Okuzeka
History vocabulary · Revolutions and Political Change

Nationalism

Meaning in history, with examples

/ˈnæʃnəlɪzəm/nounCore term

In history, nationalism means: The idea that people who share a language, culture or history form a nation, and that this nation should have its own state or govern itself.

In Turkish: milliyetçilik, ulusçuluk

How it is used

A central topic in nineteenth- and twentieth-century history. Historians study the rise and spread of nationalism, nationalist movements and nation-building, and debate whether nations are ancient or largely modern creations. The adjective is nationalist.

Example sentences

  1. Nationalism spread across Europe in the decades after the French Revolution.

  2. The lecture examines how nationalism affected multi-ethnic empires in the nineteenth century.

Common collocations

  • the rise of nationalism
  • nationalist movement
  • economic nationalism
  • nation-building
  • romantic nationalism
  • independenceThe situation of a country that governs itself and is not ruled or controlled by another state.
  • revolutionThe sudden, often violent overthrow of a government or political system by its people, or any deep and rapid change in society, the economy or ideas.
  • empireA large state or group of territories and peoples ruled by a single supreme authority, often an emperor or sultan, and usually built through conquest.
  • decolonizationThe process by which colonies became independent states, especially in Asia and Africa in the decades after the Second World War.

More terms: Revolutions and Political Change

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