Nations and Nationalism

Abstract

The twentieth century saw the emergence of many nation-states previously non-existent. Lithuania, Estonia, and Slovenia are just examples of what previously would have been regarded as basically loose linguistic groups or provinces ruled over by metropolitan states, such as Russia or Austro-Hungary, which are now nation-states. Meanwhile, Italy and Germany were geographic and cultural expressions covering a number of independent states with no political unity, which illustrates the problem of Ireland‘s identity and poses questions about nationalism.