The Causes Of Nationalism In Germany

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Thematic Essay Nationalism is a concept that has continuously held together and torn apart groups of people through history. It is a feeling of pride or devotion in one’s country and has worked to strengthen and form United Nations as well as destroy them. Through the history of both Germany and Italy it can be seen how beneficial nationalism is in strengthening and unifying a country. People were able to come together through the sharing of a common heritage. This was not the case in other empires such as the Ottomans and Austrians, where nationalism was the very cause of their collapse. In this sense nationalism can bring groups of people together against a common cause, which is good in most cases, but…show more content…
The unity of Germany was once weak due to several territorial changes brought on by Napoleon as well as the rule of Metternich who enforced conservative ideas and Prussian favoritism. When Otto von Bismarck became leader the sense of German pride and unity grew in strong numbers. He was a strong ruler who was willing to go to great lengths to achieve his goals. Through wars with Austria and France he was able to gain control of the German city-states. Nationalism held the several German states together as one and a new German empire with Bismarck as emperor was formed. This brought on industrial and scientific progress in Germany causing their economy to prosper. When the Germans were unified and working together within themselves they became a leading role in Europe growing immensely in…show more content…
Because the old ruling house of the Hapsburgs had acquired so much land, the people were diverse and not unified. The Hapsburgs did not acknowledge liberal ideas and banned the talk of them. They also disregarded nationalist thoughts. This only increased the Empires weakness and when the new Ruler Francis Joseph came into power he attempted to fix it, but he neglected the majority of his Empire only granting reforms for the Austrians. Due to discontent and rebels The Hapsburg Empire was separated and the Hungarians gained their own state. Though this appeased the Hungarians there were several other ethnicities being ignored. They united and revolted and left the Hapsburg government weak and
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