“We have seen that nationalism can unite people as well as divide them, liberate them as well as generate bitterness and conflict.” Illustrate your answer with examples.

Neither descent, nor language, nor religion or ethnicity can claim to be a common factor in nationalisms all over the world. Comment.

Nationalism has inspired intense loyalities as well as deep hatreds. It has united people as well as divided them helped to liberate them from oppressive rule as well as has been the cause of conflict and bitterness and wars.

(i) Nationalism has been a factor in the break up of empires and states.

(ii) Nationalist struggles have contributed to the drawing and redrawing of the boundaries of states and empires.

(iii) At present a large part of the world is divided into different nation-states although the process of re-ordering of state boundaries has not come to an end and separatist struggles within existing states are common.

(iv) Nationalism has passed through several passes. For example, in the nineteenth century Europe, it led to the unification of a number of small kingdom into larger nation states. The present day Germany and Italy were formed United Nation-states after a long struggle or process of unification and consolidation.

(v) A large number of new states were also founded in Latin (or South) America.

(vi) Along with the consolidation of state boundaries, local dialects (or languages) and local loyalties were also gradually consolidated into state loyalities and common languages.