The Addresses to the German Nation (German: Reden an die deutsche Nation, 1808) is a political philosophy book by German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte that advocates German nationalism in reaction to the occupation and subjugation of German territories by Napoleon's French Empire following the Battle of Jena.
Overview
Fichte delivered the addresses in the circular hall of the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin during the winter of 1807–08.
In the work, Fichte emphasised the distinctiveness of German language, traditions, and literature as defining elements of German national identity.
According to Bertrand Russell in his History of Western Philosophy, Fichte's work laid the theoretical foundations of German nationalism.