Nationalism and State Building

Leon Wang

Nationalism

- pride in one’s country with a shared culture, a way of life

- was a centripetal force in countries with a strong national and cultural identity

- was a centrifugal force in countries with many cultural identities, multinational empires

Nationalism by Unification

- merges culturally similar regions together

Sample Case: Italy

- Italy was split into multiple small countries

- Of these countries, Piedmont-Sardinia emerged as the most influential and powerful

- War with Austria occurs in 1858 with nationalist revolts in Austrian-held territory in Italy, mostly drives the Austrians out

- Italy is united in March 1861 and a parliament elects Victor Emmanuel as Italy's first king

Nationalism by Separation

- cultural group resists fusing into a state or breaks from it

Sample Case: Greece

- Around 1814, Hellenism, or Greek nationality was very prominent and was boosted by revolutionary ideas in the west

- In 1821 a nationalist revolt broke out against the Ottoman Turks but was put down

- More revolts follow and the Greeks eventually gain control of the Peloponnese and declare Greece an independent nation

- By 1832 the Turkish sultan had recognized Greek independence

Nationalism by Nation-Building

- multiple cultural groups form a new state and accept a single culture

Sample Case: United States

- Prior to the American Civil War, there was little sense of unity among the states and the U.S. was often called These United States of America

- When Civil War broke out, Southern states seceded from the North

- As the North emerged victorious, the installation of the 14th Amendment clarified the national identity of an American which made several diverse cultural groups recognized citizens

Nationalism in Japan

- the fall of the shogunate

Case Study: Japan

- Originally composed of many fragmented groups until the 16th - 17th century when power was mostly consolidated

- Tokugawa family creates the bukufu (military government) and had a class of daimyo and samurai (the emperor was mostly a figurehead)

- The threat of Western conquerors and their power arriving in Japan causes the Tokugawa shogunate to be overthrown and restored the imperial throne

- Establishes a European-style cabinet with a prime minister and creates a constitution in 1889

Emperor Meiji, who restored

the imperial throne

Nationalism by Terror

- uniting a country with absolute dominance

Sample Case: Nazi Germany

- Hitler rises to power through his propaganda and publicity, growing his power gradually

- Uses the hopeless economic status of Germany at the time to rally up intense support for his ideas

- Unites Germany into the Third Reich with the Nazi army

- Unwavering allegiance to the Nazi regime by terror makes the unity extremely concrete

Day of Potsdam, a message of Nazi propaganda

Sources

https://wiki.kidzsearch.com/wiki/File:Italy_unification_1815_1870.jpg

https://www.britannica.com/event/War-of-Greek-Independence

https://www.britannica.com/event/American-Civil-War

https://youtu.be/Nosq94oCl_M

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Adolf-Hitler/Rise-to-power

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/the-fuehrer-myth-how-hitler-won-over-the-german-people-a-531909.html

https://www.potsdam.de/node/277134