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Seeing all these empires and countries changing hands, unifying, expanding and breaking up again makes me think more about the concept of national identity tied
by pimmen 8y ago
Seeing all these empires and countries changing hands, unifying, expanding and breaking up again makes me think more about the concept of national identity tied to a geographic spot as very problematic.
If I went back in time 200 years, 500 years then 1000 years to the exact same spot odds are I won’t feel more related to the people I meet than people from any other spot in Europe.
- vetinari 8y agoRulers and nations or nationality are not the same. Just because you happened to be conquered for some time doesn't mean, that your language, culture and customs will change.
- pimmen 8y agoNo, but given enough generations with the new empire odds are culture, customs and language will probably change in the conquered area.
- vetinari 8y agoAt the time, nobody really cared about the languages and cultures, they cared mostly about regular payment of the taxes. Language become only important, when you had the ambition to get a job at the royal court or somewhere nearby hierarchy-wise. Since the monarchs were getting married across the entire Europe, it was unknown, which language will be the next hip one. Languages and nations got their prominence only after French revolution, as a new bonding for the statehood, once the monarchs were gone. If something really wanted to change the customs and culture, it were religions, not empires. Not even Roman Catholics managed that, though.