19th And Early 20th Century Analysis

In the late 19th and early 20th century, the major themes of the world were conquest, revolt, and nationalism. Benefiting from the Enlightenment, the enlightened Europeans turned to be “the most powerful, most innovative, most prosperous, most expansive, and most widely imitated people on the planet” (Strayer, 775). They were a global dominance and exercised enormous power over the rest of humankind. After resisting to Europeans’ conquest, colonial Asians and Africans started to seek their identity and belonging. Influenced by powerful Europe, the idea of nationalism spread to the countries that maintained its formal independence while confronting the West. On the other hand, Karl Marx inherited the idea of progress from the Enlightenment, and created the theory of Marxism, which …show more content…
The ideas of nation and nationalism from the Enlightenment spread to the world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and “inspired efforts in many countries to abolish slavery, to extend the right to vote, to develop constitutions, and to secure greater equality for women” (Strayer, 784). The Chinese revolution leader Sun Yat-sen indicated that “nationalism…has to do with human nature and applies to everyone…The root of nationalism…simply means not allowing such people to seize our political power” (Strayer, 964). The India’s modern leader Gandhi said that India was in a sad condition and “India is being ground down, not under the English heel, but under that of modern civilization…So understanding and so believing, it behooves every lover of India to cling to the Indian civilization even as a child clings to the mother’s breast” (Strayer, 920). Eight Sun or Gandhi inspired the idea of nationalism and civilization to their countries and leaded their people to be