For nations to form, the people living in them had to become unified. This
             was difficult to accomplish as long as large groups of people lived
             virtually isolated from the cities of their country.
             Peasants in Western countries lived a life of bare subsistence at the
             beginning of the 19th century, often with a simple shelter, no furniture,
             and no change of clothes. Every stick of wood and stone placed around a
             fire was a precious commodity, and they could not survive except looking at
             issues in a very concrete and practical way. It did not matter what a
             government official in a city many miles away the peasant would never see
             thought the peasant should be doing. The peasant had to do what was most
             likely to keep him and his family alive. They were self-sufficient, and any
             suggestion that implied living in some other way must have seemed reckless
             For the entire country to pull together with a sense of nationalism
             required that they have a sense that they were all part of the same thing.
             This perception gradually grew during the last third of the 19th century in
             France as improved transportation brought urban concepts to previously
             isolated people. Until then, France was a country divided by regions in a
             very basic sense. France's unity was a governmental one, not a cultural
             Poverty as experienced by peasants was relative. If a person didn't
             know he "should" have a bed, he didn't feel impoverished by his pile of
             leaves. As the perceptions of what one needed spread from the French cities
             and towns to the wild countryside, perceptions about need changed. As
             economics improved for the French peasants, they began to acquire thing
             that used to be available only to the urban middle class, such s furniture
             and changes of clothes. The desire for these items demonstrated an
             increased shared culture among all the citizens.
             Cultural traditions and perceived needs are more im...