Rather than existed since the ancient time, nationalism is anoutcome of the development of human civilizationtill the age of modern nation-state. Based on the pectination of the trajectory ofmajor nationalist wavesin modern history, the paper analyzes the regular pattern of development of several nationalist waves particularly and highlights the double influences of the recent nationalist waves on human beings in order to reveal the regular pattern taken on by the five waves of nationalism from the positive energy of benefiting society to the negative energy of harming the society.