ABSTRACT
Almost every day newspapers and magazines relate stories of problems connected with national, cultural, or ethnic identity. As national claims by non-Russians move into the center of the state in the Soviet Union, one should also pay attention to the nature of Russian national consciousness. Modern nationalism, or the sense of national identity, is a phenomenon whose birth can be pretty exactly traced to the time of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars. Throughout the eighteenth century the Russian elites strained all their energies to fulfill Peter I's project and become "Europeanized." Indeed, a revival of religious and spiritual concerns was a significant aspect of the Europeanization of the Russian elites. The task of developing an adequate modern Russian language, along with the challenges presented by Russia's active involvement in the political events on the international scene, led the young generation of the 1800s to become interested in the history of Russia.
