4) Probably they felt this way because during this period in Europe, especially in Germany, there was an ongoing process of invention of a nation.
Since the beginning of the century peoples that talked the same language were being moved to regions that are present-day Germany, there was many movements in arts that dreamt of a unified nation of which Goethe was a member, improvements in railroads favored travelings in the territory that helped to shape a sense of community beyond the language.
At this point, nationalism as this sense of belonging had become stronger than liberalism. It was more important to have a unified nation than desired political reforms.
5) The way the unification of Germany happened is one of the causes of World War I. That is because Germany as an unified nation was declared in the Palace of Versailles when they won the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871) and imposed on France humiliating terms on the peace treaty such as the territory of Alsace-Lorena.
This created a revanchist feeling on the French. On the other hand, now Germany had an enormous territory that preoccupied other European powers because that would be another player to compete against for African territories in the context of Imperialism. These tensions would amount to World War I in the next century.
