Nationalism In History

A detailed Summary of Nationalism In History

Jason P. McCauley World Civilization II Paper # 2 April 5, 1999 Guiseppe Mazzini, Faith in Democratic Nationalism Before the nineteenth century, Italy was basically controlled by outside forces consisting of other powerful European nations, such as the French. At the beginning of nineteenth century however, there was a great philosophical change going on in the Italian territories that was heavily pushing Italian Nationalism. This movement was sometimes referred to as the Risorgimento. This cultural and political period of Italian history helped fortify the countrymen's nationalism and strove for a unified Italy. Under this movement called the Risorgimento, there were also different views among the leading nationalistic advocates. One such advocate that related more to the radical side of the debate was Guiseppe Mazzini. His thoughts and writings pushed strong nationalism in Italy, as well as the idea that a unified Italy, along with a unified Europe, would provide the world with huge moral improvements and would also greatly help the progress of Humanity. His main point being that only revolution and war supported by direct public action would lead to the true unification of the Italian state. With these strong beliefs, Mazzini a

nd other advocates of this cause provided the basic structuring of the revolutions in 1848, and also later revolutions. Guiseppe Mazzini was born in Genoa, Italy on June 22, 1805. At the time when Mazzini was attending the University of Genoa, he was arrested for his democratic actions and was therefore exiled. As a result, Mazzini started up the "Society of Young Italy", who's main aim was the establishment of a free and unified Italian State. After plans for a national uprising were discovered, many of the leaders of "Young Italy" were either executed or exiled. Mazzini was condemned to death but managed to proceed in his democratic works. His ideas continued through his writings as he was forced to seek refuge in London, although he did return to Italy for the revolutions in 1848 and 1849 against the French. He did live to see the unification of Italy, although it was far from what he had envisioned in his works. Mazzini then returned to Italy once more and died on March 10, 1872. During his childhood, Mazzini's parents instilled many thoughts and beliefs pertaining to the idea of a free and democratic government in Italy. For the rest of his life, he then pursued his ultimate dream of a unified Italian state through his political teachings and writings. One major notion that fueled this life long quest was Mazzini's great interest in moral improvement and the progress of humanity not only in Italy, but also throughout the world. Certain "evil g

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Approximate Word count = 982
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Category: History