From Nationalism: Roman Empire To Nazi Germany

Nationalism is defined as a strong sense of pride in one’s country. This concept has been around since the beginning of advanced civilization. From the Roman Empire to Nazi Germany, nationalism has been used and interpreted differently. Nationalism is neither inherently good or evil, but it can be used in both ways. Throughout history, the effects of nationalism have been positive or negative and the lack of nationalism has had adverse consequences.
Nationalism had influential and overall positive impacts on countries and their citizens, especially in Europe around 1900. Powerful countries of the time, especially Britain, were full of nationalist ideas. They had control over other countries and were viewed as the superpower of the world. Nationalism helped them to be confident in their decisions and unify as a country. Other countries saw this and sought after these nationalist ideas. One of the main barriers from doing this was …show more content…
German nationalism stemmed from their early struggles and goals to be a world power. The ideals began as simply prideful and were not different from other ideologies of the time. Germans believed that their country was great and could do no wrong because it gave them a sense of power and unity. Eventually it turned into racial prejudice and discrimination. Germans believed that the Aryan race was pure and that anyone else including religious and ethnic minorities needed to be eradicated. Although not all Germans had this mindset and many people fought against Nazis, this genocide was driven by nationalism. The Holocaust took place and claimed many lives in the name of purity. Wars were fought and innocents were killed over this conflict. As much as Germany has tried to grow from their mistakes, the outcomes were devastating. This proves nationalism can have detrimental consequences when it is used for the wrong reasons but these consequences can appear when nationalism is not present as