The Wiley Blackwell encyclopedia of race, ethnicity and nationalism
ISBN
9781405189781
ISBN (electronic)
9781118663202
Series
Wiley Blackwell encyclopedias in social sciences
Volume | Issue number
3
Publisher
Chichester: Wiley Blackwell
Organisations
Faculty of Humanities (FGw) - Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR) - Amsterdam School for Regional, Transnational and European Studies (ARTES)
Abstract
The German national activist Friedrich Ludwig Jahn created modern gymnastics around 1810. He did so as part of a fervently anti‐French nationalism and saw athletic training as a physical regeneration program for the nation and a preparation for military discipline. Thus he stands at the origin of sporting gymnastics, physical education in schools, and the use of sports organizations for purposes of nationalist mobilization.