Conor Cruise O’Brien

Prior to the mid-nineteenth century, several European nations, most notably Germany and Italy, were a loose group of kingdoms and territories that were not wholly unified. In the following viewpoint Conor Cruise O’Brien asserts that the French Revolution helped accelerate the growth of nationalism throughout nineteenth- and twentieth-century Europe, particularly in Germany. He acknowledges that nationalism existed prior to, and helped cause, the revolution, but argues that the French Revolution helped elevate love of the nation-state to a powerful political force. According to O’Brien, Germany experienced this intense love for a country and its native people most strongly. Unfortunately, however, German nationalism soon became imbued with racist and anti-Semitic attitudes, he contends. O’Brien is a politician, journalist, and historian who has written more...