History 2950 Lecture 11: Lecture 11 The Age of Nationalism
Document Summary
Nationalism in action: europe: germany and italy, ireland. The concept of nationalism did not exist before the 19th century. Before the 18th century you don"t see people using the word nation. Smith"s ideas become more accepted because of the industrial revolution. Adam smith writes the wealth of nations in which he discusses the economics of a nation as opposed to the individual wealth of a king. In early nations if your king is rich than your country is prosperous. Adam smith redefines this. tradition from a barter based economy to a cash based economy. There were english traders who were buying stuff in china and bringing it back but in england there was still this barter based economy and therefore you could not measure the wealth of the nation. Once the industrial revolution occurs and everyone is on a cash based economy, you can see a nation as a single economic unit.
