DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN CZECH NATIONALISM
Only after Palacký had become a scholar and historian did he become interested in practical politics. There was, however, no distinct border-line between his scholarly methods and his political thinking. The origin of both activities was marked by two historical events of his youth, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars. Under their influence, Palacký came to the significant conclusions which directed his thinking. First, he conceived revolution to be a natural regenerative necessity for nature as well as for the human race. In his understanding, a revolution introduces fresh and powerful aspects into nature as well as society. Second, Palacký saw nations as collective units exercising their own will, intending to be not only passive objects within a state but also active factors in a commonwealth. In addition, Palacký believed that nations would break out of their chains by force if the authorities did not understand the trends of the period. Palacký understood the revolutionary tendencies of the politically and socially oppressed nations. In his judgement, this historical force was slated to change the world in the near future. Anticipating the infiltration of the Habsburg Monarchy by new political thinking, Palacký wanted his nation to prepare itself for this decisive period by developing itself culturally.
These reflections of Palacký about the state of European politics during the second half of the nineteenth century originated at the time when he wrote a critical essay, “The Origins of Czech Poetry,” with Pavel Josef Šafařík. In perspective, it was directed toward a higher quality of Czech literature and scholarship and the independence of Czech thinking from foreign patterns, mainly German and French. The young generation that spoke out at this time was not satisfied with mere national existence. Its concern was the quality of this existence. In competition with other European nations, the Czechs were expected to express their equality by the independence of their thought. According to Palacký, the Czechs first had to learn to think independently and only then to speak their own language, since independence of thought is the foremost sign of national existence.
Palacký had no national prejudices. Refusing thoughtless acceptance and degrading imitation, he defended the integrity of the Czech character against foreign intrusions. He followed, as he used to say, the path “to introduce old Bohemia into new Europe and to domesticate Europe in her.” This was one of the constants of Palacký’s personality and of his political and scholarly thinking. His historical knowledge, also determining his political practice, was the other constant. In his principal work, The History of the Czech Nation in Bohemia and Moravia, which was published in five volumes and in several versions between 1836 and 1875, Palacký
