Abstract
"Where does the German begin? Where does it end? May a German smoke? The majority says no. May a German wear gloves? Yes, but only of buffalo hide... but a German may drink beer, indeed as a true son of Germania he should drink beer..." wrote in 1840 Heinrich Heine, who was quite critical of German nationalists' motivation to find specific characteristics in order to affirm Germans' singularity. The affirmation of the nation, regarded as a people who share ethnic, linguistic, historical and cultural features, was however a particularly strong phenomenon then in Europe. Ernest Gellner, in Nations and Nationalism , argues that "it is nationalism which engenders nations, and not the other way round". Such a statement can seem contradictory at a time when the word 'nationalism' is more generally seen as a feeling of pride in one's country and as a belief that the latter is superior to other countries. However, it is relevant to wonder to what extent it can be argued that, in nineteenth-century Europe, it was nationalisms that produced nations (as a feeling and a political reality). We will mainly focus on the nineteenth century because it marked the emergence of the modern concept of nation, namely the convergence of will and culture with a political entity .
