Loyalty is one of the most basic emotional instincts of mankind. If a caveman saved the life of another caveman, that caveman would trust the other caveman because he saved his life. Should the caveman ask for something, the other caveman, whom had been saved, would gladly carry it out. Loyalty binds family, it binds friends, it binds nations, binds races, and binds enemies in the grasp of the utmost hatred.

When warfare advanced into an art, generals understood the great benefit of loyalty. If a soldier were 100% loyal to the nation, that soldier would fight to the death, if necessary, in order to defend that of which he is loyal to. One warrior loyal to his lord is worth 10 unloyal warriors. A loyal fighter would rise from being wounded to fight again, he would suffer pain and anguish until either his nation was safe, or until he was dead. So was the importance of loyalty. Generals would then attempt, as best they could, to gain the loyalty of their troops. Loyalty defects spies, it captures cites, slaughters armies, and makes the unworthy general tremble in fear. Loyalty would allow a general to make numerous mistakes with his army before he finally masters his art and conquers all.

In a society abundant with loyalty, battles are fought and won, and the people never lose spirit. But this is never true. No nation has a population or an army that is 100% loyal to the banner of that nation. Loyalty is scant these days, it is hard to attain, there are few chances where one can earn loyal... unless you make the chances yourself. It should be everyone's goal to be loyal to the cause in which they are affiliated with. If you live in your father's house, you should be loyal to your father. If you live on your country's land, you should be loyal to your country. If an army defends you, you should be loyal to that army. If an army aids you, you should be loyal to that army. Such are the ways of gaining loyalty and of giving loyalty. It is better to have a thousand allies than a single enemy, it is better to die your your country than to watch others die for it, it is better to serve than to command.

Nationalism in essence is really loyalty, the loyalty to your nation, to your cause. If you have no loyalty to your nation and or cause, you have no nationalism. Nationalism if something which cannot be taken, it can be broken, but like loyalty, it is hard to break.