21) begins "By far the most important product of the national epos is ''Beowulf''...</ref> just when the need for it was first being felt: the fact that Beowulf himself was a [[Geat]] was easily overlooked. The pseudo-Gaelic literary forgeries of "[[Ossian]]" had failed, finally, to fill the need for the first Romantic generation.{{cn|date=August 2018}}

The first publication of ''[[The Tale of Igor's Campaign]]'' coincided with the rise in Russian national spirit in the wake of the [[Napoleonic wars]] and [[Suvorov]]'s campaigns in Central Europe. The unseen and unheard ''[[Song of Roland]]'' had become a dim memory, until the antiquary [[Francisque Michel]] transcribed a worn copy in the [[Bodleian Library]] and put it into print in 1837; it was timely: French interest in the national epic revived among the Romantic generation. In Greece, the ''[[Iliad]]'' and ''[[Odyssey]]'' took on new urgency during the [[Greek War of Independence]]. Amongst the world's Jewish community, the early [[Zionism|Zionists]] considered the [[Bible]] a more suitable national epic than the [[Talmud]].<ref>[[Moshe Halbertal]] (1997), [https://books.google.com/books?id=7ewY9764Wv8C&pg=PA132 People of the Book: Canon, Meaning, and Authority], p.132: "With the rise of Jewish nationalism, the relation of many Jews to the Bible and the Talmud took another turn. The Zionists preferred the Bible to the Talmud as the national literature, for the Bible tells a heroic story of the national drama whose focus is the Land of Israel. While they objected to the Haskalah politics of emancipation, Zionist thinkers also stressed the role of the Bible, but they thought of it as an element in building a particular national consciousness rather than as the basis of a shared Judeo-Christian heritage enabling the integration of Jews in Europe. Unlike the Talmud, they held, the Bible had the potential to become a national epic. Its drama unfolded in the hills of Judea, and it connected the national claim to the land with a historical past. Nothing in the Talmud, in contrast, appealed to the romanticism vital to national movements. It does not tell the glorious story of a nation, it has no warriors and heroes, no geography which arouses longing in the reader or a sense of connection to an ancient home."</ref>

Many other "national epics", [[epic poetry]] considered to reflect the national spirit, were produced or revived under the influence of Romantic nationalism: particularly in the [[Russian Empire]], national minorities seeking to assert their own identities in the face of [[Russification]] produced new national poetry&nbsp;– either out of whole cloth, or from cobbling together folk poetry, or by resurrecting older narrative poetry. Examples include the [[Estonia]]n ''[[Kalevipoeg]]'', [[Finland|Finnish]] ''[[Kalevala]]'', [[Poland|Polish]] ''[[Pan Tadeusz]]'', [[Latvia]]n ''[[Lāčplēsis]]'', [[Armenia]]n ''Sasuntzi Davit'' by [[Hovhannes Tumanyan]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]n ''[[The Knight in the Panther's Skin]]'' and [[Greater Iran]], ''[[Shahnameh]].''

==German Romantic nationalism==
The Romantic movement was essential in spearheading the upsurge of [[German nationalists|German nationalism]] in the 19th century and especially the popular movement aiding the resurgence of [[Prussia]] after its defeat to [[Napoleon]] in the 1806 [[Battle of Jena-Auerstedt|Battle of Jena]]. [[Johann Gottlieb Fichte]]'s 1808 ''[[Addresses to the German Nation]]'', [[Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist|Heinrich von Kleist]]'s fervent patriotic stage dramas before his death, and [[Ernst Moritz Arndt]]'s [[war poet]]ry during the [[German campaign of 1813|anti-Napoleonic struggle of 1813–15]] were all instrumental in shaping the character of German nationalism for the next one-and-a-half century in a [[ethnic nationalism|racialized ethnic]] rather than [[civic nationalism|civic nationalist]] direction. Romanticism also played a role in the popularization of the [[King asleep in mountain#German-speaking realm|Kyffhäuser myth]], about the [[Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor Frederick Barbarossa]] sleeping atop the [[Kyffhäuser]] mountain and being expected to rise in a given time and save Germany) and the legend of the [[Lorelei]] (by [[Clemens Brentano|Brentano]] and [[Christian Johann Heinrich Heine|Heine]]) among others.
	
