Modernity and nationalism

HOW DID MODERNITY AND NATIONALISM CHANGE EUROPEAN SYSTEM

How did modernity and nationalism change the European system?
Nationalism is the conviction, principle or political philosophy developed within a person that attaches them closer to their nations. Modernity, on the other hand, refers to the time when tradition became ineffective due to rejection by its followers owing to quest for sovereignty, self-determination and formal equality. Primordialist theorists describe nationalism as a reflection of past whereby people converged into distinctive groups based on their affinity of birth while their modernist counterparts term it as a recent phenomenon that requires modern inventions to exist.
Many theories related to nationalism are mostly of the opinion that nationalism is a product of modernity and is inseparable from it. Apparently, Ernest Gellner explicitly stated that nationalism developed as a result of industrialization that introduced division of labor. In addition, nationalism is also a product of both state and culture where the latter is considered the catalyst of modernity. (Gellner 1983).He elaborates further by suggesting that modernity is inalienable from nationalism.A significant number of theorists see nationalism as the cause of modern state in Europe.
Nationalism emerged in the west and spread very fast towards the east and finally to the south. This happened during the French revolutionary wars and specifically after the Napoleonic campaigns. For this reason, nationalism is regarded as a major catalyst of modernism in Europe. In the beginning, nationalism was accommodative and independent force. It disentangled the local minute ties such as location, clan and beliefs. This assisted in the development of large, democratic, influential and powerful states. It invaded feudal and oppressive acts and guarded heavily the sovereignty and the rights of the people such that every member was free to migrate and settle at their places of choice.
However, during the nineteenth century regal and colonial administrators intervened and weakened the cohesiveness of nationalism (Butler, 2007).As a result, Europe was adversely affected. There was an emergence of small scale nationalisms who demanded cultural and language differences as opposed to the earlier large scale mass-democratic nationalisms. Generally, nationalism and modernity led to changes which affected Europe in various ways as stated in this essay.
Gottfried Feder’s( 1883-1941) argument that technocracy was the ’perfect’ political system governed by engineers, conformed to Fritz Todt’s (1891-1942) vision of construction of infrastructure as the backbone of Germany during the period when Fordism and Taylorism ruled the West. Although the destruction was condemned by the liberal, the totalitarian regimes supported it claiming it was a symbol of advancement and economic growth (Gellner 1983).
When ideological plan of development was tabled before them, they opted to catch up with the level of growth of the so wealthy countries in the West regardless of the human cost. Irrespective of all this fanatic force of development, there was no guarantee that it would come to pass. The fanatic modernizing force by the Russian government and its military during the 20th century, specifically in the wake of defeat by Japan’s Imperial army (1905), could not stop a number of revolts, rebellions and uprisings that led to the Bolshevik Revolution in the interim of world war I (Gellner 1983).The robust westernizing campaigns spearheaded by the Ottoman Empire could not help it from collapsing. In the recent past, advancement ideologies connected with security concerns and the need to eliminate the often-reluctant citizens gave rise to brutal genocides as that of Rwanda. Although it has commendable effects its adverse impacts gave rise to other detrimental occasions. Through historical evidences, nationalism is seen as the desire for sovereignty and self-rule. Throughout history; it took form in political arena, national rulers and transmission of propagandas via mass media. That desire for sovereignty is evident in the case of the collapse of Ottoman Empire. On this case, Greece got their national independence due to nationalism force against the rigid empire which also was fighting for its own independence at the expense of its people.
Greece independence inspired many countries that struggled to fight for their sovereignty .These countries were modern day Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia. The strive for independence by Serbia saw the death of Austria-Hungary Archduke Francis after he was shot by a Serbian nationalist on June 28 1914.The assassination escalated tensions in Eastern Europe .Russia came to the rescue of Serbia and this lead to the creation of other allies. Germany and Austria -Hungary came up with Dual alliance formed to protect and retaliate against Russian attacks and seek neutrality in case of an attack from another country. Later in 1882 they were joined by France and it became the triple alliance. Other powers regarded this as a serious threat and they joined to form their own alliances. For this reason, Great Britain, Russia and several other countries formed the Triple Entity .The force of nationalism led to the formation of these alliances. That is, desire for personal and national sovereignty, economic growth, worry of power imbalance and many others. Apparently, this also catalyzed the emergence of the World War I.
The French revolution gave rise to modernism owing to the development of citizen-governed states in Europe. The revolution led to the development of institutions and policies that changed France to nation state possessing some elements of modernity that are still experienced today. The most significant of these is ‘the new state bureaucracy, created on the concrete foundation of the old, expanded and centralized’. This bureaucracy, which assisted France renew their economy in the wake of revolution, was spearheaded by bourgeois (Butler, 2007).
The rise of democracy in1789-1792 was seen as modern progression because the traditional governance by kings and their subjects were replaced by political practitioners involving individual citizens. Democracy equalized every citizen such that one could take part in making political decisions freely. The new advancement in the political platform led to sharing of ideas that unified and hastened economical, social and political growth. Furthermore, it inspired and attracted many citizens to engage in political issues. As a result, nationalism found its way and power was distributed among the people. Since the traditional methods were abolished, for instance, the practice of power inheritance, the move is seen as a perfect instance of modernity (Butler, 2007).
