Out from under.

World War I was a watershed. It brought on the collapse of the old imperial dynasties of Europe, and it marked the start of nationalist movements all over the world.

When the U.S. entered the war in 1917, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the principle of national self-determination as one of the major issues of the conflict. Mr. Wilson was an idealist. He stated his belief that peoples had the right to govern themselves in a world that was still ruled by colonial powers -- Britain, France, Portugal, Russia, and Turkey were the main ones. Mr. Wilson's own Secretary of state Robert Lansing was shocked when his boss came out in favour of self-determination. He thought the concept was "simply loaded with dynamite."

But, the idea was taken to heart in Europe. Peoples who had lived under the control of the imperial governments of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Turkey broke free in a wave of independence. In Central and Eastern Europe a number of new nation-states arose, notably Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia), and Hungary. Others, such as Romania, were greatly enlarged. But, problems of nationalism didn't go away when the new boundary lines were drawn on the map of Europe. Many of the new nation-states contained national minorities who demanded independence or changes in frontiers. The conflicting claims of German and Polish nationalism became the immediate cause of the outbreak of World War II.

Another far-reaching effect of World War I was the rise of nationalism in Asia and Africa under the impact of Western ideas and industrialism. Asian nationalism was also inspired by the example of Japan. It was the first Far Eastern country to take on the trappings of a modern nation. Then, in 1905, it went to war with a Western power, Russia, and won. After World War I the Turks, under the national leader Mustafa Kemal, defeated (1922-1923) the Western allies and modernized their state in the spirit of nationalism after the European model. During the same period the leader of the Indian National Congress, Mohandas Gandhi, stirred the hopes of the Indian masses for national independence.

The Japanese, the Turks, and the Indians showed the rest of the world that the Western powers were not invincible, as they must have seemed until then. Peoples everywhere who lived under colonial governments grasped the ideal of self-determination. Their leaders were quick to realize the power of nationalism as a force to achieve control of their own countries.

The penetration of nationalism into colonial countries was hastened by World War II. The British, French, and Dutch empires in eastern Asia were overrun by the Japanese, who brought with them the nationalistic slogan "Asia for the Asians." The colonial powers were weakened further by the military and economic consequences of the war.

Woodrow Wilson's vision that all subject peoples should be free of foreign domination got a boost in the founding of the United Nations. In 1945, the principle of self-determination was written into the Charter of the world body.

Great Britain, influenced by the liberal tradition in politics, willingly granted independence to India, Pakistan, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Burma (now known as Myanmar), Malaya (now part of Malaysia), and the Gold Coast (now Ghana). Similarly, the U.S. granted independence to the Philippines. The Netherlands gave up control of the Netherlands Indies, which became Indonesia. France lost possession of its colonial empire in Indochina. By 1957, nationalism had asserted itself throughout Asia, and the colonial empires there, with the exception of that of the Soviet Union, ceased to exist.

In the postwar period, nationalist movements developed and won many successes, particularly in Africa and in the Middle East. By 1958, newly established nation-states in those regions included Israel, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, the Sudan, Ghana, the United Arab Republic (Egypt and Syria), and Iraq. In the 1960s and '70s the Algerians, Libyans, and many formerly British, French, or Belgian colonies in black Africa became independent.

And, the process continues. The last major colonial power, the Soviet Union, fell apart in 1991 and the nations it had dominated seized the opportunity for self-determination.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITY:

Nation-states have been created in three major waves in this century: following World War I; after World War II; and, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Plot these waves on a timeline chart and give explanations for each.