The [[Nazism|Nazi movement]] later appropriated the nationalistic elements of Romanticism, with Nazi chief ideologue [[Alfred Rosenberg]] writing: "The reaction in the form of German Romanticism was therefore as welcome as rain after a long drought. But in our own era of universal [[cosmopolitanism|internationalism]], it becomes necessary to follow this racially linked Romanticism to its core, and to free it from certain nervous convulsions which still adhere to it."<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Myth of the Twentieth Century: An Evaluation of the Spiritual-Intellectual Confrontations of Our Age|last=Rosenberg|first=Alfred|publisher=Noontide Press|year=1982|orig-year=1930|publication-place=Torrance, California|chapter=Book I: The Conflict of Values, Chapter I. Race and Race Soul|chapter-url=http://www.nommeraadio.ee/meedia/pdf/RRS/Alfred%20Rosenberg%20-%20The%20Myth%20of%20the%2020th%20Century.pdf|translator-last=Bird|translator-first=Vivian}}</ref> [[Paul Joseph Goebbels|Joseph Goebbels]] told theatre directors on 8 May 1933, just two days before the [[Nazi book burnings]] in Berlin, that: "German art of the next decade will be heroic, it will be like steel, it will be Romantic, non-sentimental, factual; it will be national with great pathos, and at once obligatory and binding, or it will be nothing."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Theatre in the Third Reich, the Prewar Years: Essays on Theatre in Nazi Germany (Contributions to the Study of World History)|last=Gadberry|first=Glenn W.|publisher=Praeger Publishers|year=1995|publication-place=Westport, Connecticut|chapter=Introduction|isbn=9780313295164|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3w9XHH534cQC&q=%22German+art+of+the+next+decade+will+be+heroic%2C+it+will+be+like+steel%2C+it%22&pg=PA9}}</ref>

Of this phenomenon, the Soviet literary scholar Naum Berkovsky wrote:
{{Blockquote|text=[[German National Socialism|German fascism]] extracted Romanticism from the naphthalene of the past, established its ideological kinship with it, included it in its canon of forerunners, and after some cleansing on [[racial policy of Nazi Germany|racial]] grounds, absorbed it into the system of its ideology and thereby gave this trend, which in its time was not apolitical, a purely political and topical meaning ... [[Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Von Schelling|Schelling]], [[Adam Müller]] and others thanks to the fascists again became our contemporaries, though in the specific sense in which every corpse taken out of its century-old coffin for any need becomes a "contemporary". In his book ''The Tasks of National Socialist Literary Criticism'', Walther Linden, who revised the [[German literature#Periodization|history of German literature]] from a fascist point of view, considers the most valuable for fascism that stage in the development of [[German Romanticism]] when it freed itself from the influences of the [[Great French Revolution|French Revolution]] and thanks to Adam Müller, [[Johann Joseph von Goerres|Görres]], [[Achim von Arnim|Arnim]] and Schelling began to create truly German national literature on the basis of [[German art#Middle Ages|German medieval art]], religion and patriotism.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Немецкая романтическая повесть. Том I|last=Berkovsky|first=Naum Yakovlevich|publisher=[[Academia (Soviet publishing house)|Academia]]|year=1935|publication-place=Moscow and Leningrad|chapter=От издательства|chapter-url=https://imwerden.de/pdf/nemetskaya_romantichesklaya_povest_tom1_academia_1935_text.pdf}}</ref>}}
	
