The growth of national feeling spread to the diverse empires of Austria-Hungary and Russia. The would-be nation states began to gain national consciousness and the different nationalities began to push for independence from their respective rulers. Although national consciousness was growing, however, many of the nationalist groupings were divided.
Nationalism began to become more Right wing towards the end of the 19th century, and we begin to see the origins of the extreme nationalism and Fascism that were to emerge later. In order to maintain authority and order, the right wing factions in several countries such as France, Italy and Austria began see nationalism as a way of maintaining the existing social hierarchy and hence, their own power. The emotional side of nationalism was further emphasised, but patriotism was extended to the belief that the nation could not be wrong. It was used against the growing force of communism and Marxist thought and the distrust of foreigners, racism and anti-Semitism were encouraged to develop. This was also used to increase support for the military in defence of the nation.
We see here that instead of the original ideal of the people deciding and influencing their own national identity, increasingly this democratic ideal is becoming warped and twisted so that the government is using nationalist feeling in order to maintain power and the existing social structure. This led to an emphasis of culture and race, regions were no longer allowed to find their own national identity and break away.
In the period 1870-1914 we also see a new kind of nationalistic feeling develop, that of violent retribution, the nation seeking revenge for humiliation afflicted upon it by another nation. This is apparent in Italy's strength of feeling against Austro-Hungarian occupation of Italian lands and in the French loss of Alsace and Lorraine.
Nationalism and the nation state was a unique concept by the end of the 19th century. There were so many different forms that it was almost impossible to decide what defined a nation state. The national image in nationalistic countries was always being refined in order to make it accepted by all members of the nation and make them all extremely patriotic towards the nation. It was very much by this stage an emotional attachment to the nation in opposition to other nation states. We can see here already elements of the fascist philosophy in racism, the belief in racial superiority, and the belief in a superior culture - better music, writing, painting etc. This led to the race for colonial empires among the European powers in the attempt to build a vaster, superior empire to the other nations and hence the relationship between nationalism and imperialism.
By 1914, the outbreak of the First World War led to huge patriotic support for the nation. After years of refining and defining national identity, the people of the nations of Europe were prepared to fight and die for their nation against other 'evil foreigners.' The communist idea that the workers would rise as one in an international revolution rather than fight was proved fundamentally flawed when the workers rose up in arms for there nation against their working class 'brothers'. However, as the war dragged on the sacrifices people were willing to make for their nation began to reach their limit and the initial nationalist fervour began to wane. This, in part, led to the overthrow of the Tsarist regime by a communist uprising in Russia.
The Versailles peace settlement worked broadly on the principle of 'one nation, one state' set down by the American president Woodrow Wilson. However, this was practically very difficult to enforce due to the impracticality of the scheme. In any given area, many different national grouping could be living each speaking different languages and with different cultures. Although the settlement worked as closely to this principle as possible, there were areas where it was impractical to do so, hence the creation of Yugoslavia.
States in the inter-war years became more interventionalist and isolationist, in a sense more national. Nation states were fearful of heightened social tension due to the war years bringing about communist revolutions and social problems were solved. The national economies underwent a greater degree of regulation as the war had taught the governments of Europe that central planning was essential in a modern nation. This led economies to become more national. Nation states at the end of the first world more became more independent. However, the European nations had learnt their lesson from the first 'total war' and had become well aware of the problems caused by unrestrained ambitious, competitive nationalism that could potentially lead to another such war. This led to the policy of appeasement and the setting up of the League of Nations to reduce the risk of such another war. Some even took this policy to the extreme of becoming pacifists. Although this is somewhat idealistic as an ideology it showed the strength of feeling against nationalist powers flexing their muscles.
However, in contrast to this feeling, the rise of Nazism and Italian fascism brought back all of the characteristics of aggressive nationalism that we saw in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This is part was a reaction against the ever strengthening communist movement leading to an outcry from the right that the nation was being undermined. This led to the creation of a nationalist, extremist and often violent right. The fascists began once more to focus upon the nation and the exclusivity and uniqueness of the national identity. Culture and the supremacy of the race were also emphasised. Furthermore, both Hitler and Mussolini to a greater or lesser extent played on the emotions to create almost a religious fervour toward the nation and its fascist leadership. In addition to this came the cult of the leader, the great figurehead that was to lead the nation into its rightful position of supremacy over all the other nations. In Germany, Hitler's programme of remilitarisation and reclaiming the German's rightful place amongst the great powers of Europe proved extremely popular with the humiliated Germans and it is this that contributed to the outbreak of WWII. The nationalist fervour appealed to the German people as it made them believe that they could be a great nation once more!
