I often see people reference the peace at westphalia as the birth of the nation state due to all the leaders redrawing the borders of europe. But im a little confused as to what that means excactly. Did nation states not exist prior to that. Like did the french people not view themselves as one people in a country or was the peace just the first instance of recognition of the nation state?
A lot of Westphalia's significance has to do with the nature of war it concluded. In addition to being, essentially, a civil war among the Christian kingdoms, the Thirty Years War revealed that there needed to be some order imposed on neighboring communities so a similar conflict could be prevented in the future. Given that the war started because of disputes over where Catholicism/Protestant Christianity were "legally" practiced within the Holy Roman Empire, establishing agreed boundaries was key. The added agreement that people should be able to practice their faith unimpeded by governments was also (loosely) at play.
Fighting still occurred after the conclusion in some places, but overall the Peace set a precedent for the establishment of territorial boundaries in a way which was recognized formally by governing bodies, and agreed upon as sovereign. It also established some dialogue between them and set the stage for the balance of power on the Continent. In this way I think it would be accurate to say the Treaty of Westphalia was the embryo of modern international relations.
As for the nation-state specifically, this is more tricky to answer. In a modern sense, this sort of body did not exist until, I would say, the Napoleonic period (thought I am sure many would disagree). For much of European history, there were certainly boundaries where one kingdom or empire began and another ended; however, these were constantly changing and subject to multiple claims at any given time. Additionally, on the ground level, nationalism and the sense of a larger ideological community was not a factor beyond Christianity, which spread over multiple regions crossing imperial borders. While you see elements of "national" pride in the French and English as a result of the Hundred Years War, the sort of 'blood and soil' connection of common people to their land was much more local, and lacked a larger political bias.
Thanks for the info. You also mentioned that the Napoleonic period really created the nation state could you elaborate on that.