National awakening also grew out of an intellectual reaction to the Enlightenment that emphasized national identity and developed an authentic view of cultural self-expression through nationhood. The key exponent of the modern idea of the nation-state was the German G. W. Friedrich Hegel. The French Revolution, although primarily a republican revolution, initiated a movement toward the modern nation-state and also played a key role in the birth of nationalism across Europe where radical intellectuals were influenced by Napoleon and the Napoleonic Code, an instrument for the political transformation of Europe.
National awakening arose from a intellectual response to the Enlightenment's emphasis on national identity and authentic cultural self-expression through nationhood. The German philosopher G. W. Friedrich Hegel was a key figure in shaping the modern concept of the nation-state. The French Revolution, although primarily a republican revolution, sparked a movement toward the modern nation-state and contributed to the emergence of nationalism across Europe, where radical intellectuals were influenced by Napoleon and the Napoleonic Code, an instrument for European political transformation.