How Did Nationalism Influence Western Civilization

Nationalism had been a conflicted influence in Western Civilization and in ways it made Europe almost seem complete. It was the idea that people had its own genius and its own specific unity, which manifests itself in a common language and history. It led for a desire of an independent political state. It originated from the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, and over the years it had started to advance and spread among the nation. A philosopher named Johann Gottfried von Herder had been the influence of nationalism during the eighteenth century and Herder thought the cultural unity was basically self-evident in languages and territories.
Most people who believed in Nationalism had also believed in liberalism and a radical democratic republicanism. They all had a common faith in the creativity and nobility of the people and that is the reason they were linked those two concepts. They saw the people as the primary source of all government and thought it would only be possible if people united by traditional cultures and interests no matter the class differences. Nationalists felt everyone had the right to exist in freedom and develop their character and free spirit. They promoted symphony in the nations and harmony between its people. They also placed
emphasis on the differences among each other, even with unity.
In the rise of nationalism, western society developed progressively and dedicated identification with the nation-state.
It had almost been unanticipated, but it became one of the most powerful forces since the 1780s. However, this powerful movement sometimes failed to realize its goals. At first, it was only appealing to middle class liberals and then it became a broad mass of citizens in the United States and Europe. In Eastern Europe, several nationalities struggled to form their own state. In other places, nationalists were unified and rested solidly upon the advancing industrialization and its materialized urban society. Their empire was governed by the consent and devotion of its own
citizens. Nationalists were responsive and very capable of tackling many practical problems when they arise. They anticipated Europe to be of free peoples and have international peace. This generation eventually celebrated the strength of their unity and their nation-state became a system of power. This nationalist movement improved city life and brought on many new social and economic benefits for the ordinary people. In a series of political crises, Russia and the Ottoman Empire tried to modernize their countries by making changes that enables them to compete effectively with the leading countries at a given time. Both empires were built on old traditions of military conquest and absolutist rule by elites from original ethic groups. They were opposed to representative government and national self-determination. Therefore, this led them to concentrate more abolitionists’ rule and competition with other countries, which goes against everything the nations built from nationalism.
After 1970, Europe’s leading countries began seizing territories, fought colonial wars, and build many authoritarian empires. Even thought nationalism was originally created to reduce social tensions within states, these new almost Darwinism actions threatened to end all the progress and unity that it helped build. The power of unified nation-states would turn on itself, and eventually it unleashed the First World War, which inflicted self-harm on mass proportions of Europe’s citizens.
The unification of Italy and Germany finally marked the end of the electrifying period of nationalism and nation building. Only Ireland and Russia still strived for national unity and political independence. Despite the differences between these countries, Europe’s original politics had a common framework. Within that framework, people had a growing loyalty to their governments. Universal male suffrage had finally become a rule and even the women’s suffrage movement made some improvements. People finally felt as if they were becoming “part of the system” and the politicians represented the people more responsively than ever. This led to the government trying to abolish nationalism because they found that they could just manipulate the nationalist’s feeling to create a sense of unity so that they will remove their attention from underlying conflicts.