How Liberalism, Conservatism, Nationalism, Socialism and Imperialism Shaped The Nineteenth Century

Greetings! This was my final paper for my history class during the fall, I had a fun time writing it so I figured I'd share this knowledge with you all! Enjoy.

How Liberalism, Conservatism, Nationalism, Socialism and Imperialism Shaped The Nineteenth Century

The nineteenth century was the mark of a new emerging modern era. Things were changing rapidly for each citizen all over the globe, forcing a need for change. It was an era defined by intense political, social, and economic transformation. The spread of industrial capitalism, combined with the legacy of the French Revolution and the consequent decline of aristocratic dominance, destabilized long-standing social hierarchies and systems of political authority across Europe. As population density grew everywhere, countries and states quarreled over how things should be governed. Questions on national identity, governance, and economic organization came into play, and the people demanded a resolution. This is where liberalism, conservatism, nationalism, socialism, and imperialism begin to form and take root, all offering themselves up as the one true solution for how society and government should be organized through the rise of industrialization and global competition. Together, these movements reflected how a rapidly changing socio-political landscape made way for competing visions of order, power, equality, and freedom.

As traditional hierarchies were strained under the rapid expansion of industrialization and numerous political revolutions, liberalism emerged as one of the most influential ideological solutions of the nineteenth century. With an emphasis on the Enlightenment period, it flourished under these tense current conditions of the socio-political climate regular citizens were facing, due to its appeal on the importance of individual rights, economic freedom, and a constitutional government.  The aftermath of The French Revolution ideals were a key stepping stone for this ideology. With citizens pushing for needs and principles of liberty and equality, liberalism was a breeding ground for such thinkers. The Revolution destabilized the notion of the dive right to rule and the role aristocracy had in power and politics, whose privileges completely overshadowed the needs of the public. The Revolution was a driving force that showed the commoners and the public too could hold influence and could demand reformation within their state, regarding political justice and social equality. Liberalism demonstrated itself as a suitable framework for reorganizing society around citizenship, legal equality, and representation for the people.  These ideas inspired liberal thinkers to push for representatives of the common folk, the protection of civil liberties and the right to live and exist in a society where justice is present. By applying the vision found in The French revolution, liberalism provided people with both an assessment of present government styles and amendments for the issues at hand.

While liberalism sought immediate change, conservatism responded as its antithesis. Another popular ideology that rose to fame in the nineteenth century, this political philosophy emerged as a reaction to the French Revolution and industrialism, similarly to liberalism; however, it took a different path. This ideology pushed for a more gradual change, rejecting the idea of rapid and immediate reformation that liberalism demanded. This philosophy believed in emphasizing tradition, which meant supporting established institutions (monarchies and churches), seeking stability and a balance of power. The idea supports strong leadership and  especially valued religious roots alongside religious customs. In the aftermath of revolutionary violence and political chaos, many Europeans viewed conservatism as a safeguard against disorder, believing that strong leadership and a clearly defined social structure were necessary to maintain balance within society and repair what had been damaged throughout the years of political and economic turmoil. While liberalism pushed for harsh individualism, conservatism treated society like a being with working parts, where everyone needs to play a part to keep order. The philosophy was a pushback against liberalism, rejecting the idea of a need for extreme individualism (individual rights, democracy, etc). By rejecting the idea of radical individualism and democratic process, conservatism offered itself as a strong counter movement that aimed to restore the primary authority, tradition, and social hierarchy in the nineteenth century. 

