The interwar period between World War I and World War II was a time of great change and a time of the continued spread of nationalism world wide. In the 1920's a movement that emphasized the unity of Africans and the people of African descent world wide began. This movement was known as Response area. Among its most inspiring leaders was Jamaica-bornResponse area, who demanded an end to colonial rule. French speaking writers from West Africa and the Caribbean who were living in Paris founded the Response area. Writers of the movement expressed pride in their African roots and culture, and protested colonial rule. Arab nationalism also grew after World War I, and one form of Arab nationalism was Response area, a nationalism movement built on the share heritage of Arabs who lived in the lands from the Arabian peninsula to North Africa. One of the areas where fighting over nationalism was the greatest was in Palestine. This was partially due to the Response area, which showed Great Britain's support for creating a national home for the Jewish people in the Palestine Mandate.

The Response area movement inspired other nationalist movements around the world, including the Indian independence movement led by Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi advocated for nonviolent civil disobedience as a means of achieving independence from British colonial rule in India. In 1947, India finally gained its independence, but at the cost of the Partition, which divided India into two separate countries - India and Pakistan - along religious lines.

In Europe, nationalism also played a significant role in the lead up to World War II. Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany used extreme forms of nationalism - characterized by the belief in the superiority of the "Aryan" race - to gain support and ultimately begin World War II. The Holocaust, or the systematic murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime, was a direct result of this extreme nationalism and racism.

The interwar period was a time of great change and turmoil, with nationalism playing a significant role in both positive and negative ways. The spread of nationalism led to greater awareness and pride in one's ancestry and culture, but also to conflict and violence when taken to extremes.