THE WHIG INTERPRETATION OF EUROPEAN NATIONALISM

For the Whig historian, the good nationalism was the French, the bad was the German.

 

Nationalism got a bad name, especially among Whig historians, in the 20th Century because of the Whig ascribed and Whig alleged military consequences of Whig defined German nationalism, so called conservative nationalism, not French nationalism, so called liberal (Whig) nationalism.

 

Oh, yes, also bad was the Italian nationalism, but for the Whig historian, conservative Italian nationalism was a wayward and temporary aberration of an otherwise good liberal Italian national impulse.