Nationalism is defined as love of your country. The basis for Canada’s national love of country is focused around three main ideas; devotion, sacrifice and willingness to die. These characteristics are displayed in the play Billy Bishop Goes to War. Thousands of young men were shipped off to war with these three great qualities. Billy Bishop was among those thousands and was an outstanding World War One pilot who displayed the three key qualities that our national love is based upon throughout the play. Being willing to do anything to protect our country and its freedom is nationalism.
Mr. Billy Bishop was an ace World War One pilot who was extremely devoted to being a pilot. Billy was a man who was loyal and courageous. The young, gentle, Canadian man was devoted to what he did, Bishop would practice flying and shooting all the time. “You’ve got to be good enough to get him in the first few bursts, so practice your shooting as much as you can. After patrols between patrols, on your day off. If I get a clear shot at a guy, he’s dead.” (Pg. 69) Billy was a role model for his devotion ...
Billy Bishop’s path to greatness was not an easy one. He encountered many challenges throughout his young life that recognized him as a fiercer fighter pilot and a true hero. Billy Bishop faced an incredibly tough task to achieving his dream of becoming Canada’s greatest ace. Bishop had a tough life at Owen Sound Collegiate. He would be the subject to many jokes and preferred the company of girls. However his anger and fists won him acceptance on the school ground. He was a good natured boy born on February 8th, 1984. In 1911, at the age of 17, his parents sent him Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario due to his mediocre marks in school which his father knew would not allow him to get accepted to the University of Toronto. He was not an academic student and in his third year of high school was found cheating on a class exam which would later be the subject to many controversie...
Many people have been born that have struck a chord with the world. Some people have become legends, patriots and even heroes. Though one person stood out among the rest, this one was not made a hero, but was born to be one. He was a hero at what he strived to be in life and he has captured the attention of the public like no other solider has done before or since. This great Canadian Air Force Ace became one of the legendary figures in 20th century air warfare. With his daring and dramatic dogfights in France, he achieved a record of 72 kills in his many encounters. His role on the ground during the Second World War training pilots changed and inspired a whole new generation of fighter pilots. This man is known as Billy Bishop, the legendary and great Canadian hero who captured and won the respect of his enemies, comrades and the world.
An example that significantly proves this was Canada’s contributions in World War I and its aftermath. As a colony of Britain, Canada entered the first World War under the nationalism for Britain and its citizens. Their loyalty and motivation to fight was still tied to their mother country. However, as fights occurred, nationalism for Britain started to transition to nationalism for Canada and Canadians. The Battle of Vimy Ridge was a victory that marked Canadian nationalism. This was a battle where Canadians fought for Canadians and Canadians won for Canadians. Not only did it increase nationalistic feelings with the Canadians, but it also gave recognition of independence for Canada, from the other countries. This triumph and motivated battle showed many countries and nations that Canada was responsible and capable of handling their own. It proved, that with Canadian nationalism and capability, Canada can be an independent nation. Later, after the war, this caused Canada to be able to sign the Treaty of Versailles under Britain’s signature and as well get representative seats for Canada in the Peace Conferences. These events show how sufficient levels of nationalism causes successful turn outs and healthy recognition from other
The history of Canada was flooded with many influential and incredible events, particularly during World War 1 and World War 2. During the 20th century, Canada got more involved in worldwide events. It was a very important period for Canada; it was where they gained their independence and progressed as a country. After this century, Canada was considered an important and powerful country. The three main 20th century events in Canadian history are the battle of Vimy Ridge, the change of woman’s rights and the battle of Juno Beach.
Is Canada a nation or has its control just switched empirical hands? As Professor Hutcheson asked, did Canada go from "Colony to Nation or Empire to Empire?" This question has greatly influenced Canada's changing identity since her birth as a British colony with Confederation in 1867 to the present day. The purpose of this essay is to critically analyse the shifting Canadian identities between the years 1890 to 1960. The objective is to illustrate Canada's transforming identity by using the novels The Imperialist by Sara Jeanette Duncan, Barometer Rising by Hugh MacLennan, and Fifth Business by Robertson Davies and to connect the stories of each of these works of fiction to the varying political, economic, and social issues of their times. Each book is written by a prominent author, and portrays an accurate reflection of the demanding political, economic, and social concerns throughout the late nineteen and first half of the twentieth century of Canadian history. All of the novels reflect Canada's peripheral view of the world, as opposed to a central point of view, because throughout its history Canada has always been perceived as a secondary player. As George Grant says in his literary piece Lament for a Nation, Canada is "a branch plant society" , meaning Canada is controlled by another power. The essential question is where has Canada's loyalties traditionally lay and how has this shaped the Canadian identity. The Imperialist by Sara Jeanette Duncan, written in 1904 reflects a very British influenced Canada. At this time, Canada is still a British colony under British rule, and the people of Canada are very content to consider themselves British. The novel predominately ill...
