Nationalism is an ideology based on the fact that an individual's devotion and loyalty to the nation-state surpasses other individual or group interests: the nation is the central entity that is a sense of identity and belonging for the citizen. They always put their nation first over any other individual, group or country. When people become deeply attached to their nation, they experience emotions toward their nation, usually very intense or excessive. Nations are organisms that seek to be strong and pursue power by any means. Nationalism assumes that every nation has enemies who intend to weaken that nation. It can be offensive to other nationalities when they want to explain how their nation is the best. According to the experience of European states in the 19th century it was one of the causes of war between states in most cases in history. There are several main attributes that can help determine a nationalist group's predisposition toward using violence in war, including direct and indirect causality between nationalism and war. Nationalism was one of the causes of the beginning of the First and Second World Wars, it was also well built in Europe, especially under the Reich Republic of Adolf Hitler in Germany and under Benito Mussolini in France. Nazism and fascism are the most significant example of nationalism in World War II. There are three main characteristics of a nationalist group that determine whether that group will use violence to achieve its ambitions. The first is the statehood status of a group. A defining characteristic of nationalist groups is the desire for a state to be perceived as a whole that represents their unique cultural and national identity. So a nationalist group that has achieved state status is less likely for us... middle of the paper... world war, many countries were excluded from the Treaty of Versailles and did not receive enough share of the Treaty pie. This led to self-interest within countries who wished to demonstrate their power and ability to govern as top leaders. Hitler and Mussolini incited people's nationalist feelings in order to unite their nations. They promised to restore the glory of the nations and placed their countries above all else. Hitler used Germany's supranational pride and raging anti-Semitism as springboards to create one of the most atrocious and morally repugnant governments in the history of the world. Millions of people died due to Hitler's lust for power. Benito Mussolini plunged his nation into a global conflict for which it was woefully unprepared. Aligning himself with Adolf Hitler, he sought world domination, only to lose the support of his own people and, ultimately, his life.