Is Nationalism a Cause of the First World War - Essay Example

Is Nationalism A Cause Of The First World War? , (Department) is now at Department of (insert relevant department), (institution) Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to (student name) Abstract This paper seeks to discuss how nationalism among other factors, contributed to emergence of the First World War, and examine the research question Is Nationalism A Cause Of The First World War? Various factors caused the First World War; however, nationalism has been the one of the most powerful cause of this chaos. This paper seeks to analyse why nationalism was the immediate cause of the First World War in regard to Serbian sovereignty. This particular crisis was however resolved without war. The paper will also examine the Sarajevo Crisis of 1914, which escalated into the First World War. The outcomes of the crises will be examined in the context of the changing patterns of major-power alliances, the distribution as well as the shift in major-power capabilities. It will be seen that a transformation in the major-power subsystems between 1905- 1910 significantly altered the European balance of power so as to favour the Triple Entente. In the Sarajevo Crisis, decision makers reflected on both sides of the transformation. The outcome of the war will also be looked into, and it is worth noting that all the effects are negative, the reason why memories of the war are dreaded up to date1. As it will be discussed, this war could have been avoided. Were it not for the reasons discussed in this paper, the history of war could not be written. A summary of these findings are well discussed in the paper. Contents Introduction 3 Other contributing factors to the war 5 Nationalism and the emergence of the War 6 Nationalism of individual countries 7 Nationalism and the First World War 8 Other related factors 10 Tug-of-war 11 European politics 13 German nationalism 15 Conclusion 17 Bibliography 20 Introduction The time period of 1914-1918 will remain in the historic books because of the episodes that happened of the First World War. Many lives were lost as a result, not to mention the ones crippled and others who were totally incapacitated by the happenings of the war. The question that will come in the minds of many is why did this war occur? Could it have been avoided? Was it necessary to go into the fight? Who were the perpetrators of the war and what was their ultimate goal? The questions can only be answered from getting an insight of the war. There are several factors which could have resulted to the emergence of the war2. The causes include but not limited to imperialism and nationalism3. This paper basically focuses on nationalism as a cause of the war and the extent to which it went in contributing to this war4. Nationalism is understood as the way in which citizens of a particular country show patriotism and proudly associate themselves with their country5. This is a positive aspect due to the obvious reason of people loving and respecting their country6. This means it is the belief or the political ideology where a person identifies him/herself with his or her own country, developing a lot of attachment with that particular country7. However, nationalism to some extent can be negative especially when people use it as leverage against other rival countries8. When provoked, the people will fight to back with intent to defend and protect their country from the enemies9. Struggle of powers to try and dominate each other in Europe triggered rivalries which could be seen as one of the initiates of the First World War10. The two kinds of nationalism in the 19th century Europe were the desire of subject peoples for independence which resulted to a chain of national struggles for freedom among the Balkan peoples11. This attracted intervention of other powers causing much instability12. The other kind of nationalism was the desire of independent nations to dominate and take prestige of ruling other nations, thus triggering the First World War13. Other contributing factors to the war The other causes of the war were alliance systems, militarism, economic rivalries as well as colonial rivalries.14 The dangers of a looming war started way back in the year 1908, with indications of countries provoking each other, political rhetoric and what could be termed as incitement especially by leaders15. Without much checking on the effects this could bring, the countries slowly by slowly continued with the practice until the year 1914 when the effects came to maturity marking the start of the war16. The real impacts of the war were felt for the four years until 1918 when things cooled down, providing a break from the war.17 Nationalism and the emergence of the War The issue of nationalism is seen as the major contributor of the war18. People took nationalism to extremes; something that could did not mean a lot of good to the people from other countries19. This notwithstanding, political leaders used their influence to incite their people into mocking the people from the other countries20. Cartoonists and media could even go to an extent of painting cartoons mocking the leaders of the other countries. This was witnessed in Britain, and surprisingly, even the leaders did not bother much to stop the provocative practice. Nationalism was more than just patriotism21. It