Sentiment of Nationalism in the first half of the 19th century: (i) Towards the last quarter of the 19th century, nationalism could not retain its idealistic liberal-democratic sentiment of the first half of the century, but became a narrow belief with inadequate ends. (ii) Nationalist groups became increasingly intolerant, which leads to war. (iii) Major European powers manipulated the nationalist aspirations to further their own imperialist aims. (iv) Source of nationalist tension in Europe was the area called Balkans. (v) Idea of romantic nationalism in the Balkan together with disintegration of the Ottoman Empire made this region very explosive. (vi) One by one, European nationalities broke away from its control and declared independence. (vii) The Balkan people based their claims for independence or political rights on nationality to prove that they were once independent but were subjugated by foreign power. (viii) As the different, slavic nationalities struggled to define their identity and independence, the Balkan area became an area of intense conflict.