The growth of nationalism

• previously people were loyal to their monarch
• Due to the USA (1776), the French Revolution (1789 - where the monarchy and aristocracy had ceased to exist) and enlightenment thinking, people become less loyal to one individual, and instead loyal to their nation state (nationalism began)
• At the battle of Valmy (1792), the French army of conscripts motivated by nationalism defeated a professional army of Prussians fighting for their monarch (this shows the potency of nationalism)