How did nationalism develop through culture in Europe ?
Culture played an important role in creating the idea of the nation : art and poetry, stories and music helped express and shape nationalist feelings. Romanticism helped in developing a particular form of nationalist sentiments. (1) Romantic artists and poets generally criticised the glorification of reason and science. (2) They focused on emotions, intuition and mystical feelings in order to create a sense of a shared collective heritage, a common cultural past, as the basis of a nation. (3) German philosopher Johann Gottfried tried to popularise the true spirit of the nation through folk songs, folk poetry and folk dances.(4) The emphasis on Vernacular language and the collection of local folklore was to recover an ancient national spirit and to carry the modern nationalist message to large audiences who were mostly illiterate. (5) In Poland which had been partitioned by the Great Powers, national feelings were kept alive through music and language. Karol Kurpinski celebrated the national struggle through his operas and music, turning folk dances like the polonaise and mazurka into nationalist symbols. (6) Language too played an important role in developing nationalist sentiments. After Russian occupation, the Polish language was forced out of schools and Russian language was imposed everywhere. In 1831 an armed rebellion against Russian rule was crushed. After this many members of the clergy in Poland began to use language as a weapon of national resistance. Polish was used for church gatherings and all instructions. The use of Polish came to be seen as symbol of the struggle against Russian dominance. As a result of it a large number of priests and bishops were put in jail or sent to Siberia by the Russian authorities as punishment. But the use of Polish came to be seen as a symbol of the struggle against Russian dominance.
