The Rising of the Nations

The forces of nationalism were thus working in opposite directions: subject nations were gaining strength and organizing resistance against their masters; ruling nations were expanding their boundaries; they tried to liberate their unredeemed brothers in foreign lands or endeavoured to gain colonial possessions. At the outbreak of the Great War, the Powers were still engaged in empire making—or at least in consolidating their empires—almost oblivious of past experiences. Recollections of the great Indian revolt, euphemistically called the Mutiny, were fading; concessions to Indian nationalism were very modest. The violent Chinese rising against Western domination had been put down successfully. Egyptian prosperity had eclipsed Arabi Pasha's aspirations. Subject nationalities outside Europe had scarcely begun to become vociferous. ¹ And even in Europe, only in the Balkan Peninsula had empire-breaking on a large scale been successful.