by Giuseppe MAZZINI, Camillo CAVOUR, and Giuseppe GARIBALDI, occupied much of the century. Germany, a mere grouping of states in 1815, was unified under the direction of Prussian chancellor Otto von BISMARCK in 1871. The many national groups in the Austrian empire became increasingly restive during the 19th century and finally achieved independence at the end of World War I. In the interwar years exaggerated German nationalism culminated in the excesses of NAZISM. Italian FASCISM was also based on strongly nationalistic principles.
             The power of nationalism can be seen in the history of modern SOCIALISM, which began as an international workers' movement. When World War I broke out in 1914, the European socialist parties abandoned internationalism and supported their national governments. The Soviet Communists who took power in Russia in 1917 proclaimed the beginning of an international movement in behalf of working classes everywhere, only to become nationalistic as time went on. Communists in other countries, such as China and Vietnam, have developed their own types of nationalism.
             Nationalism spread in Asia and Africa during the struggle against colonialism after World Wars I and II. Nationalist movements succeeded in such important countries as Egypt and India. Within the first 25 years after World War II, 66 new nations were created. Today nationalism remains a strong ideology and an important force in world politics. It was a contributing factor in the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the motive force behind the violence in what was Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.
             The Italian Risorgimento (resurgence) was the liberal, nationalist movement for unification (1796-1870). Its origins lay in a nationalistic reaction against the invasion and occupation of Italy by Napoleon Bonaparte (later NAPOLEON I), and it culminated with the annexation of Rome in 1870.
             The Risorgimento was not an irresistible forward movement of liberal ...