Indeed, a parallel history of Europe could be written which viewed family life and regular work as the essential Continental motor of civilization. Then war and revolution would need to be seen by historians as startling, sick departures from that norm of a kind that require serious explanation, rather than viewing periods of gentle introversy as mere tiresome interludes before the next thrill-packed bloodbath. Simon Winder
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A fascinating perspective comes from historian David Cannadine. He has suggested that the rise of the nation state came about because it was possible to create a social contract between citizens that would be permanent, rather than temporary, and based on social ties rather than blood ties. This idea of creating a social contract between citizens dates back to ancient Greece, but it took the invention of the printing press to make this idea into a reality. Print technology allowed people to spread ideas easily among the populations, which in turn created a shared knowledge base.

This shared knowledge base helped people find common ground so that they could create a larger network of trust and respect. A larger network of trust and respect created by printing allowed for the creation of social contracts, which made it possible for people to have more communal obligations to one another. The emergence of these social contracts led to the creation of nation states, which in turn gave us our modern notions of equality.

Source: Germania: In Wayward Pursuit Of The Germans And Their History

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