60 Seconds of Conservatism, Liberalism and Nationalism

In our ideologies lesson, we focused on the three major ideologies of the 19th century. These were liberalism, conservatism and nationalism. We began our first activity by writing the definitions that we believed went with each ideology. This was to prevent misconceptions, and make clear the differences between how these words were used today and how they were used in the 19th century. Today, someone who is a conservative is viewed as being more strict and close minded, but the definition was very different in the 19th century. Then, it meant someone who wanted to keep the church and monarchy in power, and did not believe in innovation. They believed that if something had worked in the past then they should change it. Since these definitions are so different, they change your opinion on  the person who claims to believe it. Because of this, it was important to clarify between what these words are used for today and how they were used in the 18th century. We then were split into groups and given a specific ideology, where we would make a 1 minute video answering the essential question for our ideology. The essential question was; What were the major political ideologies of the 19th century and how did they influence social and political action?



My group had the ideology nationalism. For our 1 minute presentation, we chose to do an educreations video where we explained the social impact, the political impact and examples of nationalism during the 19th century. We defined our ideology by saying that it was the bringing together of nations through shared language, culture, and history. This means that the people in a country were brought together and connected by their language, culture and history, and therefore made stronger by this bond. It impacted the social aspect of countries in the 19th century because people were brought together because of their shared culture. An example of this is when the Italians and Germans were ruled by Napoleon, they learned that if they came together as a nation then they would be stronger. It impacted the political action of countries in the 19th century because it was believe that they needed to come together to fulfill their "historic role" as a nation, and progress as a humanity. An example of this is Adresses to German Nations was written to urge the german people to unite for the greater good.


I learned quite a lot about the other two ideologies, Conservatism and Liberalism, by the other groups 60 second presentations. I learned that conservatism supported the church and the monarchy, and opposed innovation and reform. People who believe in conservatism believe completely in tradition, and not changing it. They do not believe in meritocracy, and instead believe in aristocracy. They thought that innovation led to bloodshed and fighting, so they were very much against it. They supported tradition and thought that it was the only trustworthy way to have social and political action. I learned that Liberalism is the idea that enforces preserving the rights of the people. Adam Smiths "invisible hand" is an example of Liberalism because people have the right to do what they want. Unlike conservatism, Liberalism supported meritocracy, meaning that people were elected based on their skills and not their social class.