ch was intent on dominating its own people, extending territory, and finally going to war to accomplish its goals.
What occurred then, was that the force of nationalism which in the beginning of the century served to hold states together in the face of revolutionary changes, became within decades a force which created fascist governments and brought about destructive military confrontations among nationalism-driven states.
McKay et al. seem to be arguing that there was something of an inevitability to this evolution of nationalism through the century, using a scientific/biological reference: "The universal national faith [nationalism], which reduced social tensions within states, promoted a bitter, almost Darwinian competition between states and thus threatened the progress and unity it had helped to build" (McKay 860).
Russia is an example of a country undergoing massive upheaval at the turn of the century which led to an increasingly intense nationalism and governmental efforts to expand Russian territory. These expansionist efforts were defeated by Japan in 1905, just as Germany was defeated later in World War I in similar efforts to dominate neighboring countries. Both Germany and Russia responded to these defeats with great change in domestic policy: "As is often the case, military disaster abroad brought political upheaval at home" (McKay 849). In Russia, one of the major post-defeat forces was nationalism, particularly among ethnic minorities, while in Germany the turn-of-the-century upheavals resulted in events which led to World War I.
There was a less positive side to building support for strong nation-states. . . . Governments, often led by conservatives . . . found that they could manipulate national feeling to create a sense of unity and to divert attention away from underlying class conflicts (McK
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