Background
Nationalism is feelings of strong devotion to one's country.  Nationalism develops among people who usually share a common language and history.  It can be an unifying force, as in Italy and Germany during the late 19th century.  Or, it can be a dividing force, as in the Balkans during the late 20th century.

Italy
Since the fall of the Roman Empire, Italy had been divided among many City States.  After the invasion by Napoleon, and subsequently, most of Italy being given to Austria and Spain, nationalistic feelings caused the Italian people to unite and move toward unification. The three great leaders of this movement were Guiseppe Mazzini, Count Camillo Cavour, and Guiseppe Garibaldi.  Mazzini started a group called Young Italy in 1831.  Young Italy was a nationalistic movement that wanted to end foreign control. Cavour was the Prime Minister of Sardinia, a large Italian State.  He formed alliances with other foreign powers to help end Austria's and Spain's control. Garibaldi was a military leader whose Red Shirt army liberated most of southern Italy, before conquering the northern section.  After foreign control was ended, Italy chose Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia as King.  After unification, Italy faced many problems trying to build a national unity.

Germany
Like Italy, Germany was composed of many independent states.  After Napoleon's invasions, nationalistic feelings began to grow, and a movement for unification was started.  However, at the Congress of Vienna, Prince Metternich stopped unification from occurring before the movement grew to large.  However, in the 1830s, the German state of Prussia, formed a trade union among other German states called the Zollverein.  This agreement brought the German states closer together economically and was the first step toward unification.

Otto von Bismarck was appointed chancellor of Prussia in 1862, and began the work of unifying Germany.  While Bismarck may have used German nationalism as a tool to achieve his goals, he was not a nationalist.  In fact, Bismarck only sought to unify Germany to further strengthen Prussia, and make the Prussia king the ruler of all Germans.  Bismarck's policy to unify Germany was called Blüt und Eisen, or Blood and Iron.  This was a policy of war designed to give Prussia control of all of Germany.

By 1871, Germany was united under the leadership of the Prussian King, Kaiser Wilhelm I (William I).  Kaiser is a term taken from the Roman Caesar, meaning emperor.

Meiji Restoration
Nationalistic feelings in Japan led daimyo and samurai to rebel against the Tokugawa Shogunate and restore the Emperor to power.  The Emperor Meiji began a process of rapid modernization and industrialization to strengthen Japan against Western control. Within a few short years, Japan became a strong industrial and military power, and began a series of military conquests across Asia. 

Zionism
Zionism was a Jewish nationalist movement to establish a homeland in Palestine.  This movement began in the late 1800s, as anti-Semitic feelings intensified in Europe.  The main leader of this movement was a journalist by the name of Theodor Herzl.  Herzl's dream of a homeland for Jewish peoples was realized in 1948 with the creation of Israel.

India
India had been controlled by the British Empire since the 1700s.  Over time, nationalistic feelings grew among the Indian population and a movement was began to first establish self rule, and then complete independence.  In 1885, Indian nationalists formed the Indian National Congress to achieve these goals.  In 1906, the large Muslim population formed the Muslim League to protect their rights, even calling for the creation of a separate state.  In 1947, India gained their independence from Great Britain, due in large part to the strong leadership of Mohandas Gandhi.  At the same time, Britain created East and West Pakistan as Muslim states separate from India.  East Pakistan later became Bangladesh.

Africa
Africa had been under the control of Europeans since the late 19th century.  A nationalistic movement called Pan Africanism, which emphasized the unity of all Africans, sought to end foreign control.  While some countries managed to achieve independence in the 1920s and 1930s, most would not until after World War II.  Unfortunately, nationalistic feelings for any particular African nation were weaker than feelings of loyalty to individual tribes.  Because of Tribalism, Africa has faced many problems since independence.  Nationalistic feelings helped to end European Imperialism, but have done little to unify any particular African nation.

Balkans
Nationalism has been a source of conflict in the Balkans for quite some time.  Many different ethnic groups live in this region including, Serbs, Greeks, Romanians, and Bulgarians.  In the 1800s, nationalistic feelings led these people to rebel against the Ottoman Empire.  By 1908, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Romania, and Montenegro had all gained their independence.  However, the weakness of the Ottoman Empire cause instability in this region.  Russia sponsored a nationalist movement called Pan Slavism, which was based on the idea of all Slavic peoples sharing a similar heritage.  Serbia took advantage of this idea in an attempt to gain more land.  This brought them into conflict with Austria-Hungary, and ultimately led to the start of World War I.

Nationalism continues to be a source of conflict in this area.  After the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the different ethnic groups in Yugoslavia began to war with each other over control of the country.  This resulted in the breakup of Yugoslavia in different nations.  In the process, many people were killed as a policy of ethnic cleansing was followed.  Ethnic cleansing is the deliberate murder of people based on their ethnic background.  Today, this region continues to face many problems because of nationalism.