Ideas of Nationalism - Essay Example

In fuelling their war efforts, the spirit of nationalism played a huge role on both opposing sides during the Second World War. Both the Allied forces and the Axis factions made use of nationalistic sentiments to bolster their military capacities and political resilience during the wartime period. Most of the Allied nations used nationalism to simply stir its citizens to defend their homeland and aid in their war efforts. However, the Allied nation of the Soviet Union, and the Axis nations of Germany, Japan, and Italy, used nationalism more than just to keep their military forces driven.

The nationalistic sentiments of these nations reached the point of either political or racial hatred for those not among them. The Russians, Germans, Japanese and Italians used nationalistic propaganda to bolster their forces for absolute annihilation of their enemies in the most ruthless manner. Nationalism was also used by these countries to further justify their authoritarian rule to keep its people unified by a strong central power or leadership. The British and Americans used nationalism to keep their resilience from the horrors of war.

However, they kept their democratic system despite the ongoing war to keep the flames of nationalism alive.