It is true that till mid 18th century there were no nation states in Europe. The following points support the statement:
a. Germany, Italy and Switzerland were ruled by different rulers with autonomous territories.
b. In eastern and central parts of Europe autocratic rule prevailed. People here belonged to diverse ethnic groups. They dis share any common culture or identity and consider themselves to be diverse from one another instead of sharing unity.
b. The area of Austria -Hungary included the Alpine region the Tyrol where people spoke diverse languages and had different ethnicity.
c. Sudetenland and Bohemia had German-speaking people in majority . It also included the province of Lombardy and Venetia which had Italian speaking people.
d. In Hungary, the half of the population spoke Magyar and the other half of the population used different dialects. In the part of Galicia Polish was spoken by aristocratic class.
e. Three dominant groups, a mass of subject peasant people like -Roumans to the east in Transylvania, Bohemians and Slovaks to the north, Slovenes in Carniola and the Croats to the south resided in the same boundary but wre diverse from each other. The only bond which tied them together was the common allegiance to the Emperor.