In1774, Louis XVI became the ruler of France at a time the country was experiencing critical financial crisis. The problem was too huge for him to handle .The country was running bankrupt due to its involvement in seven years war and the American revolution. To curb the financial problem, huge taxes were imposed on the citizens. Later it proved ineffective since the working and middle class citizens could not afford. Furthermore, the nobles and clergy were exempted from paying taxes. As a result, the Finance General decided to enact new laws in order to halt the taxation but his plea was heavily denied by the noble’s assembly. In retaliation, Louis XVI convened the Estates general in1789. Citizens were allowed to participate in political and social issues by sharing their opinions on governance. This led to the emergence of tension between the privileged and the third estate on election methods. Due to financial pressures and lack of representation among poor third estate citizens, it broke up and 28million citizens renamed the group as the national assembly. This was the beginning of political entity run by the citizens.
The formation of the national assembly and most importantly being run by the citizens in search for sovereignty and self –determination was a clear show of nationalism. In addition, the urge for national identity that led to the awareness of political rights and civil liberties became the founder of Declaration of the rights that was passed in 1789.The document emphasized on the free exercise of individual rights and government’s responsibility to protect those rights (Connor 1994). Amazingly, the basics of this document and its main idea are still in force in this modern period. The ideas were embedded in citizen minds such that a series of revolutions emerged during the 1820s, 1830s and1840s, but that of 1948 was more severe. It greatly influenced the people of Eastern Europe under the governorship of Hapsburg and ottoman and also it affected central Europe in countries like Italy and Germany (Butler2007).
In Eastern Europe, the Balkans in particular, treated national sovereignty as independence from foreign rule, rather than state unity. Due to the extreme spread of these nationalism ideas across Europe in the wake of 1848 revolution, it merged with the ideologies of Hapsburg and Ottoman empires to create a robust and fanatical movement. The movement among others became stronger such that the Harpsburg and Ottoman Empire collapsed. To aggravate the situation, Russian government became interested and joined the Balkans politics. It became the champion of Slavic liberties and nationalism against the slavis’ Turkish and Austrian masters.
In central Europe Germany and Italy were the most influenced by nationalism. Since both countries were divided into states, there was interaction, conquests and wars (Nolan 1994). The 1848 revolution also influenced both countries of which it created strong convictions for nationalism. In both countries, the middle class level supported the national cohesiveness which later helped in the development of infrastructure and new industries. The prime ministers of both countries assisted much on unifying their citizens. They engaged warfare and diplomatic measures to achieve their aims of unifying their respective countries. They did pretty well in industrializing their countries and Germany was among the most industrialized countries at the time. However, due to economical imbalance in Europe it gave rise to the emergence of world-war I (Nolan 1994).
. The ideas of nationalism were considerably spread throughout Europe by the Napoleon and French revolution. Though the event changed France, it had a great impact on Europe as many countries embraced the ideas (Smith 2003). An undeviating concept of time composed of cumulative benefits and losses declared itself as the ‘nation-state’ started to regulate industrial development and economic growth. Presumably, modernism can be renamed as ‘developmentalism’, which means, the principle of development in spite of the cost being incurred. The ideology significantly influenced nationalism and socialism during the 20th century, which saw series of rapid advancement in political, social and economic progress (Smith 2003).
In conclusion, nationalism and modernity were essential factors as far as the development of Europe is concerned. Fanatical force of nationalism that emerged in Europe during the ancient times had a significant effect on its transformation. Some countries like Germany, Romania and Italy were formed and grew stronger due to the unifications of various regions that were driven by the “national identity” slogan. . The substantial longing by Germany to industrialize and overpower its rivals also had a great effect on both modernism and nationalism. Evolutionally nationalists demanded equality, self and national sovereignty and government intervention to protect their hard earned rights. Nevertheless, countries like Greece and Serbia gained their independence thanks to nationalism. The French revolution played a major role in paving way for the modern nation-state and spread of nationalism across Europe.

References Butler, C., 2007. Nationalism and iyts impact on europe. [Online] Available at: http://http://www.flowofhistory.com/units/eme/18/FC119 [Accessed 12 march 2015].
Connor, W., 1994. When is a nation. Nationalism, 1(1), pp.18-29.
M. Nolan., 1994. American Business and the Modernization of Germany. Vision of Modernity, pp.39-45.
Smith, A.D., 2003. Nationalism and modernity. london: Taylor& Francis e-library.
Gellner, E., 1983. Nations and nationalism. London: Oxford University press.
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References: Butler, C., 2007. Nationalism and iyts impact on europe. [Online] Available at: http://http://www.flowofhistory.com/units/eme/18/FC119 [Accessed 12 march 2015]. Connor, W., 1994. When is a nation. Nationalism, 1(1), pp.18-29. M. Nolan., 1994. American Business and the Modernization of Germany. Vision of Modernity, pp.39-45. Smith, A.D., 2003. Nationalism and modernity. london: Taylor& Francis e-library. Gellner, E., 1983. Nations and nationalism. London: Oxford University press. ([e-mail] u is my email for quick feedback)