The French Revolution

[Ryujin]

Kings who with blood have slaked your thirst !
The sovereign people see advance
To hurl ye to your grave accursed.

[Melki]

Very Positive!
It was the Dawn of European Nationalism!

(and also one of the rare cases of French manliness)

Still the same old cliché of the effeminate Frendhman and the virile Balkanite. Do you know the reputation gained by the Greeks in France?

Anyway you're wrong. Nationalism is not to be confused with national identity.

In 1789, there was no Italy, only the Kingdom of Naples, Sicily, of Piedmont-Sardinia etc...There was no Germany, only scattered principalties and provinces governed by margraves and part of the Holy Roman Empire, There was no Bohemia, it belonged to the Austrian Empire. There was no Greece, it was an Ottoman sanjak.

During the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) in Europe, the French soldiers, fed by the revolutionary ideals, contributed to the emergence of the Nation-State. For the transnational Empires, it was the beginning of the end. Thanks to these ideals, sovereign nations like Greece, Germany, Italy could exist.

During the 20th century, nationalism became that stinking political ideology of rejection of the others, exclusion, seclusion and general withdrawal.

[MinervaItalica]

In 1789, there was no Italy, only the Kingdom of Naples, Sicily, of Piedmont-Sardinia etc...There was no Germany, only scattered principalties and provinces governed by margraves and part of the Holy Roman Empire, There was no Bohema, it belonged to the Austrian Empire. There was no Greece, it was an Ottoman Empire.

There was no modern Italy. This is important to remember. Italy was unified by the Roman Empire before many other states in EU and the Kingdom of Italy was created immediately after the fall by Odoacer.

OT: Mixed. It brought many innovations about laws and constitutions who made the basis of modern Jurisdiction etc...
On the other side it brought a lot of destruction and, in case of Italy, many pieces of art were stolen, territories annexed to a foreign country while the French just replaced the Austrians in some parts of N. Italy.

In the end I think it depends from which country you're from. For the French should be mostly positive.

[Melki]

There was no modern Italy. This is important to remember. Italy was unified by the Roman Empire before many other states in EU and the Kingdom of Italy was created immediately after the fall by Odoacer.

In 1814, Count Metternich cynically said: "The word 'Italy' is a geographical expression."

[MinervaItalica]

In 1814, Count Metternich cynically said: "The word 'Italy' is a geographical expression."

Again, Metternich was an idiot. The Italian identity is much older than the modern state.

[Melki]

Again, Metternich was an idiot. The Italian identity is much older than the modern state.

Of course ii is. I was only referring to the emergence of the Italian (and German, Greek, Norwegian, Polish etc...) Nation-State