Nationalism In World War 1

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The source is correct as even though nationalism may start off with the hopes of improving lifestyles and working for the good of the people, it always seems to end in calamity and/or carnage. Nationalism is the belief that a nation should represent and serve the interests of a people that shares a common culture and feels as one. It is also a feeling that people have out of loyalty and pride in their country.' (Nationalism, paragraph one). Nationalism may have also played a critical role towards the formation and self-governance of countries as it unites people of similar culture traits in pursuing their own national identity. However, nationalism is seen as mostly negative throughout the history of humanity. Considering the reasons behind …show more content…

‘Pan-Slavism is the belief that the Slavic peoples of eastern Europe should have their own nation.’ (Llewellyn et al, paragraph eight). Young Serbians joined nationalistic groups like the ‘Black Hand’. These groups wanted to remove Austria-Hungary from Serbia, which led to the encouragement of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne. Aimed to liberate the southern Austro-Hungarian provinces which was mainly populated by Slavs from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the assassination served as a great excuse for Austria-Hungary to attack Serbia. This dispute between Austria-Hungary and Serbia later escalated into what is now known as World War I, which was fought from late July 1914 until November 1918. Besides Austria-Hungary and Serbia,; Russia, Germany, France and Great Britain were drawn in the war. The carnage left behind at the conclusion of World War I was astounding. The casualties of military and civilian during the war totalled approximately ‘10 million soldiers were killed. That averages to about 6,500 deaths a day, every day. Plus, millions of civilians were also killed. Link back to nationalism to conclude’ (Rosenberg, paragraph 30). This is what came out of Serbia’s nationalistic feelings, a war and millions of people, not just soldiers, …show more content…

The Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to shoulder the blame for starting World War II and required them to pay reparations. Germany also lost a portion of their land because of the Treaty of Versailles. The Germans felt that the Treaty of Versailles was unfair and was humiliating to their pride as a nation. The Germans also wanted to have the land that was taken away from them back. ‘Mussolini felt that the pursuit of colonies overseas would bring prestige, wealth and prosperity for the Italians and he dreamed of the day when Rome would once again have colonies throughout Africa and the Middle East.’ (Harding et al, page 157, paragraph two). Japan wanted more land as well because they had such large population and little territory, so they had to depend on the other Asian countries since they had very few natural resources. After the Depression, Germany, Italy, and Japan sought the method of expansionism in order to increase their land mass and gain resources and markets, which was done for the benefit of their country. Germany, Italy, and Japan harboured nationalistic policies that were to the extreme, and convinced their citizens that it was their right to take territory from “lesser” nations. This hostile behaviour set the stage for World War II, which was a great tragedy. ‘The numbers do not lie - World War II was one of the largest conflicts in recorded history with no corner of the planet left untouched. 72,

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