Nationalism entails the establishment of a movement that supports and promotes the interest of a particular country or nation to keep the sovereignty of the nation. The urge to maintain self-governance is typically motivated by people’s need to form a homeland that resembles a national state. Nationalism is an imperative causative agent for war, especially in World War I. The relationship between nationalism and war has always been a one-way correlation where researchers focus on how nationalism paved the way for global conflicts. However, there is a reciprocal relationship where the war itself yields the demand to fight for one’s country’s self-interest. Within the war, other components, such as religion, surfaced to promote the aspect of religious nationalism. Religious nationalism entails the combination of religion with national goals and identities and comprises salient feature that reinforces each other. Religious nationalism differs from secular nationalism in that the former coexists and reinforces nationalistic empowerment while the latter fails to perform this function (Coakley, 2011). The following essay analyzes how war which constitutes various religious identities, can lead to nationalism.
The beginning of the First World War saw increased tension between religious groups, leading individuals to fight for their national interests. During the First World War, the Protestants had established their roots in Ireland, threatening the present Catholics. The initial British invasion of Ireland associated success with the increased spread of Protestantism. During this invasion, the British established a Reformation, which entailed developing Ireland by building roads and introducing modern farming methods such as the plantation system. The civilization introduced by the British had a cost to the Irish as individuals were required to abandon their language, Irish, and adopt English.
The introduction of penal laws before and during the first World War years encouraged nationalism in Ireland. From the 17th century through the 20th century, some laws prohibited the Catholic clergy from performing certain functions, such as encouraging their members to go abroad for education. Additionally, the penal laws denied the Catholics a chance to establish schools, opposed the bequeath capacity, and even prevented the Catholic churches from owning and retaining land. Politically, the penal laws prohibited Catholic members from holding any governmental offices or entering into any legal profession such as lawyer or judge. For the Catholic Irish to be allowed access to these services and positions, they had to convert to Protestants, and the penal laws encouraged protestant land ownership. The Irish elites viewed the establishment of these postulates as an infringement of the interest of most Irish individuals (Young, 1911). Therefore, they responded to this formulation through demonstrations, strikes, and boycotts to show the British occupants that their culture was equally significant to theirs.
The demographic distribution of both the Catholics and the Protestants facilitated the rise of nationalism in Ireland. Focusing on the populations that practiced Protestantism and Catholicism in Ireland, the former was located in privileged socioeconomic counties. These positions comprised learned professionals such as lawyers and doctors and high social classes with wealthy families. Converse to the Protestants’ distribution, and the Catholics have situated in regions with low socioeconomic statuses, such as poor occupational opportunities where the labor available was farm work and field servants. Along with poor job opportunities for the Catholics in Ireland, they experienced discrimination in their school admission. The partiality in socioeconomic factors ranging from employment to educational opportunities motivated the Irish elites to fight for their interests, such as equal education as the Protestants.
References
Young, C. (1911). ‘An ulster imperialist, nationalism and imperialism.’ The Irish Review (Dublin), 63-71.
Coakley, J. (2011) ‘The religious roots of Irish nationalism and social compass.’ The Irish History 58 (1), 95-114.