Nationalism was a movement which stressed that people with common ethnicity were to share similar benefits under a ruler of their ethnic background. Nationalists realized that sovereignty was not monarch or church-based but was invested in people (Sherman & Salisbury 583).
The main objective of restoration and nationalism was to liberate people from foreign rule and also to create cohesiveness among members of certain ethnic groups.
Apparently, nationalism spirit emerged during French revolution hence France became the source of nationalistic sentiments. This paper explores how nationalism affected imperialism. Moreover, it will also examine why nationalism failed to unite the Australian and ottoman empires.
To begin with, it is imperative to note that nationalism led to rise of states and ethnic groups who had fled away from foreign domination. For instance, ethnic groups such as Serbs and Czech revolted against German dominance.
Moreover, Greeks, Italians and Poles began to liberate themselves from dominant empires which ruled during that time (Sherman& Salisbury 587). It is definite that nationalism set the pace for cultural groups to unite. This gave them a feeling of solidarity and the desire to have a national government.
In this case, nationalism resulted to rise of nationality. It is imperative to note that states and unified ethnic groups began to develop new symbols to demonstrate their national unity (Sherman & Salisbury 587). One of the symbols was a flag with multiple colors.
People were willing to devote and sacrifice themselves for the sake of their nation. Nationality also developed in people who did not have states. For instance, the German scholars and intellectuals were stirred up by the spirit of nationalism. Therefore, they mobilized the German speaking communities and emphasized on the importance of having a national state.
The European powers spread the national movement to their overseas empires. As a result, there rose new governments and states. The governments embarked on economic development and more wealth was accumulated.
Certain economies grew and the states advanced weaponry to enforce authority. For this reason, the leaders of the empires such as the Austria and Ottoman Empires got concerned on their weaponry and military capability (Sherman& Salisbury 621).
In this case, they wanted to continue dominating overseas empires. By so doing, they would dominate their economy for national interests. Hence, nationalists came up with an imperialist movement in order to have links with their overseas territories.
Nonetheless, nationalists found themselves in a crisis since the overseas territories desired to be free and independent. Notably, some of the nationalists modified nationalism movement to adopt imperialism in order to exploit the autonomous states located overseas.
It was also apparent that nationalism had motivated large number of people in joining revolutionary organizations that would enhance sovereignty of states. Sherman and Salisbury assert that “…nationalism rose, producing the same sorts of movements for independence that had weakened the Austrian Empire” (619).
This triggered politicians to form alliances and go to war in order to attain national unity in Germany and Italy. Nevertheless, under different incidences, the movement weakened the Australian and ottoman empires and dismantled the long-established mutualism of such territories.
Sherman and Salisbury also emphasizes that “…under different conditions, nationalism weakened and dismembered long-established multinational states such as the Austrian and Ottoman empires” (619). Needless to say, nationalism forced territorial governments to seek support from the people. In this case, leaders tried to entice people by performing public services in order to sustain their authority and power.
This effort aimed at building strong and unified nation states that were administered by a central government being supported by the people. The leaders used harsh and manipulative politics in order to foster nationalism. To some extent, the nationalism movement was ethno-based instilling separation along different ethnic groups (Sherman & Salisbury 583).
For instance, in Austrian Empire, the multi-ethnic interconnectedness was affected since different groups had various ideologies of achieving national unity. As a result, every ethnic group wanted to form its own independent nation.
In this case, the nationalist movement caused the boundaries of the empires to be redrawn with the am of unifying pure ethnic groups into nations and states. As it is evident in the text, “Nationalist movements also cropped up among the Bulgars.
Encouraged by Serbia and Russia, the Bulgars revolted in 1876” (Sherman & Salisbury 618).This created much tension especially in the Ottoman Empire where the dominant ethnic groups were German speakers. It is important to note that the Ottoman Empire dominated other minor groups such as the Czechs, Serbs, Slovenes, Poles, Ukrainians and Slovaks (Sherman & Salisbury 618).
These groups made different demands. However; the leaders of the Ottoman Empire were not willing to grant thee demands to the ethnic groups. Having in mind that the wave of nationalism was very intense, the rebellious groups lead to the collapse of the empire.
Besides this, the multiethnic groups in the Ottoman Empire advocated for nationalistic changes that were beyond the provision by the rulers. The rulers resisted giving in to the demands and this triggered the breakdown of the territory during the First World War.
It is evident that Germans in Austrian Empire faced tough times in averting rebellion from ethnic groups. This made the empire to divide authority in order to control the threatening movements in quest for national independence.
This increased extensive force of nationalism and the empires were not able to control the ethnic groups. Instead, the ethnic states were already autonomous and thus the empires declined (Sherman& Salisbury 621).
To recap it all, nationalism paved way for nationality and imperialism. Besides, it played significant role towards the decline of Ottoman and Austrian empires rather than uniting them.
Works Cited
Sherman, Dennis & Salisbury, Joyce. The West in the World: From 1600. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2001. Print.