Despite conservatism's idea to push for original structures and a rigid hierarchy, socially and governance wise, the nineteenth century was now facing new challenges that could not be solved with the old ways. As people became more mobile, with groups becoming much more ethnically and culturally diverse, the struggle over national identity became even more apparent. Here, nationalism blossomed. Unlike liberalism, which emphasized individual rights, and conservatism, which prioritized inherited authority, nationalism centered political legitimacy on the collective identity of the nation itself. From Confessions of faith, Cecil Rhodes writes, “I have felt that at the present day we are actually limiting our children and perhaps bringing into the world half human beings we might owing to the lack of country for them to inhabit that if we had retained America there would at this moment be millions more of English living.” This gives us an example on how people thought during this time, the intense loyalty to one's state and the need for their citizens to be prosperous and numerous. Nationalism emerged as a solution for people who wanted to find an identity within culture, history and country, which offered a new groundwork for political loyalty. The French Revolution fostered an idea of the sovereignty of “the people” and united them together to fight for their rights as collective French citizens. This identity of being French and loving their homeland brought them together to battle the injustices they faced together. Post French Revolution, the Napoleonic wars took this structure and amplified it, using nationalism to gain support for building a better, bigger France. With the push for conquering and spreading France across Europe, nationalist ideas thrived. Industrialization was also an important player in the spread of nationalism. With the increased sharing of culture, language, customs, media, and the upturn in migration, nationalisms' core beliefs of political loyalty could be shared and encouraged, and people could find themselves in a community. However, this strategy opened up new problems. Political and territorial tensions rose, with economic competition and conversations on the regulation of state power. While nationalism succeeded in forging powerful bonds of collective identity, it did little to solve the deeply rooted social and economic inequalities created by industrial capitalism. As class divisions widened and working conditions deteriorated, many began to ponder whether national unity alone could ensure justice and fairness within a fast paced industrializing society. 

While nationalism unites people by a shared culture and nation, socialism unites citizens through economic class. The core principles of socialism stemmed from the idea of overthrowing the bourgeoisie and rising against capitalism. This was a direct response to the harsh inequalities presented by the industrial revolution, trying to focus on economic class rather than nationalism. Socialists advocated for collective ownership, worker welfare and equality through organized labor in order to aim for a less competitive society fueled by the capitalist and individualistic era. They believed that the overall wealth created by the working class was unjustly taken by the rich, leading to misery and poverty for the lower classes. These views were pushed by prominent key figures such as Karl Marx and Friedrich Eingels with The Communist Manifesto advocating for radical change in a communist leaning narrative. Both discussed class conflict and historical materialism, bringing light to these issues in hopes of replacing capitalism with a more equality focused structure. Their ideologies alongside socialism advocated for democratic decision making- rather than based on individuality- and shared prosperity. With this the ideology fostered the notion of class consciousness and a sense of  shared identity through the struggle felt by the working class. This philosophy favored public control over the means of production for the nation. This ideology left an impact on labor and politics to this day. It gave us the growth of labor unions and the rise of socialist political parties in Europe that we see come into play during WWI and WWII. We see this in Britain, with the growth of trade unions finally giving the working class bargaining power when it comes to their employment (i.e benefits, workers rights, etc) This way of thinking was strong enough to challenge the dominant liberal thinking of the time, and helped develop the 20th century socialist movement. 

As socialism was emerging and busy fighting against capitalistic ideals and inequalities, imperialism grew as an intense type of capitalism. New Imperialism was motivated by the Industrialization of nations that urged for new things; materials, workers, land, etc. They went to conquer these entities by any means necessary, typically colonization.  Africa and Asia were the major regions that faced colonization and economic takeover from imperialism. This political philosophy is extremely predatory, and disregards the needs of the many for the wants of the few. However, lots of technology we see today emerged from imperialism such as steamships and new advanced weaponry like machine guns. This type of governing focused on direct control and manipulation to achieve goals that the nation was working towards, through economic advantages and incorporated territories. European superiority also fueled the fire of New Imperialism, believing that the territories they were accumulating were in a way benefiting from the colonization they imposed upon others. They treated the populations in the territories as second-class citizens, not prioritizing their needs and health. With this they created vast empires through brutal takeovers using the people for cheap labor and fueled consequences that then contributed to the rise of World War I. New Imperialism led to cultural exploitation, the removal of natives from their homeland and also turned them into slaves while exploiting their natural resources for their personal gain. 

With all of these philosophical political ideologies, the nineteenth century was filled with numerous pathways of governance and social stability. Liberalism with its individual identity, conservatism pushing back for the old ways, nationalism and group identities, socialism and shared prosperity and finally imperialism with its forced colonization and economic takeovers. The nineteenth century was an era of absolute change and unexpected bumps in the road. People were struggling, they needed a solution to their problems that made sense and helped them rise up. The days of serfdom and serving the lords and ladies of the land are over, now they enter a new era of serving oneself. These ideologies were tools used by people to find comfort and a sense of belonging in a world of rapid change. To this day people quarrel over which philosophy is correct, which ideology benefits all of mankind. However we know one thing for certain, these philosophies changed the world for good.