Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

Nationalism is the belief of that one's greatest loyalty should not be to a king or to an empire but to a nation of people who share common culture and history. Nationalism is having pride and loyalty to your country. Religion, language, history, culture, money and territory all contribute to nationalism. The biggest cause for nationalism in the world is because of the French Revolution. Before the French Revolution the people that lived in France didn't consider themselves French, all they knew is that they spoke the language and that they paid taxes to their government.

I am nationalistic to the United States because I celebrate the 4Th of July, I speak the common language of the country, and use the dollar to pay for things. But I am also nationalistic to Colombia because my parents are from there which makes me Colombian as well. I celebrate Colombia's independence on July 20Th with my family, I also speak the common language and i use their currency when I go there. You are nationalistic because you pay taxes to this country to help the government have a strong country.

Nationalism was used to create the Nation of Italy. Italy was one of the countries to form empires. Before Italy became a nationalistic country, it was very separated. Each region had its own ruler or king. Italians were tired of being ruled by foreign rulers; Giuseppe Mazzini was a ruler who supported nation-states. He believed that having nation-states was the best hope for democracy and in the countries of Europe. His main goal was to unite Italy, because it wasn't united because of they multiple empires throughout the country. However many wars broke out because of disagreements between Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini; who was an idealist. Piedmont-Sardinia was the largest and most powerful state in Italy. Camillo Di Cavour worked very hard in order to expand Piedmont-Sardinia's power. He not only achieved his goal but he united Italy. Now Italy was finally united with the help of these two people.

Simon Bolivar and the Latin American Revolutions

The way I look at it Simon Bolivar made his parents proud. Even though his parents died before he was a teenager, if his parents were alive during all of the revolutions that toke place in South America, they would be proud. Simon Bolivar was born on July 24, 1783 in Caracas, Venezuela. When his parents died they left him a fortune, which he used in the best way he could. As a young man he traveled to Europe to finish his education. When he was nineteen he married a beautiful young lady from Spain. When Simon and his wife went back to Simon's country (Venezuela), his wife died of yellow fever just after a year of living in Venezuela.

Now Simon Bolivar was back in South America, he wanted to help the south American countries gain their independence from Spain. In 1810 he tried to get the independence of Venezuela but was not successful, but he tried and tried until it happened in 1813 and gained control of Venezuela. Then in December of 1819, Simon announced the establishment of The Republic of Colombia. He made himself the leader of this great country but he wasn't a good leader. Next he freed Ecuador from the Spanish with multiple battles. He then moved into becoming the dictator of Peru, since that didn't work he became the president. His presidency didn't last long because Peru broke up into two different countries; Peru and Bolivia.

Before Simon even knew he fought against the Spanish to gain independence for most of South America's countries. He had a country named after him; Bolivia. But most importantly he was heavily influenced by The French and American Revolutions. The constitutions that were made for the countries in South America, are very similar to those of France and The United States. Due to all his accomplishments he is know as "Simon Bolivar: El Libertador" or some people referred to him as "The George Washington of South America." He deserves both of these labels for everything he did. His accomplishments of freeing six countries from Spain, giving them their independence, made him one of the most important political leaders in history. Simon Bolivar died on the island of Santa Marta, Colombia on December 17, 1830 of tuberculosis.