So for this first post, though it may not be the best, I would like to discuss the topic of emerging German nationalist hopes in the years after Napoleon. It has been said that the wars with Napoleon had sparked nationalist ambitions in German states. This I believe is an absolutely correct observation. Foreign occupation usually ends in a uniting patriotism against the occupiers among the occupied. Just a simple recent historical example would be the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Afghanistan at the time was a disorganized state and a highly tribal culture with local loyalties. The Soviet Union, invades and many militant Afghanis from around the territory took up arms against the invaders. These people as it seems would not have banded together without the spark of the need for a united defense. This seems along the lines of the argument presented about the beginnings of German nationalism, post-Napoleon. However, to me this is not a full explanation for the true beginnings of nationalism in German states.
It seems this type of uniting German nationalism only had a single purpose, to expel occupying forces. That is the same in the example of Afghanistan. If you look at Afghanistan, post-Soviet withdrawl, it remained a highly tribal culture. Though the Taliban took "official" control of the country, it was not a widespread consensus by Afghanis throughout the state. The same seems true in the German states after French forces had been finally expelled. The German states kept their local loyalties, and there were only parts of the citizen base throughout the states that promoted a united Germany, further, these were only idealistic promotions. All Germans did not necessarily think that this was either possible, or a good idea. So concluding, it is true that the expulsion of French authority from German territories gave German nationalism a spark, it was not enough to keep the momentum going; there was too strong of opposition to unification coming from German conservatives. It would take many years, strong industrial growth that expanded the more liberal middle class looking for a more capitalistic system in order to fully take advantage of their growing wealth and power. Ultimately, it seems that growing industry was the key to German nationalism after the initial spark provided by the removal of French occupying authority.
