Ultranationalist Beliefs

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When a group of individuals feel extreme devotion and patriotism to their country, ultranationalist sentiments and individuals may begin to develop condescending attitudes to a specific minority group. Through these self-conceited attitudes, crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes become more prominent due to the desire to achieve personal beliefs and values. Peer pressure has motivated ordinary people to commit such crimes due to influences from indoctrination, scapegoating, and through the use of force and terror. This source describes that through these dictatorship techniques, common, ordinary citizens begin to develop severe ultranationalist beliefs in order to protect their own country’s glory. These ultranationalist beliefs…show more content…
Through force and terror, many countries wanted to acquire more territorial land for their country. An example that demonstrates this use of force and terror was Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia. Mussolini had always wanted to control Ethiopia due to their abundant natural resources. To accomplish this, he attacked the Ethiopians and used force and terror to demand their surrender. There were approximately 700,000 Ethiopians due to this dispute mainly displayed through Mussolini’s use of force and terror to control territory. Italy had achieved a decisive victory through the use of force and terror towards the Ethiopians and Mussolini’s promises and pressure to attain glory towards Italy. This example demonstrates peer pressure towards another foreign country when one country wants to establish control over the foreign country. Mussolini and many of his supporters developed ultra-nationalistic beliefs that Italy was the most superior country and was destined to rule the world. Peer pressure is displayed when Mussolini pressures the Ethiopians to give up their territory or else they will use physical force to obtain the territory. Ordinary Italian citizens were influenced by Mussolini and gave into this form of peer pressure. Many Italians began to develop ultra-nationalistic feelings to achieve pride and glory for their country, while devaluing other minorities. Many were also inspired by many of Mussolini’s promises. Thus, they used force and terror to achieve what they wanted and fulfilled these ultra-nationalistic
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