Ideologies

In class, we discussed the question: What were the major political ideologies of the 19th century and how did they influence social and political action? An ideology is defined as "A system of ideas or ideals, especially one that forms the basis of economic of political theory and policy" During the 19th century, there were three main ideologies. These were: Liberalism, Conservatism, and Nationalism. Liberalism is the ideology of wanting to benefit everybody, even if it means a little self sacrifice. Conservatism is about protecting the rights of each individual and preserving tradition. Nationalism is having pride in one's nation, and believing that each nation had a role to fill in history. We broke up into six groups, two for each ideology. We then studied our given ideology and created a presentation based on what we learned. After, the groups that had the same ideology presented their work and we decided which presentation had explained the ideology and its beliefs more thoroughly.
Our Presentation: https://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/nationalism/25483240/?s=NwBwk1&ref=app

The group I had was given the ideology Nationalism. We created a presentation using Educreations and explained what Nationalism is, and also examples of Nationalism throughout history. One example we used was when Napoleon Bonaparte came to power and decided to invade Germany, which at the time was just a bunch of separate, small areas that shared culture and ethnics, they decided to band together, seeing their disunity as a weakness. This is an example of Nationalism, where areas with similar culture, history, beliefs, and ethnics become one nation.Nationalism also had effect on the social and political action in Europe at the time. Nationalists in Britain and France wanted strong, expansionist foreign policies, while Nationalists in smaller areas, like Germany and Italy, wanted national unification and to expel foreign rulers, such as Napoleon. This ideology created the country Germany from a cluster of small states that would on their own be vulnerable, but together would become a stronger force in Europe.

The other two ideologies were Liberalism and Conservatism. Liberals believed that "everyone" had God-given rights, and not just the aristocracy or monarch. However, these rights did not include women or the poor. They also supported lots of innovation and reform, stating that tradition would only hold people back. They also had effect on the political standpoint of Europe, campaigning for constitutional monarchies and wanting an end to Church privileges. These Liberals came from the middle class of Europe, wanting to cut the gap between them and the upper class. Conservatives, on the other hand, wanted to preserve tradition and live by it. They thought that since the traditions had worked for centuries, why would they want to abandon them, including traditional monarchies and aristocracies. They also hated revolutions, most notably the French Revolution, because they are bloody and cause chaos. They were from the upper, wealthier class of Europe, and wanted to preserve the rights that they had which the lower classes didn't.

Ideologies Article:
http://www.edline.net/files/_5KHVp_/699aa9d9c545a3533745a49013852ec4/Ideologies_Summaries_PDF.pdf