came out of the French revolution, which had somehow taken the idea of the nation as a kind of mystical union of the people clothed in liberty and equality rather than being downtrodden subjects of a king22. Nationalism therefore caught on and by towards the end of the 19th century, proud nationalists were already fighting for their nations’ rights all over Europe, especially in cases where their nation was ruled by another one.23 The leaders also developed aggression towards other countries. The motivation to the aggression was the increasing nationalism especially in the European nations24. Nationalism resulted in the compromise of many conflicting national groups such as Austria-Hungary and the Balkans.25 Nationalism of individual countries Before the First World War, the U.S had emerged as a major global power, trying hard to maintain its position as a superpower26. The nationalists were very much proud of their country, but the confidence in their country also had a negative effect since it produced nationalist conflicts. The nationalist conflicts gave birth to the First World War. For instance, the Serbs and the Austrians went into war as a result of these nationalist conflicts. The nationalist conflicts then spread all over to the entire powers in Europe, resulting in disaster and divisions among the nations. Britain was also very advanced technologically, controlling overseas empire. Britain was the most industrially developed country in Europe in the year 1870. Britain also had the largest overseas empire, with the largest navy in the world. The Britons were also proud of their own country. Britain however tended to ignore the political rhetoric resulting in the nationalist conflicts but instead concentrated on building and developing its economy. Britain had rivals such as France and Russia right from the year 1890. Nationalist conflicts prompted Britain to intervene in the Russia’s interest in the Balkan. Britain stepped in to stop the Russians from invading the Balkans. Britain as a nation couldn’t gamble with loss of its naval interests in the Mediterranean Sea.27 Making good use of advanced technology, Germany also concentrated on building its naval strength. As a counter measure, Britain felt threatened by this move by Germany, driving it to declare war on Germany. Though other factors like imperialism, alliance systems, militarism, economic rivalries and colonial rivalries contributed to the war, emphasis is given on nationalism as a cause of the war. For a good understanding of the extent to which nationalism was a cause of the war, a number of subheadings will be used. From the discussion as per the subheadings, conclusions will be drawn to drive the point home further. Nationalism and the First World War Nationalism resulted in extreme patriotism which in a big way produced the nationalist conflicts triggering the war. Countries believed so much in their culture, economy and their military supremacy28. The over confidence resulted in the misconception that their countries were much better than the others. This created the cycle of each country holding to its own beliefs, which tended to underestimate the powers of the other countries. This was witnessed in the Europe’s Great Powers. The countries became saturated with nationalist thinking; people became self-centred not minding much about the people in the other countries29. Literature, music and theatre took the front stage in the propagation of this nationalist thinking. The populations in Europe therefore became convinced that they had they had the best military, capable of silencing any other power. This served as an ingredient for war. Politicians and diplomats contributed actively to it, instead of stopping it. No major European country had participated in a war previously. Only France had tried to engage in a war with the Prussians in the 1871 but had lost miserably. Contributing to nationalism was the way each country looked at itself in terms of equipment. The way a country was armed and prepared for external attacks further raised the aggression towards war as a result of nationalism. For instance, out of Britain’s advancement in technology, the Britons had confidence in their country’s naval power and were sure that they would win any conflict. Their massive economic muscle further cemented their confidence and aggression for war. They thought that their naval power, coupled with their economic might of the empire would secure victory in any conflict. Germans had a lot of sea navy vessels, which were well armed. Their soldiers possessed highly efficient training from the Prussia. Russia on its part had a religious belief that their country was well protected by God and that no one would conquer their territory. It also had a millions of men in the army, giving them extra confidence. France as a nation was also not left behind. It strongly believed in its chain of fortresses and defences located along their eastern border, which made them believe that German would not penetrate. Other related factors Besides the physical defensive strength, nations also held on to spiritual beliefs which made them convinced that their countries were the most superior, resistant to any forms of attacks from enemies. Like in the late 1800s, patriotism and nationalism saturated the people of England. Britons believed that they would never be