Age of Global Conflict
The Age of Global Conflict, as the 20th Century was called due to the two World Wide Wars, was in fact paved much earlier, since the 19th century, as the ideology of national pride begun to shape in Europe, but also across Asian or other territories. The exacerbated patriotism that followed, was promoted through appealing speeches regarding the glory of war and the significance of the warrior in protecting the national interests, the national borders and even the cleanliness of the race. Evidences from Europe and other world areas in the World War I and World War II demonstrate the extreme patriotism and the jingoistic political ideologies that led to tensed international relations.
In Europe, Germany promulgated race cleanliness theory by arguing it with pseudo – scientific proves that fostered the national assertiveness. A strong commitment to nationalism naturally conducted to the adherence to a group and the resistance to outsider groups, forming the us versus them theme that ignited the global disputes that started in 1914 and ended in 1945. This theme meant different things for different countries. While for the French fascists it meant fighting against capitalist and socialist, for the United States or United Kingdom democrats it meant fighting the Nazis or the fascists.
Although some nations were more vocal than others, for instance Germany and Russia’s propaganda programs have become historical pages due to their manipulation strength that ignited tremendous violence, jingoistic foreign policies represented a model of international politics. Even so, the Nazi or communist propaganda provided the opportunity for the counterpart countries to act as heroes, although they also exerted extreme nationalist ideals, such as killing young men in the name of democracy, as it was the case of United States.
The Age of Global Conflict was an expression of exacerbated nationalism that further led to hatred against the others and manifestation of violence. The biggest and most dreadful global conflicts (WWI and WWII) were a result of radical political ideologies and jingoistic foreign policies used for manipulating people to glorify war and to admire sacrifice for values such as nationalism, racial purity or democracy.
Bibliography
Kershaw, Ian. “War and Political Violence in Twentieth – Century Europe”. Contemporary European History. 14(1)107-123. 2005.
