Question

Why is the French Revolution of 1789 considered the first clear expression of nationalism? Explain with examples.

Hint:

Start from the shift of sovereignty from the king to the citizens, then list the concrete steps taken to turn a kingdom into a nation, such as the flag, uniform laws, one set of weights and measures and one national language.

Answer 1

Concept:

• Nationalism means the belief that the people of a country form one nation and that power belongs to that nation rather than to a ruler.
• The French Revolution is treated as the first clear expression of this idea because it transferred sovereignty from the monarch to the body of citizens and then built the symbols and institutions of a nation around them.

Step 1: Sovereignty moved from the king to the citizens.
In 1789 France was an absolute monarchy. The Revolution transferred sovereignty from the monarchy to a body of French citizens.
It was declared that the people would now form the nation and shape its destiny, which is the core idea of nationalism.

Step 2: New ideas and symbols created a shared identity.
The revolutionaries introduced measures meant to make people feel like one community. The ideas of la patrie, meaning the fatherland, and le citoyen, meaning the citizen, stressed a united community enjoying equal rights under a constitution.
A new French flag, the tricolour, replaced the royal standard, and the Estates General was renamed the National Assembly and was elected by a body of active citizens.

Step 3: Common practices bound the country together.
New hymns were composed and oaths taken in the name of the nation, and martyrs were remembered publicly. A centralised system of administration made uniform laws for all citizens.
Internal customs duties and dues were abolished, and a uniform system of weights and measures was adopted, so that the country worked as one economic unit.

Step 4: One language was promoted for the whole nation.
Regional dialects were discouraged, and French as it was spoken and written in Paris became the national language.
A common language gave people from different provinces a single medium in which to feel and act as one nation.

Step 5: The idea was carried beyond France.
Student and educated middle-class clubs called Jacobin clubs were set up in other European cities. French armies moved into Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and much of Italy in the 1790s, carrying the idea of the nation with them.
It was declared to be the mission and destiny of the French nation to liberate the peoples of Europe from despotism.

Final Answer: The French Revolution of 1789 is called the first clear expression of nationalism because it made the people sovereign, gave them shared symbols, laws, measures and a common language, and then spread the idea of the nation to the rest of Europe.