This made scholars and critics like [[Fritz Strich]], [[Thomas Mann]] and [[Victor Klemperer]], who before the war were supporters of Romanticism, to reconsider their stance after the war and the Nazi experience and to adopt a more anti-Romantic position.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Anasintaxi Newspaper, issue 385|year=2013|chapter=Reactionary German Romanticism|chapter-url=https://translate.google.gr/translate?hl=en&sl=el&u=https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1467916/}}</ref>

[[Christian Johann Heinrich Heine|Heinrich Heine]] parodied such Romantic modernizations of medieval folkloric myths in the "''Barbarossa''" chapter of his large 1844 poem ''[[Deutschland. Ein Wintermarchen|Germany. A Winter's Tale]]'':
	
<poem style="margin-left:1em; float:left;">Forgive, O [[Frederick Barbarossa|Barbarossa]], my hasty words!	
I do not possess a wise soul	
Like you, and I have little patience,
So, please, come back soon, after all!
 
Retain the old methods of punishment,	
If you judge the [[guillotine]] unpleasant:
The sword for the [[German nobility|nobleman]], and the cord
For the townsman and vulgar peasant.
	
But, do switch things around, now and then:	
Peasants and townsmen should die by the sword,
And noblemen should hang on a rope.
We’re all the creatures of the [[God|Lord]]!

Bring back the laws of [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles the Fifth]],
With the hanging courts restoration,
And divide the people, as before,
Into guild, estate and corporation.

Restore the old [[Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation|Holy Roman Empire]],	
As it was, whole and immense.
Bring back all its musty junk,
And all its foolish nonsense.

The [[Middle Ages]] I’ll endure,
If you bring back the genuine item;
Just rescue us from this bastard state,
And from its farcical system,

From that mongrel chivalry,
Such a nauseating dish
Of [[Goths|Gothic]] fancies and modern deceit,
That is neither flesh nor fish.
	
Shut down all the theatres,	
And chase their comedians pack,
Who parody the olden days.
O, Emperor, do come back!<ref>{{Cite book|title=Germany. A Winter's Tale|last=Heine|first=Heinrich|publisher=Montial|year=2007|orig-year=1844|publication-place=New York|chapter=Caput XVII|chapter-url=http://ciml.250x.com/archive/literature/english/heine/heinrich_heine_english.html|translator-last=Bowring|translator-first=Edgar Alfred}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Destruction of Reason|last=Lukács|first=György|publisher=Merlin Press|year=1980|orig-year=1952|publication-place=London|chapter=Schelling's Later Philosophy|chapter-url=https://edisciplinas.usp.br/pluginfile.php/4179816/mod_resource/content/1/THE%20DESTRUCTION%20OF%20REASON.pdf|translator-last=Palmer|translator-first=Peter R.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Fortschritt und Reaktion in der deutschen Literatur|last=Lukács|first=György|publisher=Aufbau-Verlag|year=1947|publication-place=Berlin|chapter=Romanticism (Die Romantik als Wendung in der deutschen Literatur)|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/lukacs/works/1945/romanticism.htm|translator-last=P.|translator-first=Anton}}</ref></poem>{{clear|left}}

== Polish nationalism and messianism ==
[[File:Night november.jpg|thumb|The [[November Uprising]] (1830–31), in the [[Congress Poland|Kingdom of Poland]], against the [[Russian Empire]]]]

