ABSTRACT
The original ideas of political thinkers on the aims and significance of nationality, however, were usually so altered in the course of their realization that the result was totally different from, and even antagonistic to, what they had expected. In the last Great War, in particular, many famous German scholars accused the English and the French of having developed systems of thought favourable to the growth of a public spirit and of political doctrines Which brought about the war. The main contribution of romantic thought to the national ideology was the stressing of the idea of national individuality, and the attempt to describe and compare the individuality of the Germans with those of other nations. Romanticism, the revolt of sentiment against reason and against a sophisticated civilization, also developed at the same time, often in close alliance with traditionalism. The extreme Individualism professed by most Utilitarians proved untenable both in social questions and in regard to the Empire.
