NationalismAchieving prevalence as an ideology in the political and social ferment of late 18th century Europe and America, nationalism first found expression during the course of such historical upheavals as the American and French Revolutions. Its founders and early sponsors Rousseau, Herder, Fichte, Korais, and Mazzini looked to nationalism as the manifestation of modern humanity's most essential aspirations: autonomy, unity, identity. Born of notions