Romanticism played an essential role in the national awakening of many Central European peoples lacking their own national states, not least in Poland, which had recently failed to restore its independence when [[Imperial Russian Army|Russia's army]] crushed the [[November Uprising|Polish Uprising]] under [[Nicholas I of Russia|Nicholas I]]. Revival and reinterpretation of ancient myths, customs and traditions by Romantic poets and painters helped to distinguish their indigenous cultures from those of the dominant nations and crystallise the mythography of Romantic nationalism. Patriotism, nationalism, revolution and armed struggle for independence also became popular themes in the arts of this period. Arguably, the most distinguished Romantic poet of this part of Europe was [[Adam Mickiewicz]], who developed an idea that [[Christ of Europe|Poland was the Messiah of Nations]], predestined to suffer just as [[Jesus]] had suffered to save all the people. The Polish self-image as a "[[Christ of Europe|Christ among nations]]" or the martyr of Europe can be traced back to its history of [[Christendom]] and suffering under invasions. During the periods of foreign occupation, the Catholic Church served as bastion of Poland's national identity and language, and the major promoter of [[Culture of Poland|Polish culture]]. The [[Partitions of Poland|partitions]] came to be seen in Poland as a Polish sacrifice for the security for [[Western culture|Western civilization]]. Adam Mickiewicz wrote the patriotic drama ''[[Dziady (poem)|Dziady]]'' (directed against the Russians), where he depicts Poland as the Christ of Nations. He also wrote "Verily I say unto you, it is not for you to learn civilization from foreigners, but it is you who are to teach them civilization ... You are among the foreigners like the Apostles among the idolaters". In ''Books of the Polish Nation and Polish Pilgrimage'' Mickiewicz detailed his vision of Poland as a Messias and a Christ of Nations, that would save mankind. Dziady is known for various interpretation. The most known ones are the moral aspect of part II, [[individualist]] and romantic message of part IV, as well as deeply patriotic, messianistic and Christian vision in part III of the poem. Zdzisław Kępiński, however, focuses his interpretation on [[Slavic mythology|Slavic pagan]] and [[occult]] elements found in the drama. In his book ''Mickiewicz hermetyczny'' he writes about [[Hermeticism|hermetic]], [[Theosophy (Blavatskian)|theosophic]] and [[Alchemy|alchemical]] philosophy on the book as well as [[Freemasonry|Masonic]] symbols.

==Arts==
{{unreferenced section|date=September 2024}}
[[File:Собор Воскресения Христова 1.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.15|[[Church of the Savior on Blood]], [[St Petersburg]], 1883–1907]]

{{see also|Neo-romanticism|musical nationalism|National Romantic style}}

After the 1870s "national romanticism", as it is more usually called, became a familiar movement in the arts. Romantic [[musical nationalism]] is exemplified by the work of [[Bedřich Smetana]], especially the [[symphonic poem]] "[[Má vlast|Vltava]]". In Scandinavia and the Slavic parts of Europe especially, "national romanticism" provided a series of answers to the 19th-century search for styles that would be culturally meaningful and evocative, yet not merely historicist. When a church was built over the spot in St Petersburg where Tsar [[Alexander II of Russia]] had been assassinated, the "[[Church of the Savior on Blood]]", the natural style to use was one that best evoked traditional Russian features (''illustration, left''). In Finland, the reassembly of the national epic, the ''[[Kalevala]],'' inspired paintings and murals in the [[National Romantic style]] that substituted there for the international [[Art Nouveau]] styles. The foremost proponent in Finland was [[Akseli Gallen-Kallela]] (''illustration, below right'').
[[File:Sammon puolustus.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.15|''[[The Defense of the Sampo]],'' [[Akseli Gallen-Kallela]] ]]

By the turn of the century, ethnic [[self-determination]] had become an assumption held as being progressive and liberal. There were romantic nationalist movements for separation in [[Grand Duchy of Finland|Finland]], [[Estonia]], [[Latvia]] and [[Lithuania]], the [[Kingdom of Bavaria]] held apart from a united Germany, and Czech and Serb nationalism continued to trouble Imperial politics. The flowering of arts which drew inspiration from national epics and song continued unabated. The [[Zionist movement]] revived Hebrew, and began immigration to [[Land of Israel|Eretz Yisrael]], and [[Welsh language|Welsh]] and [[Irish language|Irish]] tongues also experienced a poetic revival.

