Our group project is above. It details the ideology Nationalism. The setting is in Germany and a Frenchman comes in to ask the way but instead gets an ear full of how Germany is a Nationalistic country. Mike, the boy in the jersey, tells Anna, the foreigner, that his people were united by natural boundaries as well as culture, history and language. This is the definition of Nationalism. People in the 19th century were not thought of as the same nations we think of today. You were English or French if you spoke the native tongue and had a concept of their history. Not if you lived there. Nationalists helped change the political climate by getting rid of foreign rulers who divided them. It was demeaning and weakening. Socially, the people would come together to push towards what they believed was their historic destinies. This, in turn, guided them towards Liberalism.
The other two ideologies that we discussed in class were Conservatism and Liberalism. Other groups had to tell about these topics just as mine did. Liberalism was shown as the idea that the government had the responsibility to hold the people's interests at heart and to do what was best for them. This meant getting rid of older monarchy and establishing new systems and traditions. Liberals believed in meritocracy, which meant you were put into office based on what you could do for the country and not wealth of social standing. This changed the political scale. It also changed the social scale by making everyone equal and eliminating hierarchy of classes. That was what appealed to the Nationalists.
Conservatism was very different from the others.Where Liberalism believed in breaking free of old binds, Conservatism held firm that tradition was the only guide in both social and political matters. They believed that tradition lead to violence and bloodshed and used the French Revolution to support most of their claims. In the Revolution, change lead to the death of millions. Most of the people who believed in this idea were upper class, as keeping the old traditions helped them stay in power and wealth. Most political ideas stayed the same and social classes thrived under this thought.