Nationalism
What is Nationalism?
The English word “nation” comes from the Latin root natio or “being born.” What does“birth” have to do with “nation”? These ideas are connected in the concept of “nationalism” the political belief that what bonds people together in a country is a fundamental connection to one another, similar to the connection that binds individual people together in a family. In this lesson, you will study two documents in which the authors talk about this idea of a bond between people that, in their opinion, should be the
political basis for a country. As you study these documents, think about the kind of bond that connects people in a nation, and how this bond might be created.
political basis for a country. As you study these documents, think about the kind of bond that connects people in a nation, and how this bond might be created.
Examples of Nationalism
1. In 1870, Italian troops entered Rome in a final effort to unify Italian-speaking people into one
nation, free from foreign rule and under their own central government. This effort had begun in
the 1830s and continued through the liberal European revolutions of 1848. For the next twenty
years, leaders such as Count di Cavour and Giuseppe Garibaldi negotiated and fought to gain
control of territory ruled by Austria, France, and the Catholic Church. By 1866, the Italians had
gained control of all territories except for the Papal States, which were controlled by the Pope
and protected by French troops. When war broke out between the Prussians and the French in
1870, the French were forced to withdraw their troops from the Papal States, and the Italians
gained control of the final territory and completed the unification of Italy.
nation, free from foreign rule and under their own central government. This effort had begun in
the 1830s and continued through the liberal European revolutions of 1848. For the next twenty
years, leaders such as Count di Cavour and Giuseppe Garibaldi negotiated and fought to gain
control of territory ruled by Austria, France, and the Catholic Church. By 1866, the Italians had
gained control of all territories except for the Papal States, which were controlled by the Pope
and protected by French troops. When war broke out between the Prussians and the French in
1870, the French were forced to withdraw their troops from the Papal States, and the Italians
gained control of the final territory and completed the unification of Italy.
2. In 1898, a group of Chinese rebels, angered by the steady takeover of the Chinese empire by foreigners and Chinese Christians, began attacking Christian missionaries and others in the northeastern part of the country. The “Boxer” uprisings, as they were called, resulted in the deaths of hundreds of foreigners and Chinese Christians. Although the Boxer rebels were officially denounced by the royal court, they secretly gained support from some people, including the Dowager Empress Cixi, in the palace of the Qing dynasty. In 1900, the Boxers laid siege to foreigners in the Chinese capital at Beijing. After months of assault, a relief army of German, British, American, French, Japanese, and Russian troops moved in and took control of the city. A peace treaty signed in 1901 required the Chinese to pay for the failed rebellion.
|
3. After the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) and a civil war, a group of conservative Mexicans encouraged Napoleon III of France to intervene in the government of Mexico. The conservatives were unhappy with the liberal program that President Benito Juárez had been pushing. Encouraged by France, Maximilian von Hapsburg of Austria took over the throne of Mexico in 1864. However, he did not live up to the conservatives’ hopes. He supported some of Juarez’s liberal policies that had been installed before his reign. Despite this support, Juárez, the former president, rejected the idea of a foreign emperor and organized a resistance movement. When Napoleon III withdrew French troops in 1867, Maximilian was captured and executed. Juárez returned to power in December, 1867.
|
Non-examples of Nationalism
1. By the 1900s, the feminist movement was encouraging legal and economic gains for women in various parts of the world. Women campaigned to have the right to vote and the right to higher education, as well as equal access to divorce and child custody. Although the movement was peaceful in some countries, in Great Britain Emmeline Pankhurst led a more militant suffrage movement that included several attention-getting disturbances, such as planting bombs, smashing windows, and arson. Pankhurst and many other suffragettes went to prison in the first part of the twentieth century. In 1928, women in Great Britain received the right to vote on the same basis as men.
2. From 1899 to 1902, the British and the Boers fought over territory and resources in South Africa. The Boers, descendants of Dutch settlers from the 1600s, distinguished themselves by speaking Afrikaans, a language derived from Dutch. In the early 1850s, the Boers founded the Orange Free State and the Transvaal, two republics in the interior of South Africa. After diamonds were discovered in the Orange Free State in the 1860s, more and more British citizens settled in South Africa. In 1899, the Boers declared war against the British. The war resulted in a loss for the Boers, but it paved the way for British decolonization in South Africa and rule by the Boer minority over the African majority.
3. In 1912 and 1913, the countries of the Balkan peninsula engaged in two wars. During the
nineteenth century, when Turkish power in the empire declined, the Balkan countries had won independence from the Ottoman empire. The Slavic people of Serbia, who had gained independence in 1878, wanted to make their country the center of a large Slavic state in alliance with Russia. However, not all Balkan nations were in agreement with Serbia in this matter. In addition, Austria, which had a large Slavic population in the southern part of their empire, did not want Serbia to gain control of the Slavic regions. The two wars resulted in territorial gains for the Balkan countries but did not completely satisfy them. The tension on the Balkan peninsula during these wars was a precursor to the tensions that later sparked World War I. |
Sources
World History For Us All Curriculum: http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/ - Big Era 7 - Landscape 6
Sources for definitions and examples: Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and
Spread of Nationalism (New York: Verso, 1991); Peter N. Stearns, Michael Adas, and Stuart B. Schwartz, World
Civilizations: The Global Experience (New York: Longman, 2001); Peter N. Stearns and William L. Langer, The
Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged (Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 2001).
Sources for definitions and examples: Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and
Spread of Nationalism (New York: Verso, 1991); Peter N. Stearns, Michael Adas, and Stuart B. Schwartz, World
Civilizations: The Global Experience (New York: Longman, 2001); Peter N. Stearns and William L. Langer, The
Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged (Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 2001).