Lesson 1: Nationalism in Europe (Nationalism and World War I)

🌍 What Is Nationalism?

Imagine your village speaks one language, eats the same food, sings the same songs—but your king speaks another language and doesn’t care about your people.

This is how many people in Europe felt in the 1800s. They wanted to live in a country with people like them. This idea is called nationalism—love for your people, your culture, your land.

🔥 Big Uprisings for Freedom

✊ Greece: Freedom Fighters with Swords and Poems (1821)

Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire, but the Greek people wanted to be free. So in 1821, they started a war.

They remembered their old heroes—like Leonidas and Alexander the Great—and wanted Greek glory again.

Even people from other countries helped. One famous man, Lord Byron, was a poet from England. He loved Greece so much, he joined the fight and died there. Today, Greeks still remember him.

🎭 “He died for us, and he was not even Greek,” one soldier said.

In 1830, Greece won and became its own country!

Italy: The Man with the Red Shirt ❤️👕

Italy was not always one country. In the 1800s, it was many little kingdoms.

Then came a bold man named Garibaldi. He wore a bright red shirt and had a small army of volunteers called the Redshirts.

He was brave, wild, and didn’t care about gold or fame—he just wanted Italy to be united. In 1860, he and his men sailed to the south of Italy, took city after city, and gave the land to the king.

Garibaldi said,

“I offer Italy my sword and my heart.”

And just like that, by 1861, most of Italy was united. 🇮🇹

Germany: Bismarck’s Plan and the Trick at the Palace 🏰

Germany was like a puzzle with too many pieces—over 30 little states!

One man, Otto von Bismarck, said,

“We will not unite with speeches. We need blood and iron.”

So, he started wars to bring the pieces together.

His cleverest move? He made the French so angry, they attacked first. This made all the little German states come together like brothers in danger.

When Germany finally won the war, Bismarck had the new German Empire declared in France’s fancy Palace of Versailles—just to rub it in! 🇩🇪👑

💥 The Road to World War I

But nationalism wasn’t always good.

In Austria-Hungary, there were many different peoples: Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Serbs, and more. They all wanted their own countries too.

One day in 1914, a young man named Gavrilo Princip—just 19 years old—shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand, a royal from Austria.

This small action caused a big war—World War I.

🧠 Fun Fact: Gavrilo bought a sandwich after the first failed attack. When the Archduke’s car took a wrong turn and stopped right in front of the café, he couldn’t believe it. He pulled out his gun and changed history.