ding beyond mere intellectual conception. Such ideas of German uniqueness were probably a response to the Napoleonic Wars, in which the German states were forced to subjugate themselves to the cultural and military might of France. As a result, a cult of German nationalism emerged which sought to break out of a mass inferiority complex by proclaiming a superior German culture.
Among the ideas rejected by the romantics was the economic theory of Adam Smith. According to the romantics, production and trade should not be regulated by the "market" but by the state, in order to promote national self-sufficiency; the liberal economic ideas of Smith advocated virtually unrestricted world trade which devalued the importance of nations. Naturally, the unique German volk-nation had to maintain its superiority without being diluted by the effects of free world trade. It would be demeaning to the German state to be governed by the economic needs and dictates of foreign countries; it would eventually destroy the uniqueness of the German culture and state.
The German romantics linked historical development to biological growth, convinced that the German volk-nation was a living reality. Moreover, because a single German nation was not yet a political reality, the ideas of the romantics provided an eager people with a goal, or ideal, to reach for. The romantic ideal of a German volk-nation did not die, but actually gained more adherents as time passed and as reaction grew towards the events in western Europe during the 19th Century. The Industrial Revolution ignited radical forces throughout Europe as conflict erupted between the new propertied classes and those who worked for them. While the most noticeable product of this in western Europe was socialism, in Germany it was a combination of socialist economic ideas and German nationalism. The idea of state-directed economics combined with the feeling of German uniqueness and superi...