Nationalism

Nationalism was the basic organizing principle in Western society. Its force contributed to the unification of many nations such as Germany and Italy. Nationalism can also turn people against their old government like the

Russians and cripple nations such as the Ottoman and the Austro-Hungarian empires. Nationalism can make nations but can also break them.

Napoleon III of France played an important role in this triumph of nationalism. In his dictatorship from 1852 to 1870, he showed how the national state and its programs could appeal to rich and poor, conservative and radical. In this way, the national state became a way of coping with the challenge of rapid political and economic change. In Italy, Count Cavour, the nationalist leader of the kingdom of Sardinia, managed to unify most of Italy in 1860 into a single political. One way he did this was by thriving for independence and to get rid of foreigners(DOC3). This is saying that that Italians and only Italians are smart and have the best country in the world. In 1862, Otto von Bismarck became chief minister of Prussia. Otto von Bismarck's main idea that he shared with his people was blood and iron(DOC5). Bismarck fought three wars to unify the states of Germany into a single nation under Prussian leadership. Princip, the assassin of Franz Ferdinand, killed him because he was a Yugoslav and believed he was superior to anyone else and should be free from Serbia(DOC6). Giuseppe Garibaldi expressed the idea that you should not just ask for freedom but raise and army and fight for what you believe in(DOC4).

Nationalism was the most powerful force in the Nineteenth Century because it either unified and strengthened an empire or it broke it apart and weakened an empire. Italy and Germany used nationalism to their advantage and unified their nations. Nationalism had a negative effect on the Ottoman and the Austro-Hungarian empires and crippled them.

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