Nationalization of history

Universal history

Universal history, a cosmopolitan interpretation of humanity as a coherent whole, preceded the nationalization of history. In the Western world, this perspective gained influence during the 18th century, when philosophers promoted new cosmopolitan ideologies following earlier ethno-religious conflicts and the consolidation of states that sought to override religious particularisms. Colonial exposure to diverse cultures, along with the Enlightenment's emphasis on rational scientific judgment and liberation from custom and religious authority, fostered universalistic, liberal, and rational global perspectives in the study of society and its past.

Voltaire's Essay on customs (1756) examined world civilization from a universal standpoint, rejecting traditional, Christian, and national frameworks, and was influenced by Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet's Discourse on the Universal history (1682). The universalism of the 18th century created an ideology identifiable today as modern civil society. The emergence of modern historiography in 19th-century German universities was shaped by Leopold von Ranke, who emphasized objectivity and systematic use of authentic primary sources to reconstruct the past 'as it was,' though his universal precepts were applied almost exclusively to the history of states and nations.

Causes of nationalization of history

Although nationalization of history may have earlier roots, the period after the French Revolution saw historical works increasingly influenced by national perspectives, a trend that became globally dominant through the 19th and early 20th centuries. Nationalism was so widely accepted as the proper viewpoint that the nationalization of history went largely unnoticed until the 1980s and 1990s. The most important cause was national revival, of which nationalized history was a key element, leading to the emergence of modern nations and nation-states, mostly during the 19th century.

As nation-states arose, the universal approach to history lost ground and was largely captured by the nation-state, even through much of the 20th century. The professionalization and institutionalization of history within nation-states' institutions during the 19th and first half of the 20th century were closely tied to increasing nationalization. This was further entrenched by national school curricula based on monumental, prestigious series of authoritative national stories, often written in an insular and justificatory style.

After the First World War, the principle of national self-determination was considered in frontier demarcation, requiring historians to establish the national historical character of territories, as seen between Germany and Poland under the Versailles treaty.

Renationalization of history

When the first phase of nationalization of history was forcibly suppressed by a national ideology such as communism or by traumatic defeat in war, as in Japan and Germany, a second phase—renationalization of history—could occur on a changed basis and perspective of nationalism. The nationalization of history in Ukraine had two separate phases. The first began in the mid-19th century, culminating in Mykhailo Hrushevsky's History of Ukraine - Rus', and lasted until the end of the Second World War, when it was halted by political changes in the Soviet Union, while in diasporas Hrushevsky's text held cult status.

The second phase started in the 1980s and continued as of 2010, driven by direct state sponsorship that became integral to nationalization of the state. After the turning point of August 24, 1991, this phase aimed to legitimize the newly established state and its governing elites, establish territorial and chronological conceptions of the Ukrainian nation, and confirm its appropriateness as a legal successor in the consciousness of citizens and neighbours.

Legacy

Printed texts of nationalized history provided a basis for national revivals in the process of creating modern nations. Projects of national awakenings turned nationalized history into a weapon for popularizing national myths during the establishment of history as a social scientific discipline. A shortcut to producing national mythologies that prove the ancient origins of modern nations, providing them with a respectable past, was the forgery of historical documents, literature, and works that were lost and then suddenly rediscovered to the approval of an astonished public.

Authors of such rediscovered treasures, seeking success and glory, were unknowingly building as yet nonexistent modern nations. Even when texts were obviously invented national myths, many social groups and intellectuals wanted to believe they were authentic national epics, as with the Kalevala in Finland. Nationalization of history, originating more in epics and tendentious oratory than in philosophy, sometimes fostered the idea of an esprit des peuples or national spirit, and later the notion that each nation had a 'mission,' evolving into universal spirits said to be able to destroy individuals and nations.

New nation-states and their institutions played the most important role in the professionalization and institutionalization of history, further supporting nationalization, with the final consequence that national history regarded the nation-state as the primary unit of historical analysis. Nationalization of history affects all aspects of life, from relationships with other nationalities to architecture, corresponding with nationalization of nature, and reservations and hostilities toward other nations accompanied nationalism from the beginning.

At the end of the 20th century, extreme nationalistic interpretations of Balkan and Caucasus history became powerful weapons in ethno-territorial conflicts and accelerated the disintegration of multinational states like Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.