In the West, on the other hand, the ideal of restoring an European empire lingered for a long time but, for the past five hundred years or so, division has been accepted as natural and often desirable, even division with areas sharing a common culture. William Tell is regarded as a hero for his part in making Switzerland an independent state.
在西方，想要恢復一個歐洲帝國的觀念，雖持續了很長一段時間，但是，在過去五百年左右，一般人已接受分裂，認為這種現象是自然的，甚至是受歡迎的，這種觀念即使在有共同文化的地區亦然。