Ideologies to Fight
Introduction
In the
course of history people did not died simply fighting against the enemy; they
usually adhered to more supreme values. The leaders have used important reasons
to rally people for fighting against the enemy. The Crusaders were started
their expedition to save Holy Places from the infidels after the call from the
Pope. The Ottomans recruited masses for the army by emphasizing religion faith
for the march to the inside of Europe. Hitler mobilized masses over the
ideologies of racism and nationalism and started the series of evil events that
cost lives of millions and ended up a demolished continent. The veterans fought
to bring democratic values of capitalism to Vietnam. The Islamic State claims
establishing the real Islamic order and entice too many indigenous and foreign
fighters.
Ideology is
a set of belief that consist the answers and explanations for anything. The
Modern Era ideologies were developed and conceptualized to overcome the social
changes and to solve the problems emanated from that social changes.
Capitalism, Communism, Nationalism and Racism were the prominent ideologies.
Ideologies
like religions establish a holy reason for people to fight for; the leaders
gather people to protect or to expand the ideal belief system and world order
that is believed to be the best for all of the people. The belief of people for
an ideology gives a legitimate power to leaders. Leaders with this legitimacy
rally people to fight for. Ideologies help leaders to converge the interest of
the state and the will of people. In this essay I will explain the ideologies
that dominated the late modern era and how the leaders have used these
ideologies to mobilize people.
The Era of Isms[1]
The Modern
Era gave birth too many ideologies that each suggest to be the best explanation
of everything. The accrued intellectual capital of Europe during the modern era
provided the environment for the flourishment of these ideologies.
Before the
Modern Era, religion was the mainstream incentive for the life of the people in
the Middle Ages. During the early modern era, the Reformation Movement started
the criticism of the church and caused a series of wars in the Europe, and
these wars were ended by the Treaty of Westphalia that established a new
political order based on the idea of co-existing sovereign states and
respecting the boundaries of sovereignty that later would initiate
nation-states. Another important accomplishment during the early modern era is
the Renaissance that encouraged the spread of ideas and flourishment of
intellectual life. The Reformation broke the religious boundaries that inhibits
the free thinking and liberal ideas; the Renaissance opened the venue for
ideas. As the consequences of these movements in the end of the early modern
era, during the Enlightenment individual liberty and religious tolerance, in
opposition to the principle of absolute monarchy and the fixed dogmas of the
church became main tenets of the time. The Enlightenment in the early modern
era initiated the industrial revolution by scientific reasoning.
The late
modern era started with the French Revolution. The revolution kicked off the
decline of absolute monarchies, spread ideas of liberalism, freedom of religion
and expression, rule of law. The Industrial Revolution gained momentum with the
technological improvements. In the late modern era, the industrial revolution
led the big factories in the cities that increased urbanization that caused
social changes. During the late modern era, nationalism aroused as an identity
instead of regionalism or religions that were dominant norms of identity,
liberal ideas started to gain traction, mass education was spread, and a new
class system based on income emerged instead of old military, noble, clergy and
commoner classes. The class system later gave birth to communism.
Over the
pace of historical changes the ideologies became ubiquitous together with
religions. People started to believe in liberalism, nationalism, capitalism,
communism; isms became mainstream measures to evaluate the events and to
understand the world, ultimately to die for. Because people need a big reason
to fight.
The Wars and the Public Opinion in Modern Era
The Late
Modern Era witnessed two world wars, a Cold War, war on terrorism and too many
conflicts, for which people were mobilized and took sides. Leaders of the
warring sides stick to their ideology to rally people and so legitimize their
use of power.
During the
World War I, public opinion within a state could no longer be ignored like it
had been in the past. The World War I was the end of the multinational empires.
The leaders usually used nationalism to rally people. The Ottoman Empire, which
was one of the multinational empires, used religion, it declared a holy war.
Nationalism was the main ideology among the fighting countries. The World War I
affected the public, war was no longer a game between soldiers. The fighting
countries used ideologies not only to rally people, but to shape the view of
the public.
The extreme situations after the Great War led to
extremism in some countries in Europe. Extreme viewpoints won out in the form
of totalitarian states in Europe during the inter-war years, and communism took
hold in the Soviet Union, while fascism controlled Germany, Italy and Spain.
During the
inter-war period, in Spain fascists and leftist republicans fought a civil war.
The sides used their ideologies to gather people and to get support. Germany
and Italy helped nationalists. Soviets helped leftist republicans, and moreover
from all around the world international fighters who believed in social
ideology came and fight together with the republicans.
The World
War II was the fight over ideologies. Nazi Germany used nationalism and racism
for the war. The ultimate end was the establishing the superiority of Aryan
race and to diminish Jews. The dire situation nurtured nationalism in Germany,
but Hitler used fascism and racism to get legitimacy for further actions and to
rally people to fight against the world. Italy as fascist country under the
rule of Mussolini used nationalism in the same way. The Soviets fought for
communism, US fought the ideals of democratic capitalism. The racism through
subhuman characterization of Japanese affected people to have racist views of
others (Dower, 9).
In the end
of the war two ideologies and ultimate winner and most powerful countries entrenched
against each other. The Cold War between the democratic capitalism and
communism shaped the next fifty years of the history. The world divided between
the proponents of these two ideas. The United States rallied her citizens and
countries around the ideology of democratic capitalism. The Soviet Union
rallied citizens and countries around communist ideology. Each country used the
other side’s fear over people for armament and using covert actions. The US
citizens fought in Vietnam to save the good people from the communists and to
bring democracy there.
The United
States sent her troops to Iraq and Afghanistan to fight against the enemy of
the liberal values. The legitimate power came from the ideology. The other
countries allied with the United States to fight against terrorism that
threaten the free and liberal ideals.
Terrorists
are using religion to gather people to kill other people. The Islamic State
leaders suggest that their Islam belief is the right one, and entice too many
people all around the world. They rally people to brutally kill other people
and to die for their Islam.
Conclusion
The
intellectual enrichment, the Industrial Revolution, and the French Revolution
created new social structures and new ideologies. The new class system and
rapid urbanization led to social changes and problems. Later all of these
developments aroused the ideologies. Capitalism, liberalism, nationalism,
communism conceptualized during this era.
The leaders
had ideologies to gather people around and fight for. The ideologies consists
the explanation for everything, and provide an important reason to follow.
During the wars of late modern era, the leaders used ideologies to mobilize
their citizens to fight and to shape the public opinion.
Leaders
have used ideologies to rally people to fight for, because ideologies provide a
big belief to fight and die for. Leaders get legitimacy through ideologies.
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