The Primary Sources Of Nationalism

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After Italy’s failure of effective control over its colonies because of military defeat during WW2, Italian decolonisation is generally characterised as precocious. Both anti-fascism and the decolonisation movement are interlinked through the role of nationalism, as they both focus on the victimisation of the oppressed and how they are civilised through their struggles. One may argue that Marxism may have influenced Italy’s anti-colonialism stance. For example, Mazzini’s obligation to nationalism has influenced him to be strongly against Marxism because of their view on class struggle. The purpose of Mazzini’s essay was to create a movement that would unify Italy through the development of an insurrection in the Italian rightist states. He believed that Italy would be unified if there was a popular upheaval. Mazzini wrote this essay because he hoped that nationalism would form a universal and dynamic young Italian force that would eventually eliminate the declining European empires. By restructuring national lines into nation-states, Mazzini strongly believed that Europe would finally be able to attain unity and stability. Here was a Mazzinian vision of harmonious coexistence and not violent conflict. Moreover, in the same year that Mazzini published his essay, there was an outbreak of a revolution in the South of Italy as Garibaldi proclaimed he was the dictator of Sicily and seized the capital of Palermo. This helps in contextualising Mazzini’s essay because it creates a relationship between the writer and reader while giving a deeper understanding of the intention and objective of his writing. The setting of this source suggests that the unification of Italy became a popular and appealing idea after it was publicised to the Italian masses by supporters like Mazzini. Furthermore, Mazzini was not a popular figure within the Italian government because he believed in God but not in Christianity. Yet, Mazzini was able to appeal to the Italian people in ostracising foreigners through a spontaneous rising. Mazzini represented the view that the internal individualism of liberal ideas was contrary to the duty of forming a meaningful national identity. However, there is a possibility that the essay was edited and modified because at first publishers refused to print the essay but later on, he successfully published it in his own newspaper.

After 1989, there were many postcolonial and post-Cold War issues that remained. For example, old nationalisms and dialects were revived in many countries such as Yugoslavia. The role of ethnic nationalism affected the ethnic groups living within Yugoslav who felt that they were superior to those living in the other republics. This meant that nationalism was the main cause of the wars but other primary factors such as the failure of the economy and the eradication of provincial power were the reasons for the uprising conflict. Furthermore, the emergence of nationalism and its appeal is helpful in understanding the source because Mussolini was able to attract the concept of nationalism to the people through a fasces symbol. This symbol displays a bundle of elmwood rods with a single axe-like head that is secured to the top. This infers that Mussolini used the fasces as an emblem for the fascist establishment. Like Hitler, Mussolini used the fasces as a propaganda tool to symbolise the strength of his regime. Additionally, the symbol served as a visual argument for Mussolini’s own power, as he legitimised a new political movement. By using the colour black as a symbol of the fascist movement, this parallels to the uniforms of the Blackshirts in the image of March on Rome. Thus, nationalism was appealing to the Italians because the Fascists adapted components of their ethnic culture to incite Nationalism through the use of symbolism. On the contrary, Mazzini’s essay on the duties of man was successful in introducing nationalism and making it appealing to the Italian audience as he inspired many insurrectionary movements. The main message of the text is that the notion of duty for an individual is to make oneself and others greater human beings by combating any injustices. However, he argues that this doctrine can only emanate from two sources, that is our conscience which is inspired by God and humanity. The source implies that Mazzini was a prominent figure in the campaign for Italian unification because he appealed to the people and won the support of other countries. Therefore, it was Mazzini and not Mussolini who was able to keep the problem of Italian unification alive and persist in the challenge of every hindrance faced.

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On the contrary, the limitation of the source is that the photo cannot tell us what else was going on in Italy at the time and so it is important to study images in conjunction with other sources. However, the source can tell us who was present at the March on Rome and records the details of the atmosphere of the event that are not captured in written documents. Similarly, the fasces symbol is helpful in serving as a visual argument for Mussolini’s power and how he used propaganda to indoctrinate the people and symbolise the strength of the fascist state. Furthermore, it is important to consider that whilst Mazzini’s essay is reliable in interpreting how nationalism was appealing to the people, the text is restrictive in expressing information about the emergence of nationalism. In order to understand how nationalism arose, it is important to have first-hand information and evidence such as letters, interviews and government documents. I chose these sources because it was helpful in comprehending the context behind the source and assessing how credible the source is in interpreting its content. The most relevant contribution that these sources made to our understanding of this time period is that nationalism arose as a political force under Mazzini and after WW1 Italian nationalism became powerful again. After the seizure of power by Mussolini, he was able to successfully develop a fascist state that was involved in the appeal to nationalism. This suggests that there is a common pattern in all of the sources because they all share the same information about how nationalism arose and what made it so appealing.

Overall, it can be argued that the emergence and appeal of nationalism can be interpreted through three primary sources, which the essay has discussed. For example, the March on Rome image has displayed how Mussolini implemented both the tenets of nationalism while concurrently announcing fascism as a new and revolutionary shift in Italian policy. This meant that he was able to uphold his identification with the radical tradition but now as the leader of the fascist mutiny. Furthermore, the use of propaganda and symbols served to attract supporters and advance nationalism as a movement that advocated the cultural unity of a country. Nevertheless, an evaluation of these sources asserts that they are not credible in disclosing the context of the source and may reflect bias. In spite of this, all three sources help us understand how nationalism succeeded as an ideology and how it appealed to an oppressed and dehumanised society, and if nothing else, it serves to show the hope of progress of other nationalistic movements across Europe.

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