Rise Of Nationalism

Ever since the French Revolution in the 19th century, nationalism has united countries and fed wars between them. Some would argue that after World War II, nationalism has been on a slow and erratic decline. There are many areas of history too look at during the period after World War II in 1945 to modern day in 2000. The big incident which happened right after World War II, the next war, the Cold War. Then there is the alliance of NATO, the European Economic Community, later known as the European Community, the French 5th Republic, collapse of the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis. Then there are countries and their actions to look at, like Yugoslavia, Hungary, France, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, and last but not least Russia. A plethora …show more content…
There were times and events that made it seem like nationalism was going by the way side and that Europe was evolving into one super state. The alliance of NATO was a big one, where countries agreed upon a treaty of peace and would each have a say in controversial matters. The European Economic Community which later combined with Euratom to form the European Community, which sought to decrease tariffs and increase security by combining unions. And lastly, the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Although for a short time at the beginning of the Cold War the Berlin Wall sort of resembled Nationalism, it kind of didn’t because the people were forced to be separated and fit into the side they landed in. The collapse of the Berlin Wall also saw the collapse of the Soviet Union. Right away Germany is reunified which shows an increase of nationalism but not really because it was France, Great Britain, and the US that had to give them the okay. There are not many events that happened to show the decrease of nationalism but there are some and they are big ones. NATO plays a big part in a lot of settlements and disputes. Since they are technically all of Europe (and some other countries around the world) there is no national