Nationalism
![](/Images/godic/202501/19/Eugène_Delacroix_-_La_liberté_guidant_le_peuple4810.jpg")
![The growth of a national identity was expressed in a variety of symbolic ways, including the adoption of a national flag. Pictured, a Scottish Union Flag in the 1704 edition of The Present State of the Universe.](/Images/godic/202501/19/BeaumontScottishUnionFlag4810.png")
![Beginning in 1821, the Greek War of Independence began as a rebellion by Greek revolutionaries against the ruling Ottoman Empire.](/Images/godic/202501/19/Missolonghi4810.jpg")
![Nationalist and liberal pressure led to the European revolutions of 1848](/Images/godic/202501/19/Maerz1848_berlin4810.jpg")
Nationalism is a shared group feeling in the significance of a geographical and sometimes demographic region seeking independence for its culture and/or ethnicity that holds that group together. This can be expressed as a belief or political ideology that involves an individual identifying with or becoming attached to one's nation. Nationalism involves national identity, by contrast with the related concept of patriotism, which involves the social conditioning and personal behaviors that support a state's decisions and actions.