As humans, we have organized our social structures in a variety of ways. As hunter-gatherers, we stayed in our kin groups as we migrated across the world. Once we settled down and began agriculture, kin groups formed villages; these villages grew into city-states. Eventually, kingdoms and empires developed, with their inhabitants not only loyal to their families, but also to the monarch or priest running their state. Interconnected with both capitalism and modern democracy, the idea of the nation-state is part of the foundation of Western society. That is, sovereignty is held by the people, and these people in some way make up one shared cultural and social identity. Just as with previous social structures, today’s nations have both their virtues and vices.
When discussing nationalism and the 20th Century, Germany is often the first to come to mind. The Pan-German identity formed during the 19th Century, when Napoleon defeated Austria and Prussia. The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved, the various German states being reorganized into the Confederation of the Rhine. This was enforced by the Grande Armée, with garrisons across the continent. Many like composer Ludwig van Beethoven, initially welcoming of French Revolutionary ideals and the end of feudalism, came to feel betrayed by their hero-turned-Emperor. Many, mainly liberals, felt that those living within the still loose Confederation should unite into one German nation-state, able to stand up to another Napoleon. In other words, what initially made a German a German was that they were, at the time, not French. Coming from a more traditional background, Otto von Bismarck was at first opposed to this. He later on though saw the need to unify the German people if they were going to compete on the European stage with the likes of Great Britain, France, Russia, and Austria-all of whom had a centuries-long headstart in centralizing politically and economically. During the late 19th Century, Prussia fought wars against Denmark, Austria, and France. After this last one, Wilhelm I declared the German Empire within the Palace of Versailles, an empire that was neither French, Danish, nor Austrian.
Meanwhile, this new world of imperialism and industrialization gave rise to many advances in scientific thought. While Charles Darwin’s 1859 Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection is a great achievement and the foundation of modern biology, it inspired several ideas with far darker ramifications. Social Darwinism and eugenics were both popular across Germany, and the Euro-Atlantic world as a whole. Over the following decades, however, they became the rules on what separated those of the German nation from everyone else. The First World War ended, with the German Empire and the Central Powers in defeat. During the pivotal years afterwards, Germany needed to redefine itself as a nation. It used these ideas, as well as what it thought an ideal traditional societal structure looked like. Many believed Germany’s various minority populations sabotaged her war effort, feeling that Germany was too great to be defeated without ‘deceitful interference’ by ‘outside parties’. Groups long disenfranchised in Europe, like Jews, Romani, and those with perceived “disabilities” (physical, mental, etc.) were blamed for Germany’s defeat; other groups, like Slavs, French, Catholics, and communists were also scapegoated. Once Adolf Hitler rose to power, he established himself as a ‘true German hero’ for other ‘true Germans’ to rally behind against these groups of people. Nazi Germany not only began the Second World War and its suffering, but also exterminated 12 million individuals that German society deemed as “not German”. World War II ended in 1945 and Germany was split into a Stalinist East and free market West. German political, economic, and military officials went through a process of de-Nazification; not only were Nazi officials tried for crimes against humanity, but the identity of Germany also matured. Divided throughout the Cold War, united in 1989, and to this day, the shadow of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust looms large over the German identity. They are amongst the least proud of their heritage in the world. They still retain a hard-working and disciplined culture, being the political leader and economic power of the European Union. That being said, the German nation has learned that to think of themselves as greater than others, especially by blood or skull shape, would be their downfall.
Great Britain was formed in 1707, when both England and Scotland passed the Acts of Union. From then on, the smaller Scotland left her financial troubles behind to join her larger neighbor to the south in centuries of world domination. Scotland is relatively established as a nation as the dreary, yet poetic and unconquerable home of the Germanic Scots and Celtic Highlanders, along with Irish and Norse settlers. England though doesn’t seem to have a definitive beginning. It seems much more difficult to point to a single event, a specific date, nor a range of dates as the moment in which people began to think of the idea of an ‘England’. Being the dominant political, economic, and military power in the United Kingdom, England had the privilege of telling the story of the UK from their point of view. Therefore, the national stories of England and the UK are at the very least intertwined; at most, they are one and the same.
