PrintJanuary 4, 2005
The rise of Euronationalism
How do you unite 500 million people who have fought each other for a thousand years? That is the biggest question for Europe today. In spite of endless denials, the answer is beginning to look a lot like old—fashioned nationalism. In Europe, nationalism has a black reputation ——— and rightly so. It was always a kind of mass egomania, which led to repeated warfare, culminating in two world wars and the Cold War. France went wild over Napoleon around 1800 and ended up with 1.4 million dead young soldiers. Germany had Bismarck, the Kaiser and Hitler. Russia glorified Lenin and Stalin. If Europe is at peace today, it is not thanks to its mad obsessions with national greatness.
And yet, echoes of that old familiar tune can be heard today. Take Dominique de Villepin, one of the leading politicians of France's ruling party. M. de Villepin positively worships Napoleon, and models himself after his hero. In a 600—page biography, Villepin wrote admiringly...(Read Full Article)
