The Pros And Cons Of Nationalism

A. Is Nationalism a unifying force?

Nationalism refers to a mass of people united under the same nation who share an identity and loyalty to their country based on a similar race, religion, culture, ideals, language, morals, outlook on life, or wish for the future. Within a nation, nationalism has the ability to unite many and diverse people; nationalism brings people to display their patriotism by working together toward a common goal of strengthening and championing their country. No matter how different the people are within a nation, they all associate themselves with the same ideals that their nation is founded upon. While there may be different regions of a nation or different groups of people whose values conflict, when they are challenged

Throughout history, humans have struggled to found states that would overpower all others, and pride and enthusiasm for one’s country is instinctive when a person wants to see their country succeed. Nationalism transcends the geography of the earth; while some countries may be enclosed by natural barriers, everyone is a human inhabitant of the land on earth, but nationalism organizes them into bodies of people with unique identities. However, it is only when nationalism turns to chauvinism (extreme, blind patriotism) that it can be destructive. While people within a nation may be unified under certain ideals, when their allegiance to their nation prevails over their morals they may impulsively support inhuman or irrational policies made by their government, and they may ruthlessly fight each other in wars. All in all, nationalism’s unifying powers overpower its destructive powers because even though it may not be apparent in times of peace, people within a country do exhibit their common identity ever so slightly in tranquil daily life as well as in war, but nationalism only causes destruction only in war, not in peace. This is why

This was a multistep process masterfully thought out by Otto Von Bismarck, a nationalist who encouraged support of a single German country. Bismarck cultivated a nationalist spirit in the lawmaking countries of german states called the Blood and Iron speech - he encouraged them to help modify borders and form a single country through industrialization (iron) and strategically used warfare (blood). His main challenge was to determine which states and peoples would be incorporated into this nation out of all the German-speaking lands, but this issue seems to have been resolved in the process of the unification. After the 1814 Congress of Vienna where Klemens von Metternich influenced many of the decisions, a German confederation was created. There were thirty-nine German states grouped together in this confederation, with Prussia and Austria being the predominant powers. When the king of Schleswig-Holstein died he left his domain to Prussia and Austria, with Prussia receiving Schleswig and Austria gaining Holstein. Bismarck, having thought through this matter very cleverly, used the fact the Prussia had a stronger army than Austria to benefit his cause. Bismarck aroused tensions with Austria over this territory because both Prussia and Austria wanted both Schleswig and Holstein. In this struggle, France allied with Prussia and the United Kingdom allied with Austria.