slaves and had even adopted a slogan of “Britons will never be slaves”. They kept on singing the slogan as a way of irritating their would-be rivals. However, London had remained mum on war until Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany made remarks which sounded like a threat to London. As a wakeup call, London responded by releasing a novel depicting espionage and future war. The content of the war painted Germany as cold and cruel. Russia on the other hand was painted as uncultured and uncivilised while the Chinese were portrayed as a race of murderous savages who were out there just to benefit themselves. These nationalist ideas and stereotypes gave the novelists a chance to mock the rulers in these particular countries. The most mocked ruler was the German Kaiser followed by the Russian tsar, who was portrayed as arrogant and hungry for power.30 In the years before the war, Germany was still new, having been formed from bringing together 26 German speaking states in 1871. As a result, the Germans had common attitude of disliking and disregarding the other countries in the European Great Powers. This made the German nationalism to have a political purpose, binding together states such as Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Hesse, Baden and Brunswick. In the post 1871 Germany, the leaders relied heavily on nationalism. They used it to maintain and also strengthen the country. The Germans were proud of their culture and celebrated it as a way of promoting it. Their most popular culture was the Goethe. Britain was seen as a major obstacle for development of Germany especially by the Wilhelm II and the Kaiser who ruled in the Germany of 1800s. The German press targeted Britain. Germany felt exploited by Britain and thought that the advancement of Britain was at Germany’s expense. To weaken Britain, Germany supplied Boers with weapons and ammunitions to fight the Britons in the war of 1899-1902. Self-determination, self-government and independence was another dangerous type of nationalism that emerged in Europe. At this time, nationalism had divided the world into segments of influence, races and religions seeking freedom from their imperial masters. Like in Russia, 80 ethnic groups were forced to speak Russian and also practice the Russian Orthodox religion. China, a nation having more than 400 million people at this time, was trying hard to free itself from the European powers. In the Eastern Europe, nationalist groups had a lot of contribution in weakening the Ottoman Empire in the Eastern Europe.31 Tug-of-war As a way of embracing nationalism, nationalist could even go to an extent of carrying out assassinations, so as to solve nationalist conflicts. This was witnessed in July 1914 when young Turks from Serbia assassinated Franz Ferdinand. They main intention of assassinating the archduke was to restore the status of their country. Reacting to the assassination, Germany pledged to fully support Austria-Hungary, prompting them to declare war on Serbia for the assassination. France on the other hand, intensified its backing of Russia. This resulted in division of Europe escalating several crises in Morocco and the Balkans, which almost ended in a war. Morocco was assured of support by Germany. Morocco was an African colony given to France by Britain in 1904. This sparked friction between Britain and Germany as British stood in protection of France. A war was avoided by an international conference held in Algeciras in 1906, which allowed France to make Morocco a French protectorate. Nationalism was also witnessed in the Bosnian Crisis of 1908. The annexation of the Turkish former province of Bosnia in 1908 by the Austria-Hungary sparked a conflict .Serbia had the intention of acquiring Slavic Bosnia, and it therefore threatened a war on Austria-Hungary. The crises produced a series of nationalist conflicts between Germany against Russia, because Germany had joined Austria-Hungary in threatening war against Russia. Russia on its part had joined Serbia, prompting a mobilization. The almost maturing war was put to a stop when Russia stepped down, though this did not restore the relations between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. A second Moroccan crisis happened in 1911 when Germany sent a warship to Agadir to protest the supremacy of France in Morocco. Claims by Germany that France had violated the agreements made at Algeciras prompted Britain to come in defence of France. So as to calm down, Germany accepted an offer of part of the French Congo to allow the France dominance in Morocco. Increased tension was witnessed between Serbia and Austria-Hungary when Austria-Hungary forced Serbia to leave some of its gains. The following incidences played a role in funnelling World War 1. They are aspects of nationalism which took place in different times with the aftermath being World War 1. Fear of the Austria-Hungary to expansion of Russia. The expansion of Russia was translated as a threat by Austria-Hungary Empire which had seen a bright future in the economic penetration of the Balkans32. Construction of railways and the rise of Slav nationalism all became an increasing concern to a state with as large as the Slav population. Assassination of King Alexander of Serbia saw the ascension into power of a pro-Russian by the name Peter 1. King Peter’s government made it