Extreme Nationalism Nationalism can be defined as having a sense of belonging and loyalty to a particular nation. It occurs when a group of people whose members unite as a whole and want to form their own nation. France was one of the first countries to exhibit nationalism. Many countries were influenced by the French ideas of nationalism and as a result, nationalism spread throughout Europe by the nineteenth and twentieth century. The result of nationalism on Europe was the wanting of unification. The people of the nation states wanted to belong to a country of their own. Italy and Germany were soon unified