Why Is Nationalism Called The Age Of Isms

From 1800-1900, it was the period called the Age of Isms. An ism is a belief system or theory. During the Age of Isms, many belief systems were created and some were even feared or hated by other isms. Many theories were developed during the 19th century to address problems in society, including liberalism, nationalism, and conservatism, but nationalism was the most influential because of its political ideology. Some many questions were left unanswered that was believed reforms would answer, but the reforms were found to be “insufficient in answering the questions raised by industrialization and urbanization” (page 677). Innovative ideologies offered opposing answers, which led to new political movements that left governments terrified of
Nationalism in the 19th century was defined as a nation composed of people joined together by a bond in language, culture, custom, and history. Under this definition, the United States of America is not nationalist because of the wide array of different cultures within the country. The differences of customs in the regions, like the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, and Northwest, are diverse from each other and would also cause the United States of America to not be considered nationalist. Nationalism impacted every single nation in the 19th century. It directly results in new nations as a result of the joining of nation states or the dividing of nations. For example, Germany, Italy, and Poland join parts of nation states to make a whole nation. In the contrary, Great Britain has problems with Ireland and Scotland, and Austria has problems with Hungary. This whole movement is about a single group of like ethnic groups pushing for freedom over the traditional social class system (page
The people of Liberalism “defined themselves in opposition to conservatives on one end of the political spectrum and revolutionaries on the other” (page 680). It supported freedom of religion, movement, conscience, assembly, and the press. In ensured equality for every man before law and God. In person has an equal opportunities for success or failure. Even though Liberalism was not a political movement, followers still believed that a good government had a balance of power between branches, property restrictions for representative government, and representatives were educated and successful. They did not believe that every person should vote, only landowners to keep radical idea laws from passing. The supporters of Liberalism applauded the changes occurring from the Industrial Revolution and opposed the chaos and destruction occurring from the French Revolution (page 680). Although, this movement propelled and fueled the French Revolution. The ideas of freedom and equality was exactly what the revolutionists of the French Revolution were aiming for, but their ideas of how to achieve it was what caused the