19th Century European Nation-State Formation: Italy and Germany
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Italian and German Unification
Until the mid-19th century, Italy and Germany were divided into independent states.
The first half of the 19th century saw nationalist movements lead to the unification of these states into two new nation-states.
Italian Unification
It was initiated by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia in 1859.
After gaining support from France, King Victor Emmanuel II and his prime minister, Cavour, fought against Austria and expelled Austrians from Lombardy.
With the help of Garibaldi, they annexed the rest of the Italian peninsula, including Venetia and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Unified Italy became a constitutional monarchy, with Victor Emmanuel II as its king.
Unification ended in 1871, after the annexation of Rome in 1870, which became the capital of the new kingdom.
German Unification
This process was led by Otto von Bismarck, the Prussian chancellor, beginning with a conflict with Denmark over the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.
After defeating Denmark in 1864, Prussia further increased its control and influence in northern Germany, leading to the Austro-Prussian War in 1866.
France opposed the Prussian expansion and entered the war, being defeated in 1870; they subsequently lost Alsace and Lorraine.
Bismarck established the Second Reich (German Empire) with Wilhelm I as its Kaiser.
Enlightenment Influences and Ideologies
Liberalism (L)
- Origins in Enlightenment ideas that had influenced the American War of Independence and the French Revolution.
- Emphasized individual freedoms and represented the interests of the bourgeoisie.
Key Principles:
- National sovereignty
- Constitutional monarchy
- Separation of powers
- Limited suffrage (male property owners)
- Freedom of association, expression, and religion, as well as freedom of the press.
Nationalism (N)
- Defended the right of people who defined themselves as nations to establish their own independent states.
- Many nationalist movements originated in the struggle of certain countries and regions to free themselves from domination by Napoleon.
Key Principles:
- National sovereignty
- Form of government: the one that each nation prefers
- Independent nation-states with clearly defined borders
- Repopulation: people with common history, language, and culture to achieve a well-integrated society.
Democracy (D)
- People have the right to participate in politics.
- It expressed the demands of the middle and working classes in opposition to the inequalities produced by industrial capitalism.
Key Principles:
- National sovereignty (and republic)
- Opposition to monarchy, viewing it as incompatible with democracy
- Universal manhood suffrage
- Political parties should defend the rights of the middle and working classes against the upper class.