Nationalism

V

World War I

World War I (1914-1918) fulfilled the national aspirations of the Central European peoples. When the United States entered the war, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the principle of national self-determination as one of the major issues of the conflict. As a result of the war, the rule of the dynasties in Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire was ended, and in central and eastern Europe a number of new nation-states arose, notably Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later renamed Yugoslavia). Others such as Romania were greatly enlarged.

Nevertheless, nationalist problems continued to disturb central and eastern Europe. Many of the new nation-states contained national minorities who demanded independence or changes in frontiers. The conflicting claims of German and Polish nationalism became the immediate cause of the outbreak of World War II. The inflammation of nationalist passions during and after World War I led also to the rise of fascism and National Socialism.

Fascism in Italy and National Socialism in Germany adopted the totalitarian system introduced earlier in the Soviet Union with Communism. This system served as a means of destroying opposition and of integrating all the resources of the nation for the realization of a program of national aggrandizement. Because such a program conflicted with the vital interests and even the survival of other nations, a general war in Europe became inevitable. The Soviet Union, although it had been established by means of a movement proclaiming international ideals, resorted to national aggrandizement in the 1940s. The anthem of international Communism, “The Internationale,” was replaced by a new Soviet national anthem, and the USSR sought to make the Communist parties of all nations serve the Soviet national interests.

Another far-reaching effect of World War I was the rise of nationalism in Asia and Africa under the impact of Western ideas and industrialism. Asian nationalism was also inspired by the example of Japan, the first East Asian country to assume on its own initiative the form of a modern nation and to win, in 1905, a war against a Western power, the Russo-Japanese War. After World War I the Turks, under the national leader Mustafa Kemal (later Atatürk), defeated (1922-1923) the Western allies and modernized their state in the spirit of nationalism after the European model. During the same period the leader of the Indian National Congress, Mohandas Gandhi, deeply stirred the aspirations of the Indian masses for national independence. In China the leader of the Kuomintang, or Nationalist People’s Party, Sun Yat-sen, inspired a successful national revolution. Because all these movements were directed against the Western European powers, they were supported by Soviet Communism.

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VI

World War II and Beyond

The penetration of nationalism into colonial countries was hastened by World War II (1939-1945). The British, French, and Dutch empires in eastern Asia were overrun by the Japanese, who widely disseminated the nationalistic slogan “Asia for the Asians.” The colonial powers were weakened further by the military and economic consequences of the war and by the expansion of Soviet power. In its propaganda, the Soviet Union emphasized mainly the right of the colonial countries to national self-determination and independence. Britain, influenced by the liberal tradition in politics, willingly granted independence to India, Pakistan, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Burma (now known as Myanmar), Malaya (now part of Malaysia), and the Gold Coast (now Ghana). Similarly, the U.S. granted independence to the Philippines. The Netherlands relinquished control of the Netherlands Indies, which became the Republic of Indonesia. France lost possession of its colonial empire in Indochina. By 1957 nationalism had asserted itself throughout Asia, and the colonial empires there, with the exception of that of the Soviet Union, ceased to exist.

In the postwar period nationalist movements developed and won many successes, particularly in Africa and in the Middle East. By 1958 newly established nation-states in those regions included Israel, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, the Sudan, Ghana, the United Arab Republic (which later split into Egypt and Syria), and Iraq. In the 1960s and 1970s the Algerians, Libyans, and many formerly British, French, or Belgian colonies in black Africa became independent. During the same period, an ongoing nationalist movement in Northern Ireland resulted in violent clashes between British forces and those seeking freedom from British rule, but the movement failed to achieve full political independence.

In recent decades nationalism has remained a potent force in world affairs. Competing Jewish, Arab, and Palestinian nationalist aspirations have continued to generate political instability in the Middle East. In Eastern Europe, where nationalist passions had largely been held in check in the four decades after World War II, the decline of Communist rule in the late 1980s and early 1990s unleashed separatist forces that contributed to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia and threatened the integrity of other countries. In the early 21st century, nationalist struggles such as that of the Tibetans seeking independence from China have garnered worldwide attention. See also Revolution.

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