very clear that they were in favour of the policy “South Slavism” and to this effect a customs union was concluded in 1904 between Serbia and Bulgaria encouraging the view that Serbia was the Piedmont of the South Slavs. Towards the end of 1908, the Balkans had freed of major political crises for more than a decade, notwithstanding the emergence of the expansionist government in Serbia. In July 1908, a revolution by the name young Turks movement overthrew the corrupt rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid offering the prospect to other nations to easy gain in the Balkans while Turkey was occupied with domestic issues. In September 1908, Austria-Hungary annexed the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina and after the success, both Germany and Austria-Hungary were confident enough to demand from Russia and Serbia formal acknowledgements of the Habsburg authority. In March 1909 Russia and Serbia gave their acknowledgements, but Russia felt humiliated by the move.33 European politics European politics were as a result of the Agadir crisis the tension had implications which spread eastwards down the Mediterranean. In 1911, Italy attempted to improve its own standing in North Africa, something which led to a malicious attack upon the Turkish possession of Tripoli.34 The Balkan states were tempted to free themselves from the influence of Turkey for good. This led to an emergence of the Balkan League of Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria, and Montenegro. Bulgaria emerged as the victor among these and tried to clear Macedonia of Serbian and Greek forces in June 1913 leading to the Second Balkan war.35 The Balkan war between the Balkan league and Turkey started in October 1912 and by the end of that month, Turkey had already suffered enough from the defeats and was later on driven out of their European belongings apart from just a few cities.36 There was emergence of heightened tension at political levels in France and Germany which resulted to increased military operations. France sought closer military ties with Russia showing less interest in restraining her. There were agreements between France and Russia that France would support Russia if attacked by Germany. In the event of a disagreement with Germany, France would support Russia. The government of Germany was hesitant in getting involved in the Balkan crisis but was uncomfortable with military operations in case of future crisis. By October 1913, the Kaiser was urging his allies to stand firmly since they had full support of the German government. On the other hand, France-Russian and Austro-German commitments were very tight and Serbia had built confidence. However, the prestige of Austria-Hungary and Russia was very low and they were unable to tolerate more humiliations.37 German nationalism Desire by German to increase colonial influence resulted in two Moroccan crises in the years 1905 and 1911, increasing tensions and military preparations of the major European states38. The Kaiser landed at Tangier in Morocco making public speeches and behaviour which implied that they recognized the sultan of Morocco as a liberated monarch and this called the question of Anglo-French agreements over the colonial status of the territories. Kaiser was very keen in demonstrating that no international question could be solved without making reference to Germany by forcing France to give ground on the issue, something which weakened the Anglo-French relations39. The outcome of this was humiliating to Germany and it had to accept the confirmation of French power in the sultanate after the Algeciras conference in January-March 1906 .During the first crisis, military preparations were avoided by all the powers but the defeat was evident from German fears of policy of encirclement. According to a historian by the name Immanuel Geiss, Germany turned away from the international conferences as a way of settling international disputes.40 Firing of Bismarck by Kaiser William II in 1890 developed disliking of Slavs preventing the successors of Bismarck from renewing their understanding with Russia. France took advantage of this and went on to get an ally by the name Franco-Russian Entente which was formed in 1891, becoming a full ally in 189141. Resultantly, France and Britain ignored all their major imperialistic conflict and formed the Entente Cordiale in 190442. Russia on the other hand formed an Entente with Britain in 1907, having reached an agreement with Britain’s supporter Japan and William II had isolated himself and supported Austrian ambitions in the Balkans. As a result, the three Ententes, a coalition amid Great Britain, France and Russia countered the triple alliance43. As a result, there was increased international tension developed between the divisions of Europe into two armed camps.44 Germany led in military organization and was very efficient. Technological and organizational developments led to formation of accurate plans for mobilization and attack that could not be reversed once started. What drew more countries into war was the German von Schlieffen strategy to attack France before Russia. Affirmation of war on Serbia by Austria-Hungary on July 28, 1914 led to Russia ordering partial mobilization against Austria-Hungary in support of Serbia, escalating into a general mobilization. As a result Germans