The Beliefs of German Nationalists

From the 1920s to the beginning of the World War II, as the country which played a dominant role in Europe, Germany was the one that took advantage of other small Europeans country by its strong power. Hitler and his Nazi party demonstrated their ambition to make Germany a stronger country. Under the pressure of the German power, other European countries were afraid to justify equality and agreements among all the European countries.

By 1890, Germany had been a nation state for almost 20 years. Liberal nationalism was dying from its own success, and a new brand of popular ideas on the German Volk and fatherland was emerging to represent the generation which had been born in the boundaries of a German state, and was now reaching adulthood. Necessarily, these ideas would adopt foundations of German cultural superiority and common identity which had been espoused at the start of the century, and this was encouraged by colonialism. This popular nationalism was encouraged by the more active climate of public debate and freer politics. They were also no doubt affected by the position of the army in German society and the interference of a government dominated by the

Amanda Ferry Mr. Feddersen Modern Civ. February 5, 2015 Nationalism: the cause of World War One There were many things leading up to the start of World War One, but what exactly was the cause of World War One? Germany was jealous of all of the accomplishments other countries had and those countries weren’t exactly humble about their power.

Nationalism and liberalism were two popular political philosophies of the late 19th century. Nationalism is the aspiration of a people with a common language, culture and traditions to be unified. Nationalism grew into a movement after 1815, influenced by literature, music, politics and economic developments between the northern Germany states. By 1848, nationalism was strong among Germans, but the course to unify German would prove to take time.

Germany was unified by “blood and iron” in the Prussian wars before Germany was one nation. The Prussia war campaign against Denmark, Austria, and France led to the creation of the German Empire. After each victory against these countries the German Empire gained more and more territories and continuously expanded. The idea of nationalism was not only used to fuel these wars, but also afterwards in creating a limited government. In fueling these wars, the citizens were promised that a unified German Empire will lead to prosperity and peace. They were only too happy to go on the offensive and try and claim new lands in the name of their great nation. Once they had conquered these lands and claimed a small piece as a prize, they set up Kaiser Wilhelm as the Emperor on July 18, 1871. After this the Reichstag was formed as the limited government with the illusion that they could make a difference. In truth, Kaiser Wilhelm would shoot down any bill he seemed to disagree with. Also they all reported to Wilhelm and could easily be fired for causing too much trouble for them. With the German

Germans were delighted to be part of an authoritarian Imperial Germany so long as it possessed a powerful economy and enjoyed victories on the battlefront against European powers. Imperialism and conquest bred pride within the German people, which encouraged German leadership to act more aggressively. Citizens of other empires, such as England and France, had long been exhibiting nationalistic pride due to the successes and greatness of their countries. Germany simply wished to emulate these. Nationalism eventually led Germany to imperial conquest outside of Europe, just as other European countries had been doing for centuries.

During the beginning of the 1800’s, nationalism was a major deal in Europe. This thought of have superiority over other countries was important to the countries of Europe. Johann Gottlieb Fitche wrote about German Nationalism and he says “ The first, original, and truly natural boundaries of states are beyond doubt their internal boundaries. Those who speak the same language are joined to each other by a multitude of invisible bonds by nature herself, long before any human heart begins; they understand each other... they belong together and are by nature one and an inseparable whole.” This shows throughout Germany unifying because this

German nationalism was one of the biggest forms of nationalism that contributed to the war. Nationalism in Germany “had been virulent ever since the mid-nineteenth century — perhaps more than any other European country” (War Against War, Carsten). It was extremely harsh but strong. During the 19th century, German Nationalism was the

Germany developed sovereignty, they had good base economically and industrially and had a good amount of producing money. By 1900 in European counterpart, Germany had the largest economy and they were the largest steel producing country which was the most important resources. With all the power they got it made them hungry for more power and money and led them to wanting to extend their territory. Britain was the most powerful country in Europe, Germany wanted to adjust that because they believed that Britain is holding too much land and they should share it’s territories.

Germany was a very influential country of Europe. It is the largest and in my opinion, the most powerful of all the countries in Europe. Germany was mainly responsible for causing WWI. There are many reasons why they caused the war.

Germany, a country rich in culture and heritage, yet plagued by the fallout of World War I and World War II, has progressed to become the centerpiece of the European Union and the world’s third richest economy. The first German Empire dates back to the Roman Empire starting in the 8th century AD. During the Middle Ages the German Empire fended off many attacks against their soil from the Hungarians and the Slavs. Fighting and power struggles continued until the 1400’s, when the modern world gradually came into existence with intellectual, economic and political changes.

In this source, it depicts the ultra-nationalistic movement in Nazi Germany which had consequently advocated for children to join the party as an illustrated sign of devotion to their nation through serving their leader. Particularly, in the illustration, it displays a young Aryan member of the Hitler Youth, idealizing Hitler who is consequently being portrayed in a god-like persona. This promotes extreme patriotism and ultimately ultra-nationalistic beliefs due to the propaganda’s influence in the nation to take pride in the German race and therefore consider the threat of external enemies like Jews. Therefore, propaganda associated to this political perspective was essentially distributed to create dedicated and absolute soldiers for the

After the downfall of Germany, allied countries ceased control over the region and divided it into 4 zones. Each of which would be controlled by, America, France, Britain and the Soviet Union. Berlin, for example was under the control of the soviet however the capital was also divided into four zones with each ally having jurisdiction over a zone. (Clare, .) Over time the democratic countries merged together their individual zones and formed the Federal Republic of Germany as a result. Tensions began to rise between West Germany and the soviet controlled Germany. This polarisation of Germany not only shows us how the ideological view point of each ally changed and effected German politics in the east and the west, but also as Germany as a whole. This can be seen when comparing the level of economic development of the west to the south. West Germanys’ political ideology came from the democratic countries and essentially allowed it to also become a stable democracy. This political influence allowed West Germany to be included in some European affairs and also helped regain trust within some European counties who, at this point did not trust Germany and did not want to be affiliated with then in anyway. An example of this, is the treaty signed by France and Germany which is known

Nationalism was so appealing in Europe because people wanted something to unify with and to feel like they were apart of something. The goals of nationalism were to increase a persons pride in their nation so they would be more interested about protecting and investing money into the system. In Germany Nationalism was put in place by Bismarck who succeeded in unifying the territory´s. This meant that Germany now had a more important place in Europe and their thoughts were taken more seriously. Leguer united people with nationalism through hate for the Jewish people. In France nationalism was reborn with the election of Napoleon III, because of universal male suffrage he got 4x as many votes as the rest of the nominees combined. Nap. III wanted

German nationalism establishes “symbolic boundaries” to set differences between them and “other” groups of people (452). This often relates to the Primordial Ties Theory on nationalism. This theory states that those groups who draw clear boundaries between their group and others could act decisively and clearly; in other words, human beings express the boundaries between groups symbolically (314). This theory also claims that those who acknowledge “sociobiology” or “evolutionary psychology” differences, coordinate cooperation more effectively than those who do not. Therefore, “they eventually outcompete those others as a result of this” (313). In other words, German nationalism is related to the Primordial Ties Theory because it acknowledges