For nearly two centuries the inhabitants of New France lived their day to day lives
“Nationalism(n.) - loyalty or devotion to a nation, especially an attitude, feeling, or belief characterize by a sense of national consciousness” (The War of 1812 and the Rise of Nationalism 1). Nationalism was a crucial part of America’s success during the War of 1812; nationalism was reflected in the post-war period through increased national pride, emphasis on national issues, increase in power and scope of the national government, and a growing sense of American identity (The War of 1812 and the Rise of Nationalism 1). The first to arise which was the driving force behind American victories against the British was nationalism. This nationalism was expressed in four ways; patriotism, political, economical and cultural. American patriotism
In order to understand the complexity of the Anti-Americanism, it is important to understand the history and relationship between Canada and the United States. The sentiment was first conceived by the Europeans and the issues it had with the upcoming “rebellious” American culture. Europeans at the time had the tendency to see Americans as, “overconfident and self-important… it was this egocentricity that most aggravated Europeans” (O’Connor, 2004). In its earliest form, the American ideology seemed to be an opponent to the popular European ideology. Which soon became a campaign between “high culture” (the European ideology) and “low culture” (the American culture) and through that rivalry many European citizens held the belief that,
...laughtered anyone who got in his way. He killed millions of people included Jews and Ukrainians. Hitler’s action’s ended up having a negative effect on the way the world viewed him and Germany. National pride is a very important thing to have on calm and a not harmful level. It allows a country to have confidence and the citizens are able to feel proud to live there. Canada is making sure nationalism is practiced at a young age by paying close attention to the secondary school kids. Canada is testing the kids on how well they know the national anthem and then the teachers are going to try to improve the kids’ abilities. This is a great idea because the national anthem is really the first taste of nationalism kids receive. Overall, nationalism is vital in a countries success, but a harmful take on nationalism can cause a country to fail and innocents to be harmed.
Though diversity can be, and often is an asset, in the context of nationalism, so many variations among a nation in conjunction with globalization can cause an observer to believe that in a sense, there is no true Canadian nationalism. Prime Minister Trudeau may have indeed attributed nationalism and the foundation of a nation to will, but a desire to build a nation is insufficient for one to be formed. For a nation to truly be stable and unified, nationalism is key. In turn, then, this nationalism will result in citizens desiring to improve and further their nation. Despite the fact that will has indeed played a critical role in preserving Canada by helping to create nationalism during watershed moments in history such as the Patriote movement, key battles in World war I, and even Québécois movement today, it is i...
Achieving unity within a country is the most fundamental and central goal of a nation. In order for a county to unite, they must first achieve unification in what values they hold to be important. They also need to be in accordance with one another as to how the country works and how they wish to be governed. These factors help create a region's identity and make it different from areas around it. It is a goal most difficult to accomplish due to the discrepancies between cultures, religions, personal beliefs and many other factors that may exist in that area.
One of the common criticisms of national pride is the development of xenophobic, “Us vs. Them” thinking. Living in Canada, a nation which has a relatively small population of approximately 33,390,000, compared to America, a country of an estimated 303,824,000 people (Central Intelligence Agency, 2008), gave me a glimpse of how this kind of thinking can work. Canadian culture is, at its core, incredibly nationalist. Canadians have an irrational fear of cultural dilution at the hands of America's exported entertainment, news, and world politics. Given the fear and righteous self-view of the dominant culture, it is an inevitability that co-cultures separated from the dominant culture by national identity are treated as sub-cultures.
The first thing we should examine is what exactly is meant by “strong national identity”. A very good example of strong national identity is the U.S.. I doubt there is a man on this planet who is not familiar with the U.S.. People immediately recognize their flag, and most people can tell you quite a bit about them. The same is true of Canada, and what do they know of Canada? In 1995 U.S. President Bill Clinton stated his view of Canada in a speech where he declared, “Canada has shown the world how to balance freedom with compassion and tradition with innovation, in your efforts to provide health care to all your citizens, to treat senior citizens with the dignity and respect they deserve...”(Canada Today 9). We were also rated first in the UN’s 1992 “Human Development Index” (9).
Nationalism is way of thinking both political and socially to create a community united by: history, ethnicity, religions, common culture, and language. Numerous effects occurred while establishing a Nationalist community, some effects were a long term impact on Nationalism, and other was short term impacts on Nationalism.
Nationalism is extreme loyalty and devotion to one particular nation, and many Americans are nationalistic about their country. But even though they are loyal to America, defining what it means to be a true American is tricky. Being American is one complex thing, but the concept of being American can not be fully grasped. What it means to be American may in fact be one of the biggest mysteries of all time. Indeed, discovering what it means to be a true American could possibly take an entire lifetime. One thing, however about all true Americans is certain: we are all alike in that each one of us is different from the Americans in important ways. We are diverse in our backgrounds, races, and religions. Nevertheless, we are exactly identical in the we feel toward our country, even though we express our pride in a million different ways.