===Claims of primacy or superiority===
At the same time, linguistic and cultural nationality, colored with pre-genetic concepts of race, bolstered two rhetorical claims used to this day: claims of primacy and claims of superiority. Primacy is the claimed [[Natural and legal rights|inalienable right]] of a culturally and racially defined people to a geographical terrain, a ''"heartland"'' (a vivid expression) or [[homeland]]. [[Richard Wagner]] notoriously argued that those who were ethnically different could not comprehend the artistic and cultural meaning inherent in national culture. Identifying "Jewishness" even in musical style,<ref>Wagner, ''[[Das Judenthum in der Musik]]'' 1850.</ref> he specifically attacked the Jews as being unwilling to assimilate into German culture, and thus unable to truly comprehend the mysteries of its music and language. Sometimes "national epics" such as the [[Nibelunglied]] have had a galvanizing effect on social politics.

===Twentieth-century political developments===
[[File:Vasnetsov Frog Princess.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|''Frog Tsarevna'', by [[Viktor Vasnetsov]], 1918]]In the first two decades of the 20th century, Romantic Nationalism as an idea was to have crucial influence on political events. Following the [[Panic of 1873]] that gave rise to a new wave of [[antisemitism]] and [[racism]] in the [[German Empire]] politically ruled by an authoritarian, militaristic conservatism under [[Otto von Bismarck]] and in parallel with the  ''[[Fin de siècle]]'' (which was also reflected to a degree in the contemporary art movements of [[Symbolism (arts)|symbolism]], the [[Decadent movement]], and ''[[Art Nouveau]]''), the racialist [[Völkisch movement|''völkisch'' movement]] which grew out of romantic nationalism in Germany in the late 19th century.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Poewe|first1=Karla|last2=Hexham|first2=Irving|date=2009|title=The Völkisch Modernist Beginnings of National Socialism: Its Intrusion into the Church and Its Antisemitic Consequence|journal=Religion Compass|language=en|volume=3|issue=4|pages=676–696|doi=10.1111/j.1749-8171.2009.00156.x|issn=1749-8171}}</ref>

The rising nationalistic and imperialistic tensions between the European nations throughout the ''Fin de siècle'' period eventually erupted in the [[World War I|First World War]]. After Germany had lost the war and undergone the tumultuous [[German Revolution of 1918–19|German Revolution]], the ''völkisch'' movement drastically radicalized itself in [[Weimar Republic|Weimar Germany]] under the harsh terms of the [[Treaty of Versailles]], and [[Adolf Hitler]] would go on to say that "the basic ideas of [[Nazism|National-Socialism]] are ''völkisch'', just as the ''völkisch'' ideas are National-Socialist".

==See also==
* [[Chosen people]] / [[People of God]]
* [[Jews as the chosen people]]
* [[Conservatism]]
* [[Scandinavism]]
* [[Norwegian romantic nationalism]]
* [[Danish Golden Age]]
* [[German question]]
* [[Gothicism]]
* [[Hindutva]]
* [[Pochvennichestvo]]
* [[Britishness]]
* [[Ethnic nationalism]]
* [[Civil religion]]
* [[Polytheistic reconstructionism]]
* [[National epic]]
* [[National treasure]]
* [[National anthem]]
* [[Nationalism]]
* [[Patriotism]]
* [[Rise of nationalism in Europe]]
* [[Historiography and nationalism]]
* [[Musical nationalism]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* Adam Zamoyski; ''Holy Madness: Romantics, Patriots and Revolutionaries 1776-1871;'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1999);
* Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Thirteenth Address, Addresses to the Gerrnan Nation, ed. George A. Kelly (New York: Harper Torch Books, 1968).
* ''Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe'', ed. [[Joep Leerssen]] (2 vols.; Amsterdam University Press, 2018) {{ISBN|9789462981188}}

==External links==
* ''[https://e-rn.ie Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe]'', online encyclopedia and source materials edited by [[Joep Leerssen]].
* [https://www.ohio.edu/chastain/index.htm "Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions"], comprehensive collection of new articles by modern scholars

{{Romanticism}}
{{Nationalism}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romantic Nationalism}}
[[Category:Romantic nationalism| ]]
[[Category:Nationalism]]
[[Category:Themes of the Romantic Movement|Nationalism]]
[[Category:National mysticism]]