Forces and Impacts of Imperialism and Nationalism in the Twentieth Century

Twentieth-century nationalism and its components are often thought of as having occurred "organically," when in fact there were numerous driving social and political forces behind them. Though its roots stretch back to the American and French revolutions, nationalism by the twentieth-century was being pushed into greater global prevalence, largely in response to restriction and subjugation by European imperialism. In Europe, pre-existing national aspirations and disputes swelled and strengthened following World War I, reaching new heights with the onset of World War II. National identities crystallized as cultural distinctions and values were more clearly drawn out, and what had begun as a phenomenon based on revolution against oppressive government became more an international struggle for the dominance of certain ideologies and values. The weakening of European powers by the great wars loosened their colonial grip, allowing many undeveloped countries to break free and establish their own national identities, and left the United States and the USSR as the major combatants in a Cold War over global influence, which became through rhetoric and propaganda a hyperbolized battle between good and evil. Between the end of World War I and the collapse of the Soviet Union, then, nationalism became the foundation for global politics, and grew to incorporate the ideology and language of moral and cultural superiority of one nation over another.

World War II and its aftermath had numerous and substantial catalytic effects on nationalist movements throughout the world. The pace of spreading nationalist ideologies was greatly accelerated in former European colonies, as the terrible devastation wreaked on the major European powers during World War II drastically reduced their ability and willpower to control their colonial subjects abroad, creating an opportunity for new nationalist movements in many countries to break free of European rule and declare their independence (Sanders et al. 429). In the forty years following the end of World War II, at least ninety countries achieved independence from European imperial rule, sometimes with little resistance but also often through armed conflict (Sanders et al. 429). This process of "decolonization," occurring in colonies throughout Africa and Asia, was galvanized largely by educated and bilingual intelligentsias, who, as Anderson says, had "access, through the European language-of-state, to modern Western culture...in particular, to the models of nationalism, nation-ness, and nation-state " (Anderson 116).

Because of the necessary role they came to occupy under vast colonial regimes throughout the nineteenth century, intelligentsias in European colonies were well aware of Western nationalist ideologies (both popular and official), like those epitomized in the American and French Revolutions, and wielded significant power through their familiarity with both the European languages of government and local languages of the mass populous (Anderson 114). Moreover, their ability to rise through the administrative ranks was heavily circumscribed under colonial rule, and economic and political power was typically monopolized either by European imperialist policies, colonial officials, or other foreign businessmen, giving local colonial educated elites great impetus to push for independence from imperial subjugation (Anderson 116).

Of course, as Anderson points out, World War I and World II were "extraordinary not so much in the unprecedented scale on which they permitted people to kill, as in the colossal numbers persuaded to lay down their lives;" and in fact, one of the defining characteristics of twentieth-century nationalism and nation-building has been the perception of "natural" or inherent nationhood and national belonging (Anderson 144). Much of the power and appeal of nationalism during this era was constructed through "the vocabulary of kinship...or that of home," because "both idioms denote something to which one is naturally tied" (Anderson 143). It is this rhetorical strategy through which nationalist ideologies transcended ethnicity, religion, and class to cultivate perceived or "imaginary" national communities among vast and varied populations (Anderson 143).

Some nationalist ideologues also gained significant magnetism for their movements by attempting to reimagine their nation as rightful heir to ancient societies with historical or religious significance, such as Nazi Germany with its "Third Reich" rhetoric and Zionists seeking to reestablish Israel as a modern sovereign nation (Anderson 143). Symbols and icons also had great significance for these reimagined identities, symbols like the swastika, co-opted from ancient eastern cultures as a Germanic racial emblem, and the ancient Roman fasces used as an icon of strength and unity both by French Revolutionaries and Italian fascists, among many others.

Moreover, the widespread belief in "natural" belonging to a national identity and national heritage made it something one could not willfully choose, thereby elevating nations to a nearly-mythic and sacred status which for many demanded great devotion and tremendous self-sacrifice. In other words, under the auspices of nationalist ideology, dying in service of one's nation "assumes a moral grandeur which dying for the Labour Party, the American Medical Association, or perhaps even Amnesty International can not rival, for these are all bodies one can join or leave at easy will" (Anderson 144). Indeed, "moral grandeur" was a defining characteristic of warfare nearly ubiquitous among soldiers of all nations throughout World War II, and accounts for much of the relentless and staggering destruction rival nations visited upon one another across the world.

Notions of moral superiority crystallized on the battlefields of World War II were also carried throughout the twentieth century as a central aspect of nationalist thought and policy still noticeable to some degree even today. Heavy losses were suffered by all sides during the war, but ultimately left the United States and the USSR uniquely positioned to exert global influence as "super powers." The military, political, economic and ideological bids for power between the two during the ensuing Cold War make up perhaps the clearest expression of imperialist and nationalist ambitions in the twentieth century. Firstly, the "cross-cultural assumptions" rampant in both the US and USSR reflect the extent to which both nations came to view themselves as "the exclusive and superior model for the rest of the world" (Sanders et al. 428). Anderson reminds us that popular nationalist movements of the twentieth century were founded not only on the love of one's national culture and willingness to sacrifice oneself for that love, but the deep "fear and hatred of the Other" (Anderson 141).

Examples of such fear and hatred are prolific throughout the Cold War rhetoric of both US and Soviet foreign policy, as embodied by Nikolai Novikov and George F. Kennan's mutually distrustful and defensive assessments of one another's countries as dangerous and exploitative aggressors immediately following World War II (Sanders et al. 434-37, 440-44). Over the nearly five decades to follow, the world was largely divided between democratic countries tied to the US and communist countries tied to the USSR, in Western versus Eastern Europe, but also among the numerous newly-liberated postcolonial nations and those still seeking their independence. Words like "intervention," "containment," and "deterrence" came to define the modus operandi of mutual aggravation employed by both sides in this rabidly nationalistic contest which was widely propagated and characterized through propaganda as a struggle of "right vs. wrong" or "good vs. evil." Perhaps not surprisingly, this struggle officially ended much the same way nationalism had spread throughout the modern world, as numerous countries of Eastern Europe revolted against Russian imperial control and became independent nations (Bentley & Ziegler 1085-86).

What began as a unification and celebration of common cultural heritage (whether real or imagined) born from revolution, enlightenment ideals, and the democratization of language had, by the onset of the Cold War, become mainly a struggle for dominance among nations with different and conflicting values, ideologies, and political interests. Nationalist movements, with their belief in shared and natural belonging to a larger community, filled an emotional void for many people which made them extremely attractive. Over the course of the twentieth century, they gained a great deal of momentum, eventually becoming a cornerstone of global politics and a tremendous influence on the way people perceive themselves and the world around them, even today.

Works Cited

Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities. Second ed. New York: Verdo, 2006.

Bentley, Jerry H., and Herbert F. Ziegler. Traditions & Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past. Fourth ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 2008.

Ellenberger, Nancy, Stephen Morillo, Samuel H. Nelson and Thomas Sanders.
Encounters in World History. First ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006.