International Conciliation: Race and Nationality

I chose a pamphlet that spoke to the influence of race and nationality on the war in Europe called “International Conciliation: Race and Nationality” by Franz Boas (1915). Ideas of race at this time were much different than they are today. Some people did not see race just as skin color, but distinguished between hereditary differences of peoples from different areas of Europe. So for the context of this pamphlet, Teutonic people, Slavic people, Anglo Saxons etc are all considered people of different races.

Boas started by explaining that there was a common belief that the Great War was an unavoidable war of races. Teutonic people, Slavic people, Latin people and all the other people of Europe had hereditary differences that caused animosity from the people of the other races. This was referred to as “racial instinct” and was the idea that people of different appearances and mental characteristics were incapable of living harmoniously. Boas then points out the lack of any tangible evidence to support these claims. He additionally explains that each country involved in the Great War has clearly cross bred with the other “races” and that none of the involved nations are homogeneous. So clearly the cause of the war was not hereditary.

Boas goes on to suggest that what many had seen as racial constructs were actually national constructs. People determine someone’s nationality by the habits that their society has taught them. Many of the emotions that people attributed to racial differences were still present, however they were caused by nationalism and not hereditary differences. This brings to attention the advantages and disadvantages of nationalism. On the one hand, nationalism serves to set definite ideals for a large group of people that can then work together to achieve those ideals. On the other hand, one of the primary lessons that nationalism teaches is that your country is superior to others and its goals should be prioritized over the goals of other nations. In other words, nationalism enforces the idea of national isolation and governmental inadaptability. This side of nationalism caused the animosity between European Nations which then led to the Great War.

Boas then brings up the idea of the federation of nations. Now in 1915, this was a nascent concept that few considered achievable. However, Boas clearly stated that the Federation of Nations was inevitable. Simply by looking at the history of human development the size of groups was always growing. From tribes to towns to cities to nations to empires, people’s social circles were always growing. Looking around today, he was completely correct. Only a few years after this pamphlet was published Wilson attempted to create the League of Nations. After World War II the United Nations was created. Now there are international accords that nearly all of the developed nations of the world participate in, clearly indicating the accuracy of Boas’s prediction. The main force that kept the federation of nations from becoming a reality was nationalism. Nationalism prioritized national self preservation over the interests of any other nation. This is exactly what happened at the end of World War I with the Treaty of Versailles.

Boas quickly repudiates the notion that race and genetics has anything to do with the cause of the war in Europe. The way Boas focuses on the concept of nationalism provides helpful insight on understanding what caused the start of WWI and what fueled it throughout the war. National pride was unique in that it united large groups of people and created a common goal but at the same time caused massive divisions from other nations and made international cooperation seem almost impossible. Even with all of these national differences, Boas was still confident that countries would put aside some of their differences to form some kind of international federation of nations.