After the end of the French Revolution, as empires slowly declined, countries wanted to become independent and develop nation states. One of the first nationalists was probably Johann Gottlieb Fichte, who tried to urge Germans to distinguish themselves from the inhabitants of other nation-states. Many years later, more and more people became interested in nationalism, some in more positive ways than others. Ernest Renan questions the definition of a true nation and what constitutes a nation. However, not everyone agrees with nationalism. John Acton strongly opposed nationalism and argued that its main goal was not freedom. Unfortunately, the negative connotations and slight misinterpretations of each of the pro-nationalist authors' works resulted in wars, both the Great War and World War II. Acton was right to oppose nationalism, as early thinkers such as Fichte, Mazzini, and Renan gave vague notions of nationalism, which contributed to the misinterpretation of literary texts. Fichte championed German nationalism, and in his 1808 "Addresses to the German Nation" he insisted that Germans must act with a certain personality (of being German), "to have character and to be German means without no doubt the same thing” (63). This particular section of Fichte's work is unique and, oddly enough, unprecedented, in that he urges his fellow Germans to stand out and be recognized. He wanted to give them a feeling of hope and even patriotism. Appearing primarily rational and logical, asserting Germany's independence from other nationalities, Fichte's thoughts quickly turn dark and unwelcoming as he describes Germany's potential demise. Fichte said that "we can avoid the downfall of our nation which is threatened by its merger with the front...... middle of paper...... the belief that foreigners were an obstacle to nationality and, consequently, to the unification of the nation. Europe. As mentioned above, Acton was strongly opposed to the concept of nationalism. The question then becomes: what has nationalism led to? This quickly led to war. Once certain expressions became apparent in society, such as “foreign inventions” and “the most intolerable of human beings,” they could only get worse. Many years later, Adolf Hitler invented some of his arguments and beliefs based on Fichte. Fichte, Mazzini and Renan, all nationalists, in their unclear and rather dissimilar descriptions of nationalism and what a nation-state should be, contributed to a misinterpretation of their speech. texts. Acton rightly opposed nationalism, because it ultimately did not provide the freedom that each previous author had hoped for, but in great despair and great war..