The forces of nationalism changed the map of Europe dramatically in the 18oos. A scatter- ing of independent states on the Italian peninsu- la had united into the nation of Italy by the 1860s. And by 1871, a loose confederation of states in the European heartland had become the modern nation of Germany. But nationalism could pull empires apart as well as put nations together. A growing national ist fervor in the Austrian and the Ottoman em pires, for example, led minority groups to de- clare their independence and break away. Nationalism gradually weakened the power of