threatened war on July 31, if at all the Russians declined to demobilize. In the event of Russo-German War, France stood its own ground and was determined to act in its own interest and mobilizing. On August 1, there was declaration of war on Germany by Russia and another war followed two days later on France. The German invasion to attack France violated Belgium’s official neutrality, driving Britain to declare war on Germany something which flagged in World War. It is evident that nationalism was an exaggerated form of patriotism celebrated in one’s country but demonising the other nations. Political rhetoric, the press as well as popular culture like novelists to a large extent propagated pre-war nationalism which resulted to wars. Widely spread anti-German literature in Britain contributed a lot to future war with Germany and even future German invasions. The predicament of German nationalism was built on the belief that Britain was out to compromise the German’s nationalism45. Serbians sought independence and autonomy from the political domination of Austria-Hungary making nationalism a rising factor amongst the Balkans46. Conclusion As it has been seen in the discussion, nationalism contributed a lot to the emergence of the war. The war had all negative effects, memories which are dreaded up to date. The war resulted in breaking down of huge industries impacting badly on the global economy. Poverty and oppression were the effects accompanying the war and were heavily felt by the civilians especially in the affected countries. Racial and cultural rivalries emerged, results which were not easy to contend with. The world had been seen as a beautiful, peaceful place worth living. Everything was intact before the summer of 1914, when Ferdinand was killed in the Sarajevo crisis47. His death had opened a series of fights in between the Austria-Hungary against Germany and Russia against Serbia48. Germany on their part tried to stop Russia from fighting Serbia49. When Russia failed to stop, Germany declared war on Russia. In the 1924, Germany was the most technologically advanced country and her leader, Kaiser the second felt that Germany indeed deserved a larger empire than it already had50. Being technologically sound, Germany did not fear going to war with any country including Russia since it felt that it had all that it required and was optimistic of winning the war51. Many Germans also felt the same way like their leader whom they had a lot of confidence in52. There were also mixed reactions to the war. For example, Russia dramatically reacted to the war and its effects by experiencing two revolutions in 191753. The second of the revolutions brought Lenin’s pamphlet Imperialism which was the highest stage of capitalism in 191654. Think tanks considered this revolution as an arousal of the misery that had gone with the war. The misery had been triggered by sheer capitalist-imperialist competition in Russia55. Reactions to the horrors of 1914-1918 precipitated the formation of a policy of appeasement towards the demands of the Fascist powers in the 1930s to prevent emergence of a second world war.56 It had taken years to accept the events of the First World War. Civilization had never experienced anything like it before, a reason why people’s reactions were varied and horrified altogether. Majority of who participated in the war dreaded the memories and did not want to talk about it57. There were others who decided to honour their dead by ensuring that the war was never forgotten58. It was out of this cause that Britain instituted a Remembrance Sunday in November to commemorate the war59. The victors and the losers were all looking for something or someone to blame for damage caused by the war60. For instance, the victors accused the Germans, whom they blamed for having started the war61. The losers of the war looked for parties to blame nearer home62. Pre-war political and economic systems were questioned by intellectuals. The repercussions of the war were sorrow, shame, bewilderment and rage63. Bibliography Books: Army History Directorate (Greece). A Concise History of the Balkan Wars, 1912-1913. Athens : Hellenic Army General Staff, Army History Directorate, 1998. Print Blondel, Jules-François, Lord Gladwyn, and Eugen Millington-Drake. Entente Cordiale: Fifty True Stories, Mostly from Diplomatic Experience. London: Caduceus, 1971. Print Brown, Michael E. Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict. Cambridge, Mass: MIT, 2001. Print Cecil, Hugh, and Peter H. Liddle. 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YouTube, 1 Apr. 2014. Web. 3 Dec. 2014. . Web. 3 Dec. 2014. . The Great War, “A Shot That Changed the World - The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand I PRELUDE TO WW1 - Part 3/3." YouTube. YouTube, 4 Aug. 2014. Web. 3 Dec. 2014. Vaknin, Sam. "Nationalism vs. Patriotism: Narcissism vs. Self-love." YouTube. YouTube, 22 Nov. 2014. Web. 3 Dec. 2014. . JSTOR "The Cult of the Offensive and the Origins of the First World War." The Cult of the Offensive and the Origins of the First World War. MIT PRESS, 1984. Web. 3 Dec. 2014. . "Patriotism and Nationalism." The British Library. British Library, 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 3 Dec. 2014. . Tonge, Stephen. "European History." Causes of the First World War. 24 Oct. 2014. Web. 3 Dec. 2014. . Read More