Was Nazism an extended variation on Nationalism?

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        Was Nazism an extended variation on Nationalism?

        Nazi Germany was the creation of Adolf Hitler, and Nazism was his movement. It began as a union, known as the ‘National Sozialistische Deustches Arbeiten Partei.” It grew to be a powerful political party under the ruling of Hitler, paving his way to German Chancellor and President, the undisputed leader of the entire German state. The concept of Nazism was developed during this course in history. It is a concept based loosely on an abstract theme of nationalism, interpreted by Hitler to proclaim his Ayran race as the ‘Master Race’. It was taken to an extreme, however, by Hitler’s sadistic genocide of minority groups within the country, particularly the Jews.

        

        Nationalism is an idea that has been around for eons. It is the theory of identifying an individual with a nation, of which they hold a great pride for and are loyal to. It is a belief in your nation. In a broader sense, a nation needn’t be a country, although it commonly is. The Jews were a nation before they had Israel. A cultural group can be considered a nation, and historically, some ideas such as Zionism, Communism and Trotskyism were considered ‘nations’. According to Gellner: “Nationalism is a political principle which maintains that similarity of culture is the basic social bond.” (p.3 Gellner, 1997) This idea of belonging to a nation creates a unified group, and in some cases, the sense of the individual can be lost.

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Nationalism has been a major driving force of most European historic events. In the 1800’s it helped to rearrange the map of Europe, with cultural groups under foreign rule revolting, for example: Greece under Ottoman Rule, and Belgium under the rule of the Netherlands. It also contributed to the westward expansion, and the founding of the United States. Nationalism was a major starting force of World War I, with the Austro – Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian Empires. The very idea of empires is nationalistic – a pride in your nation means you want to expand and expose others to ...

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