The disruption between imperialism and nationalism led to many wars throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth and twentieth century. Many countries that had been colonized were tired of being ruled and wanted to become independent. With the increase in education, especially educating the elites, and with countries becoming modernized an increase in nationalism also began. By the nineteenth century, nationalism was a concept that people from all over the world were becoming familiar with. The idea of nationalism was first recognized in Europe due to Southern elites being ordered to form a national identity in European contrived colonies. That is when nationalism started becoming popular in Southern countries like India and Asia.
Nationalism and imperialism sometimes act as a magnetic force; nationalism can cause imperialism or vice versa. In countries with a lot of power, imperialism can be a result of nationalism. An example of this would be when the Germans thought their country needed to form an empire so they could be on the same power level as France and England. At this time nationalism was becoming increasingly popular in Germany: which lead to the imperializing of the country to succeed as other imperial powers were. An example of that in the opposite form: imperialism that leads to nationalism would be when India was colonized by Britain. People came together to create a sense of unity and to fight for their independence that the imperial powers were trying to disband. In both cases, power is involved and this plays an important role when explaining nationalism and or imperialism in a country. They either want to become a more powerful country which leans towards imperialism or after being imperialized, they feel a sense of independence to become more powerful as a unified nation.
New imperialism is defined by the textbook as “the late-nineteenth-century drive by European countries to create vast political empires abroad.” Economics, education, and industrialization were some of the concrete concepts that were significantly involved in the expansion of political powers. By the end of the eighteen hundreds much of Asia, including the Philippines, Indonesia, and India, had become colonized by Western powers such as Spain, the Netherlands, and Britain. The colonies became exporters of goods and raw materials and were involved in trading with other industrialized countries. A few advantages that came with the western colonizers were an increase public health, schooling and communication systems. Even though the Western powers brought some valuable things, many of the local people were tired of the force and inferior racial treatment they were receiving.
Mohandas Gandhi was an activist for Indian independence, who rejected European civilization. One his key ideas from Indian Home Rule is promoting Indian independence through passive resistance. He speaks about India as true civilization and about people enjoying true Home Rule. But when referring to Europe he says “those who want to change conditions such as I have described are enemies of the country and are sinners.” He believes they are the enemy because they want to ruin India by making it heavily influenced by the British.
One example of imperialism is when the British government took direct control of India and became known as the British East India company. They implemented military forces to authorize every aspect of life. Communication and travel became more efficient between the two countries. With the help of steamships and clipper ships, ocean travel and trade was increasing and becoming more predictable. The British also enhanced the agricultural production and transporting of goods in India. The British laid the basis for a strong and united nation to form, by producing a knowledgeable, English-speaking Indian elite and an administration supported by an advanced correspondence system. Along with that came people acknowledging themselves as Indians and not people of a divided colony which helped the development of Indian nationalism.
Nationalism became popular in Germany around the early nineteenth century. Johann Fichte, a German philosopher became known for his nationalist speeches. In his Address to the German Nation, he gave a motivating speech to promote German nationalism, in reaction to the occupation of Germany by Napoleon. He used the term “organic unity” to refer to a united living matter in which each member should be accepting of each other. These documents inspired Germans to unite and helped spread the idea of nationalism through all of Europe.
Nationalism is defined by the textbook as “the idea that each people had its own genius and its own cultural unity, which manifested itself especially in a common language and history, and that could serve as the basis for an independent political state.” Along with nationalism and its sense of unity came a homogenized form of communication between groups and individuals. Also, came the development of education to teach people to become knowledgeable and to be able to write speeches to aid the country and expand the idea of nationalism.
Nationalism appealed to Asia in three major ways. First, nationalism supplied the most successful methods for assembling anti-imperialist opposition both to indirect Western rule and to direct foreign rule. Second, nationalism demanded principal changes be brought about and it challenged old social and governmental practices and ideologies. Lastly, nationalism presented people with a dream of an independent and thriving future. It also offered a system of ideals to honor the sacrifices the country would endeavor.
As nationalism spread through Asia during the early twentieth century many countries were beginning to experience modernized, total war for the very first time. This inter-war period was filled with destructivity/destructiveness and tragedy. One war that was unavoidable during this period was the Balkan War. The motive behind this was simply that the Ottoman empire was being ruined by the spread of nationalism and it was jeopardizing the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. By 1913 the first and second nationalist Balkan wars had successfully demolished the Ottoman presence in Europe.
World War One, being a global conflict, involved many countries fighting to save their people, independence, and stability. Germany was one of the countries that played a major role in the first world war. They joined the efforts in August of 1914 when their armies invaded Belgium. The vast majority of the German population united to protect its nation. The war continued longer than thought and technique referred to as trench warfare was costly and not very beneficial in gaining territory. As the war endured, the Ottoman Empire joined forces with Austria and Germany, becoming known as the Central Powers. The war was expanding and continued to force Southern countries such as Africa and Asia to join. While nationalism aided many countries to rise together and fight it could not stop the devastating consequences of the war. There was/were an incredible amount of deaths, a substantial amount of destruction of infrastructure and cities, and many countries were faced with financial struggles.
Nationalism encouraged resentful disputes and wars among individuals in three major ways. This initially began when African and Asian elites were compelled to form a national identity in colonies created by Europe. Nationalism encouraged disputes among individuals in large states that were generally homogenous peoples, rallying, for instance, Japanese against China and vice versa. There were also many times in which nationalism increased tensions between religious or ethnic groups, like what happened in the diverse Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires before 1914.
The result of these conflicts and wars that came about from nationalism and imperialism and countries disputing was the Great Depression. It began in 1929 after the first World War and it a period of nearly world-wide financial crisis. After the war, there was much destruction and no money to fix it because countries spent their money on the war. Economic activity was decreasing while unemployment was increasing. It was a vicious cycle of financial troubles that lasted up until 1939 when the second World War put an end to it.
Although nationalism forced people to unite and form independent countries it also had many downsides; the major one being war. Although imperialism formed divided colonies some Southern countries did benefit from it. The development of education and communication did however increase people’s nationalist views which eventually lead to war. Nationalism was a leading factor of world war one and would lead to more conflict in the future.