This book does not pretend to be an exhaustive study of Filipino nationalism in the period before the outbreak of the Revolution, as it focuses its attention on the European scene, not on the penetration of nationalist ideals in the Philippines, nor the activities and organizatinos at home which took their inspiration from the Propagandists abroad. Given the conditions of Philippine society then, the effective contact with European liberalism and nationalism and fruitful cross-fertilization towards a Filipino nationalist ideology were bound to take place largely outside the Philippines. Yet, the ultimate steps, as Rizal came to realize, and Andres Bonifacio was to prove, had to be taken in the Philippines. Without the work of the Propagandists, without the laborious efforts to formulate and express their ideals, without their success in giving form to the nationalist ideal in the minds of many back home, however, there could have been a revolt in 1896, but there would not have been the Revolution. For a revolution presupposes a people with a consciousness of its own identity and unity as a nation. The creation of that sense of national self-identity was the work of the Propaganda Movement.