When nationalism first hit Europe it caused social, political, and economical change. The ideals of nationalism are loyalty to a people, pride in culture, language, and religion, and desire to have independence. Many cultures were forced to join a nation that had no historical or cultural relation. In Europe social classes were in societies were categorized into three groups, the conservatives, the liberals, and the radicals. The conservatives were the people who wanted no political change in society. These people were mainly nobles who were educated and benefitted from the current society. The liberals were people who wanted a small amount of change in society and government. They wanted more authority in what happened in the government. These people were usually middle-class politics who had wealth and education, but they did not have a title as the nobility did. The last group is the radicals. They believed that there should be significant amount of change in the society in a short period of time. The radicals wanted the government to give them a voice that would not be ignored. These people were the lower class, working-class and students. Although the conservatives had more power than the radicals and the liberals they could not erase the ideas of liberty, equality, and democracy from the two groups. .
These ideas of nationalism caused it to become more popular in Europe. The ideas of nation-state traveled across Europe. Because only Spain, Britain, and France were nation-states during the 18th century, other countries felt that they should have their own country. For example, Greece, who has been an influence to Europe for over 3 millenniums, was not a nation-state. The Ottomans who had no relation to the Greeks ruled Greece. France and Britain saw an opportunity to be able to trade with Greece if it were a nation-state. Therefore France and Britain helped Greece become a nation-state.