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How Did Nationalism Cause Ww1

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How Did Nationalism Cause Ww1
Nationalism can be defined as the feeling that one’s nation (one’s people) is superior to other nations. This helped lead to WWI in two ways. First, nationalism can breed arrogance because it makes people feel superior. It can lead them to want to prove their superiority through fighting. It can also lead them to think that they will surely win any war because of their superiority. Second, nationalism helped lead to WWI because it caused conflict. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated because of nationalism. He was an ethnic German ruling an empire that included ethnic Slavs. Slavic nationalists did not like being ruled by Germans and killed the archduke in an attempt to help rid themselves of German rule. This sort of ethnic conflict helped to cause WWI.
Nationalism played a dramatic and dynamic …show more content…
Nobody knew when, where, or why it would start, but a lot of people thought war would eventually come -- and many looked forward to it. There was a widespread attitude in Europe that men needed to fight for their country to test the mettle of their character. Additionally, many welcomed the opportunity to fight a national rival or get back at a foe for a historical grievance. Many in France looked forward to war with Germany in 'revenge' for France's humiliating defeat by German Prussia in 1870 (this attitude has been called 'revanchism' from the French word for revenge). Some in Britain resented the upstart German navy trying to race Britain for naval supremacy. Many Germans resented how France and Britain dominated global colonialism and felt Germany deserved a 'place in the sun' reflecting its status as the Great Power. Many Russians believed in a philosophy of 'pan-Slavism' which contended that Russia had a duty to support and defend other Slavic peoples of Europe, particularly in the
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