Nationalizing Empires

The essays in Nationalizing Empires want to overcome the strict dichotomy between empire and nation state that has dominated historiography for decades. Their main focus is nation-building in the imperial core. The authors in the volume subscribe to the concept that the nineteenth century was not the age of nation-states: rather it has to be described as the age of empires and nationalism. A number of historical examples have been identified where nation building projects in the imperial metropolis aimed at the preservation and extension of empires rather than at their dissolution or the transformation of entire empires into nation states. Such observations have until recently largely escaped theoretical reflection.

The collection of essays written by outstanding scholars of the field cover a wide range of topics and case studies both from western and from eastern European history with a focus on the 19th and early 20th centuries.