Nationalism and WWI

With the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, Germany was declared guilty for causing the Great War. Ever since that time, historians have debated whether or not Germany's actions was the sole reason the war was started. Although Germany's actions did spark the war, each of the major powers were equally to blame for the onset of the First World War due to long-term causes. These causes, particularly competitive capitalism and nationalism, preempted the war. Even though all of these long-term causes are important, it is the cause of nationalism that was the most wide-spread cause of the war, affecting almost every country involved.

Nationalism was on the rise in the beginning of the twentieth century. Not only were the major powers nationalistic in their aims of domination over one another and intense rivalry (primarily the British, French, and German), but also subjugated peoples that encompassed vast multi-ethnic empires were nationalistic in their call for independence, as in the case of the Serbs and other ethnic people that comprised the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Both of these types of nationalism played a significant role in motivating the war.

For the major European powers, nationalism, or a sense of national identity, was created by various means. A large part of this was done through the use of education. As Richard F. Hamilton and Holger H. Herwig point out in their book, The Origins of World War One, “Teachers and textbooks did probably help to create a national sense, imposing a common language (as opposed to local or regional dialects) and giving some sense of a larger shared heritage.” With this national identity formed by education, a manipulation of the peoples minds was able to take place. “...The expansion of education was a powerful tool in establishing national identities, with images of the Franco-Prussian War and the loss of the two provinces of Alsace and Lorraine being firmly planted in the minds of French schoolchildren, the Germans teaching of their traditional role as a bulwark against the Slavs, and so on.” By instilling this national identity into the hearts and minds of the masses, it is clear that nationalism (and patriotism) rose within the major powers.

Intense rivalries among the major powers also contributed to the rise of nationalism in the pre-war era. As nationalism began to gain ground, people across Europe “began increasingly to identify themselves as French, German, or Italian, whereas they might once have thought of themselves as Burgundians, Hanoverians or Tuscans...” according to author Gerald J. De Groot in his book, The First World War. This in turn, gave rise to the rivalry that dominated the major powers. This nationalism made the people of the nation share in its victories and defeats as a nation. After the Franco-Prussian War, the Germans felt a huge sense of pride at their accomplishments. Likewise, the French were humiliated in their defeat and sought revenge for the taking of Alsace and Lorraine. De Groot also points out that “Britons and Germans cheered from the sidelines as their respective countries raced to outdo each other in warship construction.” By identifying oneself with their respective country, the sense of a shared community and unity grew, leading to a sense of one's own nationalism. One's nationalism only became more prominent when compared to another country's nationalism. This contributed to the rivalry between the major powers and helped create tensions that eventually developed into the First World War.

Propaganda also played a large role in the rise of nationalism within the major powers in the pre-war era, as several historians have pointed out. The major powers realized that they could use nationalism to their advantage by creating a “citizen army” or mandatory military service. In order to gain support for the new military, the civilians would be controlled through the use of propaganda and information censorship. Through this use of propaganda, people of the different nations would feed, clothe, arm soldiers, and pay for the oncoming war through taxes. Nationalistic propaganda also helped keep the soldiers fighting once war had broken out by instilling a sense of bravery within the soldiers and dehumanizing their enemies. Throughout history, propaganda has been extremely influential in its control over peoples thoughts. By creating propaganda that supported the military and one's own country over another helped develop nationalism even further. By dehumanizing the enemy through propaganda also helped create a deeper sense of nationalism because the people were made to believe that they were more superior in all aspects than their counterparts (clearly, this is related to Social Darwinism).

The imperialistic aims of the major European powers also contributed to the rise of nationalism. Although competitive capitalism is also a contributor to imperialism, and thus a cause to the war, a more significant factor of imperialism was nationalism. All of the major powers in Europe sought to expand their empire and influence, around the globe. On the eve of the First World War, Great Britain had secured a large empire encompassing parts of Africa and Asia, as had the French. The Russians and the Austro-Hungarians had both secured large continental empires within Europe itself. As Beckett writes, “European nationalism as a whole was also intimately connect with imperial expansion in the last two decades of the nineteenth century as the powers rushed to partition Africa and to divide the decaying Manchu Empire in China into exclusive spheres of influence.” without this sense of nationalism, many of the great powers would not have rushed to expand their empire. The quest for expansion of empires abroad led to disagreements between the powers, as is the case in the first and second Moroccan Crises. These disagreements led to deep rifts between the major powers and set the stage for more dramatic disputes with the onset of the Great War. Perhaps without this deep sense of nationalism and pride, the expansion of imperialism might not have occurred.

Nationalism also came in the form of independence movements within the vast multi-ethnic empires that made up parts of Eastern Europe. One can clearly see the cause of Serbian nationalism playing a direct role in the commencement of the First World War. Although it was a Serbian nationalist, Princep, acting on behalf of the Serbian nationalist group The Black Hands that assassinated the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, the assassination is not fully understood without first taking into consideration the role of nationalism, especially within the Balkans.

Nationalism played a large role in the Balkans, and in particular in Serbia, before the war. Serbia was an independent nation after its complete separation from the Ottoman Empire in 1878. That same year, through the Congress of Berlin, Austria-Hungary was allowed to occupy Bosnia-Herzegovina which comprised a large Serb majority. This occupation upset the independent Serbs because the area was legally still part of the Ottoman Empire and contained a large ethnic Serb population. Serbia sought to bring together the ethnic Serbs in other areas in order to create a larger unified Serbia. Later in 1908, outraged by Austria-Hungary annexing Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia began to increase its efforts to create a larger Serbia and created several nationalistic societies, The Black Hands among them.

Other nations within the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the declining Ottoman Empire sought independence and a land of their own as well. As De Groot points out, “Nationalism was strongest where the nation was least well-established. Thus, it was most keenly felt in those regions where groups of people found themselves within a state that did not reflect their ethnic identities. They did not have the benefit of a bona fide nation to express their nationalism.” Subjugated people were most likely the most nationalistic in all of Europe. This is perhaps why there were increasing amounts of nationalistic groups that sprang into action, like those similar to The Black Hands, that began to fight for independence. These nationalistic fights of small ethnic groups within major European empires was a direct cause of the First World War.

Nationalism played a direct role in almost all the countries of Europe leading up to the First World War. This is why nationalism is so important in understanding the outbreak of the war. While competitive capitalism was also a cause for the war, it was not as wide-spread across the continent of Europe, and therefore only a minor cause of the war. The cause of competitive capitalism involved some of the major powers, such as Germany, Great Britain, and France, but does not include many of the minor powers. It is true that Germany had been economic rivals with Great Britain and France. Shortly before the start of the war, Germany had industrialized quickly and became a rival to Great Britain, both economically and industrially. This quickly led to an arms race between the two nations and competition around the globe for trade posts. Germany was also economically competitive with France before the war. With the loss of Alsace and Lorraine, France lost her coal producing areas, and had to begin to import coal from other regions. Morocco, which the French held claim on, was rich in the mineral resources that France needed. Tensions only increased more between the two countries when Germany tried to take over the Moroccan area from France. Both of these examples point out that there were economic tensions between the major powers in Europe. These tensions did contribute to the beginning of the war, however, because these conflicts did not involve the majority of the countries in Europe, competitive capitalism is a minor cause of the war.

Nationalism on the other hand involved the majority of the countries within the European continent. Through the use of education, rivalries, propaganda, imperialism, and moves for independence, countries within Europe developed extreme nationalism for their respective ares of residence. This intense sense of pride and patriotism for one's own country led to the rise of nationalism and played a direct part in the cause of the First World War. Without nationalism, the war might not have been so deeply divided and intense through its duration.