After the end of the French Revolution, as empires slowly declined, countries desired to become independent and develop nation states. Perhaps one of the first nationalists was Johann Gottlieb Fichte, who attempted to urge Germans to differentiate themselves from people of other nation-states. Many years later, more and more people became interested in nationalism, some in more positive ways than others. Ernest Renan questioned the definition of a real nation and what constituted a nation. However, not everyone agreed with nationalism. John Acton strongly opposed nationalism and argued that its primary goal was not freedom. Unfortunately, the negative connotations and slight misinterpretation of the works of each of the pro-nationalist authors gave rise to war, both the Great War and the Second World War. Acton was right in opposing nationalism, as early thinkers such as Fichte, Mazzini, and Renan gave unclear notions of nationalism, which contributed to misinterpretation of literary texts. Fichte supported German nationalism and in his “Addresses to the German Nation” of 1808, insisted that Germans must act with a certain personality (of being German), “To have character and to be German undoubtedly mean the same thing” (63). This particular section of Fichte's work is unique and unprecedentedly interesting, as he urges his fellow Germans to stand out and be recognized. He wanted to give them a sense of hope and even patriotism. Appearing primarily rational and logical, asserting Germany's independence from other nationalities, Fichte's thoughts quickly become dark and inhospitable as he describes Germany's potential demise. Fichte stated that “we can avoid the collapse of our nation, which is threatened by its fusion with the first… the center of the paper… the belief that foreigners are an obstacle to nationality and consequently to the unification of the country. Europe. As already mentioned, Acton was strictly against the concept of nationalism. The question then becomes: what has nationalism led to? This quickly led to war. Once certain expressions such as “foreign inventions” and “the most intolerable of human beings” become widespread in society, their severity is bound to increase. Many years later, Adolf Hitler drew some of his arguments and beliefs from Fichte. Fichte, Mazzini and Renan, being all nationalists, in their unclear and rather dissimilar descriptions of nationalism and what a nation-state should be, contributed to the misinterpretation of their principles. texts. Acton was specific in opposing nationalism, as it ultimately did not provide the freedom that every previous author had hoped for, but in great desperation and war..