Editing Nation state (section)

=== Before the nation-state ===
[[File:Dissolution of Austria-Hungary.png|thumb|upright=1.35|Dissolution of the multiethnic [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]] (1918)]]
In [[Europe]], during the 18th century, the classic non-national states were the ''multiethnic'' [[empire]]s, the [[Austrian Empire]], the [[Kingdom of France]] (and its [[French colonial empire|empire]]), the [[Kingdom of Hungary]],<ref>{{cite book |first=Eric |last=Hobsbawm |author-link=Eric Hobsbawm |title=Nations and Nationalism since 1780: programme, myth, reality |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]], Gallimard |orig-date=1990 |isbn=0-521-43961-2 |chapter=II: The popular protonationalism |pages=80–81 |edition=French |date=1992}} According to Hobsbawm, the main source for this subject is Ferdinand Brunot (ed.), Histoire de la langue française, Paris, 1927–1943, 13 volumes, in particular volume IX. He also refers to Michel de Certeau, Dominique Julia, Judith Revel, Une politique de la langue: la Révolution française et les patois: l'enquête de l'abbé Grégoire, Paris, 1975. For the problem of the transformation of a minority official language into a widespread national language during and after the French Revolution, see Renée Balibar, L'Institution du français: essai sur le co-linguisme des Carolingiens à la République, Paris, 1985 (also Le co-linguisme, PUF, Que sais-je?, 1994, but out of print) ("The Institution of the French language: essay on colinguism from the Carolingian to the Republic. Finally, Hobsbawm refers to Renée Balibar and Dominique Laporte, Le Français national: politique et pratique de la langue nationale sous la Révolution, Paris, 1974.</ref> the [[Russian Empire]], the [[Portuguese Empire]], the [[Spanish Empire]], the [[Ottoman Empire]], the [[British Empire]], the [[Dutch Empire]] and smaller nations at what would now be called sub-state level. The multi-ethnic empire was a monarchy, usually [[absolute monarchy|absolute]], ruled by a king, [[emperor]] or [[sultan]].{{efn|The Dutch Empire of the time was a monarchy in all but name, ruled (mostly) by a hereditary [[stadtholder]].}} The population belonged to many ethnic groups, and they spoke many languages. The empire was dominated by one ethnic group, and their language was usually the language of public administration. The ruling [[dynasty]] was usually, but not always, from that group.

This type of state is not specifically European: such empires existed in Asia, Africa and the Americas. Chinese dynasties, such as the [[Tang dynasty]], the [[Yuan dynasty]], and the [[Qing dynasty]], were all multiethnic regimes governed by a ruling ethnic group. In the three examples, their ruling ethnic groups were the [[Han Chinese|Han-Chinese]], [[Mongolian people|Mongols]], and the [[Manchu people|Manchus]]. In the [[Muslim world]], immediately after Muhammad died in 632, [[Caliphate]]s were established.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/islamitshistoryt0000nigo |url-access=registration |title=Islam: Its History, Teaching, and Practices |last=Nigosian |first=Solomon A. |date=2004 |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |isbn=978-0-253-11074-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/islamitshistoryt0000nigo/page/18 18]}}</ref> Caliphates were [[Islamic state]]s under the leadership of a political-religious successor to the Islamic prophet [[Muhammad]].<ref name="khalifate">{{Cite journal |title=Caliph, caliphate |last1=Kadi |first1=Wadad |author1-link=Wadad Kadi |date=2013 |journal=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought |last2=Shahin |first2=Aram A. |pages=81–86}}</ref> These [[polities]] developed into multi-ethnic trans-national empires.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EAMqBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 |title=Demystifying the Caliphate: Historical Memory and Contemporary Contexts |last1=Al-Rasheed |first1=Madawi |author1-link=Madawi al-Rasheed |last2=Kersten |first2=Carool |author2-link=Carool Kersten |last3=Shterin |first3=Marat |author3-link=Marat Shterin |date= 2012 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-932795-9 |page=3 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> The Ottoman sultan, [[Selim I]] (1512–1520) reclaimed the title of caliph, which had been in dispute and asserted by a diversity of rulers and "shadow caliphs" in the centuries of the [[Abbasid]]-[[Mamluk]] Caliphate since the [[Siege of Baghdad (1258)|Mongols' sacking of Baghdad]] and the killing of the [[al-Musta'sim|last Abbasid Caliph]] in Baghdad, Iraq 1258.
The [[Ottoman Caliphate]] as an office of the [[Ottoman Empire]] was abolished under [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]] in 1924 as part of [[Atatürk's Reforms]].
[[File:Golden_Bull_of_1356.png|thumb|The [[Holy Roman Empire]] was a limited elective monarchy composed of hundreds of [[List of states in the Holy Roman Empire|state-like entities]].]]

Some of the smaller European states were not so ethnically diverse but were also [[Dynasty|dynastic]] states ruled by a [[dynasty|royal house]]. Their territory could expand by [[royal intermarriage]] or merge with another state when the dynasty merged. In some parts of Europe, notably [[Germany]], minimal territorial units existed. They were recognized by their neighbours as independent and had their government and laws. Some were ruled by [[prince]]s or other hereditary rulers; some were governed by [[bishop]]s or [[abbot]]s. Because they were so small, however, they had no separate language or culture: the inhabitants shared the language of the surrounding region.

In some cases, these states were overthrown by nationalist uprisings in the 19th century. Liberal ideas of [[free trade]] played a role in German unification, which was preceded by a [[customs union]], the [[Zollverein]]. However, the [[Austro-Prussian War]] and the German alliances in the [[Franco-Prussian War]] were decisive in the unification. The [[Austro-Hungarian Empire]] and the [[Ottoman Empire]] broke up after the [[First World War]], but the [[Russian Empire]] was replaced by the [[Soviet Union]] in most of its multinational territory after the [[Russian Civil War]].

A few of the smaller states survived: the independent principalities of [[Liechtenstein]], [[Andorra]], [[Monaco]], and the Republic of [[San Marino]]. ([[Vatican City]] is a special case. All of the larger [[Papal State]]s save the Vatican itself were occupied and absorbed by Italy by 1870. The resulting [[Roman Question]] was resolved with the rise of the modern state under the 1929 [[Lateran treaties]] between [[Italy]] and the [[Holy See]].)