A Brief Note On Nationalism

Submitted By lisambruehl
Words: 748
Pages: 3

Nationalism is the feeling of belonging to a nation based on common beliefs, religion, language or simply geographical factors. On the flip side to nationalism there is contending nationalism, this is the state where an individual is torn between two nations due to certain factors being beneficial from either or. Contending nationalism plays a large factor why certain nations can not unify in a way that benefits both the superior and inferior nation involved. Lord Durham’s quote is used as the first source. It states that when he was called to, what is now Canada, he found two nations living closely together, however they could not live with each other and fought instead. Durham had been brought over in order to prevent another revolution, his solution to the problems that the French and British were having was simple; assimilate the french. These two nations were fighting each other in order to gain control over the land and resources that had been found. In theory they had the same intentions for the land, however unification would cause the inferior nation, in this case the french, to be assimilated. Upon unification, exactly what had been expected occurred, the superior nation of the British tried to take over the French language, religion and legislature that had been brought into Canada in order to gain control and ensure that the leader of this combined nation was an individual that had the same point of view as the British. An agreement called the Quebec Act was created in order to restore the lost french culture in Canada. This allowed the French to be satisfied but also kept them a part of Canada. Through being allowed to practice their own religion however, many french began to have contending loyalties since they now partially felt like they belonged to Canada as a whole but also felt a sense of belonging to the province of Quebec as an individual nation.

The unification of Prussia and Germany, unlike most unifications, was one that benefited both parties. In this source the motto used by the artist is the idea of defeat through blood and iron.
This is displayed by the German and Prussian population being huddle in together underneath a military hat. Although Otto Von Bismarck had obtained this idea of gaining control through blood and iron, the Prussian and German unification did not involve violence, it was simply there to intimidate those who had any idea of opposing it. Up to this date the unification of these two nations continues to be a positive event. Contending loyalties played a part in this unification since only one leader was left in charge of what is now Germany and this individual was a
Prussian. Now, although Prussian and Germany had a very similar culture, having a Prussian leader could cause some Germans to feel like they don’t quite belong to their nation to the