What Is Western Imperialism?

India can be considered as the most classical example of Western Imperialism’s development and the rise of anti-colonial nationalism; indeed the Indian national movement appears as the precursor of the national liberation fronts that flourished in Asia in the twentieth century. How then would we have imagined that the Indian mobilization would take a national dimension so fast, and the English would leave hurriedly?

In The Nation and Its Past we notice the importance of a common History - first Puranic, then Nationalist - that will gather the people together and help it reaching its maturity. While what forges nationalism undoubtedly is this awareness of belonging to a Nation with a common culture, language, territory… I would add to that

the overriding need for a common enemy which is the only way to unify disparate human groups, i.e the British jāti.
It is therefore important in any integrative process to designate an enemy to fight. This is not proper to nationalism, but nationalism has operated in this mode. Would have Indian history become nationalist if India was not a British colony in the first place?
Nationalism appears as a substitute for the symbolic value of the monarch. The sovereignty emanates from the people now who see itself as an aggregate of individuals who are experiencing relationship by reference to a common historical and cultural background.