Nationalism Dbq

During the early nineteenth century the idea of nationalism was born. Nationalism is a strong feeling of pride in your country. It is the idea of one country being better than all others. Before the idea of nationalism took shape, cultures living in Europe were spread throughout large multi-cultural empires. These cultures didn't feel any ties to other people of the same culture, they only felt loyalty to the king or queen. These kings and queens were in many cases foreign rulers. Nationalism became a popular idea during the French Revolution. Napoleon used nationalism to encourage the French army to conquer more lands, and he used it to build a love and loyalty to France in every citizen's heart. The new idea of nationalism quickly

Because of the idea of nationalism, cultures began to think of themselves as being better than all others. This caused a lot of persecution and segregation of people of different cultures. In Russia, the idea of nationalism fed a new idea of Russification. Russification was the act of suppressing all non-Russians in their empire. They did this, because they believed that their culture was the best. One example of this was with the Jews. Jews that lived in Russia were unliked by virtually every Russian in the empire. The government was also against the Jews, believing the Russian religion and culture was the best and what everyone should be following. They endorsed attacks, or pogroms, on the Jews (p.1623-1624). Nationalism caused Russians to think their culture was better than all others. They believed this justified the persecution of all other cultures. Nationalism also made the British culture feel superior to the Indian culture. The British tried to change the people living in their colony to believe and act the way they did. The British tried to change the Indian culture. They sent missionaries to India to try to convert the them to Christianity, which they felt was better than the Indian religions. (p. 1752). Because nationalism introduced the idea of one culture being better than another, the British believed that their culture was better than the Indian

Nationalism caused rebellions and revolutions, like in Spain. Spanish people wanted to be ruled by a native, and staged revolts to make the French king Joseph surrender his throne. Nationalism also caused the unification of many countries. In Italy, nationalist leaders wanted a unified country. They conquered areas like Sicily and Naples that weren't under Italian control. This let Italy become a completely unified country, the first time since the Holy Roman Empire. Nationalism also caused a hierarchy of cultures. Nationalism introduced the idea that one culture was better than all others, like in Russia. Russians believed they were better than all other cultures, and thought this justified the persecution of other people, like the Jews. Nationalism affected Europe greatly, because it caused rebellions and revolutions, it caused people of the same culture to unify, and it caused people to believe that their culture was superior to other cultures. Although nationalism causes many good things to happen, like the unification of countries, it also causes segregation of people with different cultures. This segregation leads to the persecution of other people. Nationalism causes people to think that one culture is better than another. This idea only ends with detrimental results, one of the most infamous being with Nazi Germany and the persecution and murder of millions of Jews. Nationalism