National megalomania is considered in the article from the point of view of its reflection in the language. To denote aggressive nationalism, closely associated with national megalomania, such concepts as “narrow nationalism”, “fierce patriotism”, “zoological patriotism”, jingoism (imperial ultranationalism in Britain and the USA), etc. Chauvinism was usually understood as a French form of national megalomania, more rarely as a combination of megalomania with xenophobia. The word ‘megalomania’ appeared in the foreign policy context in the mid-1880s. This meant the territorial and colonial claims of the great powers, as well as states claiming the role of regional powers. The German equivalent of megalomania, Größenwahn, most often referred to France, with French “epidemic/chronic megalomania” often interpreted as a form of collective psychosis.
political language; xenophobia; nationalism; chauvinism; jingoism; Spread-eagleism; JohnBullism.