Nationalism and Militarism

Having colonies and territories around the world was incredibly expensive for industrial nations trying to control raw materials and markets using imperialism. Controlling a sphere of influence required a large military to defend the colony or territory from other industrial nations interested in the region. Having a strong military meant nations could defend their country, build an empire, and control the sources of raw materials and markets to sell goods. Many industrial nations began following a policy known as militarism, which is the belief that a nation should keep a strong military to aggressively expand or promote national interests.

After the Japanese opened trade with the United States, the Japanese began to industrialize and expand their nation's power. The United States annexed Hawaii just as Japan was beginning to expand into the Pacific Ocean. Tensions between the United States and Japan was high as each nation competed for control over many of the same islands. In an effort to protect our interests, the United States turned to militarism as the solution. Under the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt, the United States expanded the U.S. Navy.

In a great show of force between 1907 and 1909, the United States sent sixteen battleships that were painted bright white with gold trim on a voyage around the globe. President Theodore Roosevelt sent the "Great White Fleet" on a voyage around the globe to demonstrate the growing power of the United States. The goal was to project our power around the globe so other nations respected our right to control our newly acquired territory of Hawaii, the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico. Roosevelt also hoped to encourage foreign nations to respect any treaties other nations made with us.

The voyage was a showpiece, meant to promote our military and boost pride and nationalism back home. Nationalism is a term describing when the people of a nation have a strong sense of loyalty, pride, and patriotism for their nation. The voyage was carefully planned to impress other nations of the world visiting six continents, stopping at many ports in nations such as Australia, Japan, Egypt, and Italy just to name a few. The voyage of the Great White Fleet showcased American power and might, letting the rest of the world know we were a world power. The show of force also encouraged Americans back home to have pride and patriotism for the U.S., which promoted Nationalism. The Great White Fleet helped protect American interests around the world by intimidating other nations and letting them know we were prepared to defend our interests around the world.

The problem was, industrial nations around the world were all doing similar shows. The more nations grew, as a result of the Industrial Revolution, the more raw materials they needed. These nations turned to imperialism to control sources of raw materials and markets to sell goods. Industrial countries adopted militarism and began to try and build larger and more advanced armies and navies than one another. The result is what is called an arms race, which is a competition between nations at building more advanced and a greater number of weapons and trained soldiers.

Paying for militarism took a great deal of support and taxes. In order to ensure that their nation continued to support militarism and imperialism, many leaders turned to nationalism in order to unify their nation. Nationalism is a term describing when a nation's people have a strong sense of loyalty, pride, and patriotism for their nation. Without nationalism, many nations would be unable to motivate its people during a time of war or natural disaster.

Nationalism can often be a positive force for nations that encourages people from the same country to have a sense of duty and responsibility to one another. Nationalism encourages people to have pride in their country and helps motivate citizens to work to improve the country for everyone. Citizens who are prideful in their country often support programs that improve the nation with new roads, bridges, and other improvements. Countries that have a strong sense of nationalism also tend to be stronger when dealing with other countries because the people are more unified. Nationalism also allowed leaders in nations like the United States to raise taxes in order to pay for an even larger military.

Nationalism does come with its problems. Nations that promote nationalism based on ethnicity, race, or other superficial reasons often find it more difficult to develop bonds and alliances between other nations. Nationalism based on ethnicity or race often led to discriminatory practices that divide a nation into groups. As a result, some nations began to argue that they were better than other nations. As nations continued to build larger and larger militaries, and leaders promoted stronger devotion to nationalism, countries began to become paranoid of one another. In time, nations with large militaries, devoted and loyal citizens, and the need to control raw materials and markets around the world began to distrust one another laying the foundation for future conflict.