Untitled Essay, Research Paper
The Emergence of Nationalism By the end of the Middle Ages in the14th century, a new belief of nationalism appeared in Europe. Simultaneously, the feudal system was crumbling. The Hundred Year War helped develop nationalism, because the commoner had become more of a necessity in battle, thus making the nobility a less significant force. The peasants revolts, due to many economic and social problems of the day, weakened the feudal system by giving more power to the commoners, which in turn reduced the gap between the rich and the poor. Also, the commoners loosing faith in the church, because of the coruption in it made them turn from from the church, and towards their new found nation. The hundred year was a major cause that led the nationalistic movement. While fighting the war soldiers, who many were commoners, started to become more and more important. The commoners were used as footsoliders and were a very effectice force when tought how to use the new weaponary that came about during this time. The long bow was a deadly which the pesants used, it would destroy the enemines knights, by killing their horses beneath them. Also during the war the peasant became very loyal to thier King, and they began to think that they were one as a whole. With the idea as they are a whole, they developed the idea of they were a nation. This is personified by the letter that Joan of Arc, a French commoner wrote to the king of England and other nobility. In this letter she mentions that she wants the English out of her nation of France, and that she is willing use force to get them out. This was a commoner talking to the King of England as if they were equals. The idea of nationalism implied in the letter and basically says that, we French are sick of the English in France and we want you out and are willing to go to war to drive you out. War also cost the king a lot of money. So the king had to go to the pesants to get funds for the war. When he needed more money to fight the wars he taxed the lower class. As the wars went on the peasants were taxed more and more, which eventually led to the peasants revolting. The feudal system, which was what everything in Europe was based on, started to collapse when the peasants started to revolt. There were many factors which caused the peasants to revolt. One major factor was taxation. In England alone, the peasants had to pay four new taxes in a five year span. As the nobility and the king got richer, the poor got poorer. The lower classes were over worked and paid meager wages. The peasants decided that they wouldn’t take it any longer. The peasants began to attack the tax collectors, who happened to be nobility. They blamed this problem on the nobility, and all this time they still loved their king. They thought that he had nothing to do with it. With the revolts the peasants gradually received more power and respect from the nobility and the king, and they were also beginning to be feared because they were the majority of the population. The revolts led to the enpowerment of the common man. With this new found power and respect the gap between the rich and the poor became less. And the feudal system began to crumble even more. With the collapse of the feudal system, the people turned to idea of nationalism more and more. With the people turning to nationalism, they turned away from the church. The church had once been the most powerful aspect in all of Europe. The church had control of everything. The people loved the church because it was their direct connection with God, and it was one of the lower classes only form of entertianment. Once problems in the church began to arise, the people backed away from the church, with no one to turn to. So they ended up turning to their king. There were many contributing factors to why the people turned away from the church. One is that during the Black Plague the church refused to fulfill the sacraments. The people became outraged, they had given so much money to the church and now they refused to fulfill a loved ones sacraments. Also people started to listen and go to people like Catherine of Sienna, who was a saint and supposedly stigmatic. She tried to fill the void which the church had left. And people started to listen to men like John Wyclif. John Wyclif who was a preacher at Oxford University, and said that the priesthood should not be have any authority over the people. He also stated that the church is corrupt and that no mortal man can perform miracles, God alone can only do that. With that people started to loose faith and the church began to collapse, and the people looked for leadership and found thier king, and with that idea of a nation is formed. With the new idea of the nation formed, future history is greatly affected. More wars are fought for the betterment of the nation. Countries are formed within the nations. And with the countries come the expansion of the countries with colonies. And more wars are fought. People eventually gain more rights and freedom. More wars are again fought to protect peoples freedom and for the nations own national intrest. All of this stems from the formation of nationalism and the nation. There were many factors that led to the formation of nationalism. War and the idea of us, not them helped to establish the foundation of nationalism. The idea that you are fighting for your King and your nation. Also the revolting peasant were a contributing factor to destroying of the old idea of the feudal system, which led way for the nationalistic movement to grow. Finally the people loosing their faith in the church and turning to the king for new leadership. All of these factors contributed to the rise of the new idea of nationalism and the nation. 1
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