How ancient culture create nationalism

Culture played a pivotal role in the growth of the nationalist sentiment in Europe. Art, poetry, stories, music and language often forged national feelings among populations with common ethnicity. The case of Greece, Germany and Poland stand testimony to this.

In 1821, the Greeks began their struggle for independence from the Ottoman Turk rule. The poets and artists lauded Greece as the cradle of European civilisation and mobilized support among exiled Greeks and Western European elites. For example, whereas English poet Lord Byron organized funds for the Greek cause, French painter Delacroix through his paintings sought to create sympathy for the Greek revolt.

In Germany, the nationalists popularized the concept of a German nation through folk songs, poems and dance forms. Romantics like the German philosopher Johann Gottfried claimed true German culture was to be discovered among the common people, i.e., ‘Das Volk’. Collecting and recording forms of folk culture had also become an integral part of nation building, e.g. Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

Though under Russian occupation, members of the clergy in Poland began to use language as a weapon of national resistance. Polish became a common language in church gatherings and religious instruction. Folklore was also extensively used to revive nationalist sentiment among the Polish.