Though there might not be a solid ‘chapter 1’ in English history, she does have chapters in her book that stand out as portraying her national identity. There is the High Medieval Period, with stone castles, knights in shining armor, and legendary character Robin Hood. The 15th and 16th centuries were a time of great advancement, with the Agricultural Revolution and victories over the Spanish Armadas. The 18th Century was not only the Enlightenment, but also her strong colonial presence in North America. The Victorian Era is the setting of fictional character Sherlock Holmes, beginning with the defeat of Napoleon and saw the Pax Britannica, domination of the eastern hemisphere, and the Second Industrial Revolution. However, World War II is seen as the “defining hour” of today’s England. The empire was in decline, already weary from the First World War, Great Depression, and unrest throughout her imperial holdings. All of a sudden, she found herself as the last bastion of democracy in Europe, facing off against the grave threat that was Nazi Germany. Dunkirk (2017) portrays what has become known as the “Dunkirk Spirit”, an attitude of “courage and unity in the face of adversity”.[1, 2] There are still many alive in England who lived through the War. Some were soldiers making a desperate fighting retreat out of Dunkirk, others civilians huddled in Underground stations withstanding the Blitz. Many recall the time when Brits young and old, military or civilian, almost instinctively did what they could to stay resilient in the face of the war. This “Dunkirk Spirit” is a significant part of both the English and British identities today, especially for older generations.[3]
There are complications though with Britain’s actions in World War II. Notable among these being the Bengal Famine of 1943, in which a shortage of rice in Bengal and Orissa led to the deaths of many men, women, and children. Some claim that Winston Churchill’s War Cabinet diverted rice away from civilians to feed British military personnel. Others point to a perfect storm of factors that include the political doctrine, colonial structure, and economic system of not only Britain, but also of Bengal and Orissa themselves, the war and Japanese occupation of British Burma acting as the spark.{4]
Either way, the “Dunkirk Spirit” is a national ideal born from a war that has been romanticized over the past almost eighty years. There were no perfect souls on either side of the war. Even Mahatma Gandhi, the man praised for peace and unity between India’s various religious populations, faces criticism for continuing his non-violent Satyagraha campaigns against British rule, despite the threat of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.
The nation as a concept was formed in the minds of Westerners in the 19th Century as a story to describe the people that live in a certain region and share similar cultural values. Often, these are founded upon ideals that bind the people of this nation together. However, these stories are myths. They may have some factual basis, but only in an abstract and subjective way. Their objective is for its members to survive and thrive, to maximize their happiness and minimize their suffering, just like any other being on this planet. In a broad sense, they act exactly the same as any colony of ants, herd of horses, ancient human kingroup, or many modern human organizational structures. "It is nationalism which engenders nations, and not the other way around."[5] The act of honoring ideals like resilience, camaraderie, individual freedom, harmony, coexistence, and peace are all innocent in and of themselves. However, using them to define what divides “us” from “them”, thereby creating the nation, has too often led us down a dark path. The nation has had a tendency to establish these as dogma, for its leaders overzealously acting in the name of these ideals, only to end up breaking them in the process. Often, this ends up harming not only those considered outside the group, but inside as well.
Even then, it is more complex. We live in and are a part of this messy confusing world. Events like World War II, from the macro-scale, are worldwide conflicts between nations. On the micro-level, they are a series of countless human decisions. What we choose to believe and how we choose to act are based on our experiences, our background, our environment, as well as our internal state-physical, mental, and emotional. Each of these is changing from moment to moment, thereby breathing genuine humanity into beings living in a complex world. As bipedal apes, we can never be sure what we are supposed to do in any given situation. ‘Supposed to’ has eluded us for our entire history. The only options left are what we can do, what would benefit the most and harm the least; and for this, the best we have are science, open-mindedness, empathy, and the human spirit.
References
1. Dunkirk, directed by Christopher Nolan (2017; London: Syncopy Inc./Warner Bros.
Pictures), Film.
2. Lucy Rodgers, “The men who defined the 'Dunkirk spirit',” BBC News, BBC, 2010
3. Mark Easton, “The English question: What is the nation's identity?,” BBC News, BBC, 2018.
4. Tirthankar Roy, “The Bengal Famine Of 1943 Is There One Story To Tell?,” Britannica Academic, Encycolopædia Britannica, 2019.5. Ernest Gellner, Nations and Nationalism (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 55.
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