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Violence, War and Nationalism

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There were over 35 million civilian and soldier casualties in WWI. Over 15 million died and 20 million were wounded. This war was the direct result of nationalism taken to extremes that it should never go. Of course that is not the only conflict that was started by nationalism that led to a large number of deaths. There are the Balkan wars as well as the French Revolution that had cost so many lives at the price of nationalism. The source is correct in saying that nationalism can lead to blood shed when violence is used to achieve goals of, independence, national interests as well as foreign policy, and political change. Nationalism is more likely to lead to war when a nation uses violence or aggression to achieve goals such as independence. Examples of this have been seen throughout history and what is always at the center of this violence and need for independence is the feeling of wanting to be a sovereign nation. An example of this would be The First Balkan War. When Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Montenegro formed together to create the Balkan league they wanted to completely rid themselves of Turkey and they would stop at nothing to do so. The First Balkan war started as an act to rid the Balkan area of Turkish influence and ended in the loss of many lives as well as created a starting point for the second Balkan War. This war ended up being very cruel and after fifty days Turkey surrendered giving the Balkan league what they wanted. The feeling behind this goal and in turn this war was nationalistic because they wanted to get rid of influence of other nations within their own. These types of nationalistic feelings toward independence can cause conflict, violence and the loss of lives. There have been times historically that nationalistic feelings toward independence have not lead to violence but when independence has been achieved without the use of military force such as how Ghana became the first sub-Saharan African country to

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