Argumentative Essay On Ultra Nationalism

A nation can be defined in many different ways, through culture, geography, traditions, etc. But what all these definitions have in common is that a group of people are connected due to what they have in common. This commonality brings individuals together in unity to help their nation strive to achieve its goals. The source provided explains how a nation should have all their citizens devote themselves to the state and failing to do so turns them to the side of the opposition, the enemy’s side. The source does not forget to mention that for a nation to succeed in its goals and become an “ultimate nation”, nothing must stand in its way of this greatness. Through this analysis of the source, it is clear to see that the embracement of ultranationalism is shown through and through. Ultranationalism can be defined as an extreme form of nationalism, where an individual promotes the interests of their state/nation above anything or anyone else. Devoting oneself to their nation and not letting anything get in the way of their state's interests is an example of ultranationalism in the source. The source also explains that individuals who do not see their nation's interests as the highest responsibility are then cut off and seen as the enemy. The perspective of the source is quite open to the embracement of ultranationalism for an individual and nation as it aids a nation in bringing out its full potential and for the nation to achieve all its goals. The perspective of this source should be embraced to a certain extent because a nation must unite to focus on their own needs in order to prosper, but the full devotion of oneself to a nation leads to dictatorships and to violence against minorities and outcast individuals by society.

The perspective of ultranationalism in the source should be embraced to a certain extent, as it helps a nation and its citizens unite as one and focus on the country's needs to be prosperous. Allowing a nation to focus on its needs to flourish can give hope to the citizens of a struggling state. An illustration of this would be Germany post World War I. After the end of the first World War, Germany went through many hardships. In 1919, they were forced to sign The Treaty of Versailles which put the blame and damage of the war on the nation, as well as being forced to pay reparations for these damages and along with many more cuts Germany had to face with their military, land, etc. Due to all these losses, Germany’s economy crashed, and this led to the country having a hyperinflation crisis in 1923. During this period, Germany was struggling to pay off their reparations, and due to workers being on strike, no goods were being produced which hurt the economy quite a lot. To fix this problem, the government started to print more and more money which caused more damage than good. Soon the German mark lost its value and prices of goods increased drastically. For example, in December of 1921, 1 US dollar was equivalent to 192 german marks, but in 1923, a US dollar was now worth over 4.2 million marks. The German economy was struggling and so were the people of Germany. Along with the hyperinflation crisis, Germany also went through a grave unemployment crisis and its government did nothing to help fix this. The German government at this time was in the way of the country prospering and being a powerful nation again. Many Germans were losing hope that they would ever see Germany be prosperous again, and they were looking for ways to help their nation. This is where Hitler and his Nazi Party came into play. He saw German citizens in this way of ruin and promised that if they came into union and joined the Nazi Party, they would allow Germany to become a powerful nation again. The Weimar Republic, the government of Germany at this time, was struggling to help fix these crises that were hitting the nation, and many began to doubt their power. Hitler took advantage of this situation and promised the people of Germany that if they came over to his side, and joined the Nazi Party he would give them new opportunities and help the nation. He promised to rebuild the German economy by creating new jobs for all and to work against the clauses established in the Treaty of Versailles.  After seeing the Weimar Republic struggle to help their nation, Germans turned to the Nazi party as it was a new voice to help Germany overcome the many economic and social crises they were facing.  

Many negatives arise from the acceptance of ultranationalism, thus the perspective in the source should not be embraced because it leads to a fascist nation and dictatorships in governments. A fascist nation leads to the citizens of this nation having their rights taken away and being forced to follow their government in fear. Once Hitler got the support of German citizens he started to work on his plan to have complete control over the nation of Germany, as that was his only aim. Hitler began by having an act passed called The Enabling Act, which allowed him full control of passing laws without the approval of any other government or higher authority, as well as demolishing any other political party other than the Nazi Party. This allowed no one to stand in his way of taking over the nation. He made sure all Germans were absolutely loyal to the Party and to himself, and if they were not he’d punish them. He also made sure Germany was full of “pure bloods” meaning only German citizens were allowed in the nation and were granted equality, while other citizens were seen as the enemy and were not treated well, as they were sent away to concentration camps or mental facilities. Hitler went on to do many things that he thought would help the German nation achieve the highest power in the world. No one could stop him due to his dictatorship and fascist ways of ruling, he had taken over every person and group who stood in his way. Soon enough the people of Germany realized that what was happening in their nation was not right, but they could not do anything. They saw that devoting themselves to their nation turned out to be negative. They were always being carefully watched, by the secret police, having their letters/calls intercepted and so on, to make sure they were not talking about anything that defied Hitler’s way of ruling. This shows a negative aspect of the source as it shows how devoting yourself to your nation in order to achieve all greatness can lead to the loss of your own rights. Germans were taken advantage of, they were in a vulnerable position with their country in great shambles, and they thought that supporting Hitler, supporting his ideologies would allow their nation to flourish again. But instead, the opposite happened, they lost all their freedoms, and they began to live in a state of terror under Hitler’s rule, scared that if they went against his fascist ways of ruling they’d be punished and be seen as the enemy.

The embracement of ultranationalism has more downsides than upsides, therefore the perspective presented in the source should not be embraced as it leads to violence against minorities and outcasts of individuals by society. A struggling nation will often look for a scapegoat, a group to blame, for their situation, and many times when they are influenced, they can start to blame innocent groups. Hilter had quite unpleasant views against many minority groups in Germany, such as the Jewish people, homosexuals, Roma people, etc. He saw them as the reason why Germany had lost the war and had fallen into such hard times, he saw them as enemies to the German people, as they were the ones who prevented Germany from greatness. Under Hitler’s rule, German citizens began to believe that these people were threats to the nation and began to go after them. Jewish people quickly became the biggest targets for these attacks. They were forced out of being able to vote, they had their businesses taken away from them and they lost rights to own land. This scapegoating only escalated, as Jewish people were then taken away from Germany and put into concentration camps, where they were treated brutally, in order to “cleanse” the country of Germany. The scapegoating of Jewish individuals also showed the Nazi Party which German citizens would follow their rule and which ones weren’t, and if they were not they then were seen as the enemy as well. Hitler saw these minority groups as obstacles in the country's way of growing again, as they were not of German descent, and he saw that nothing can stand in the way of German’s pathway to becoming the ultimate nation, he realized he must get rid of them. This is exactly what Hitler did, he spread these vile, ultranationalistic views against these groups, and many innocent lives were lost due to Hitler’s mindset.

The positive and negatives of devoting oneself to their nation have been told by accepting the perspective of the source to a certain extent. The source should be embraced as uniting a nation to flourish again after a downfall and can provide the nation’s citizens hope for a brighter future ahead. The source should not be embraced because when an individual devotes themself to their nation can lead to the nation falling under a dictatorship, where they lose all freedom, and everything is under the power of the government. The final reason why the source should be rejected is that it leads to the harm of innocent groups of a nation. A nation should pursue its goals, to be able to function and stay out of crises, but this should not come at a loss to the nation's citizens, rights and freedoms, and living standards.