For instance, Switzerland has four official languages, yet its citizens form a stable and unified political entity. Countries like Belgium and Spain also have significant linguistic splits. Languages are also not enough to link different peoples politically. The ideology of Nazi Germany is an extreme example of ethnic nationalism. Ethnic nationalism tends to be backward-looking in that it glorifies past epochs of supposed national unity, purity, and greatness.
Political nationalists share the same ideals, political attitudes, and sense of future mission.
The nationalism of the United States is an example of political nationalism, since today there are no ethnic or racial criteria for being an American. The following definitions will help non-specialists understand the important cultural and historical issues addressed in our Web site. Please read them over now and feel free to refer back to them as you review the site. The Byzantine Empire's capital was the ancient Greco-Roman city of Byzantium, which was also known as Constantinople, after the Emperor Constantine, who greatly increased the empire's power and prestige. The Byzantine Empire survived until 1453, when it was completely overrun by the Ottoman Empire.