19th-Century Unifications: Japan, Italy, Germany & USA

The Opening of Japan to Trade in the 19th Century

The United States and the Opening to Japan, 1853: On July 8, 1853, American Commodore Matthew Perry led his four ships into the harbor at Tokyo Bay, seeking to re-establish, for the first time in over 200 years, regular trade and discourse between Japan and the Western world.

Why Was Commodore Perry Sent to Japan?

Perry, on behalf of the U.S. government, forced Japan to enter into trade with the United States and demanded a treaty permitting trade and the opening of Japanese ports to U.S. merchant ships. The Japanese had no navy with which to defend themselves, and thus they had to agree to the demand.

Italian Unification: Causes and Effects

What Caused the Italian Unification?

Those who stood for a republican government for Italy or a government under the Pope were discredited, clearing the way for the unification of Italy under the monarchy of Piedmont. The failure of the revolts in Italy before the rise of Cavour was due to many causes.

Effects of Italian Unification

This growing sense of nationalism led to the eventual unification. The Italian Unification earned Italy its independence and built its capacity to influence regional politics. Italy, as a unified state, had the capacity to build its armies to protect its sovereignty.

Problems Italy Faced After Unification

• The North was richer than the South.
• Tension between Italy and the Roman Catholic Church.
• Voting troubles.

Results of Italian Nationalism

The Revolutions of 1848 resulted in a major development of the Italian nationalist movement. The Risorgimento was an ideological movement that helped incite the feelings of brotherhood and nationalism in the imagined Italian community, which called for the unification of Italy and the pushing out of foreign powers.

Mazzini's Role in the Unification of Italy

Young Italy was a secret society formed to promote Italian unification: "One, free, independent, republican nation." Mazzini believed that a popular uprising would create a unified Italy and would touch off a European-wide revolutionary movement.

The Monroe Doctrine and the Mexican-American War

The Monroe Doctrine and Its Importance

The Monroe Doctrine was a foreign policy statement originally set forth in 1823, which created separate spheres of European and American influence. The United States promised to stay out of European business and told the Europeans to stay out of the Western Hemisphere's business.

Parties Involved in the Mexican-American War

Mexico ceded nearly all the territory now included in the U.S. states of New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, Texas, and western Colorado for $15 million and U.S. assumption of its citizens' claims against Mexico.

Mexico After the Mexican-American War

The war officially ended with the February 2, 1848, signing in Mexico of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War in favor of the United States. The war had begun almost two years earlier, in May 1846, over a territorial dispute involving Texas. The treaty added an additional 525,000 square miles to United States territory, including the land that makes up all or parts of present-day Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Mexico also gave up all claims to Texas and recognized the Rio Grande as America's southern boundary.

German Unification: Wars and Outcomes

The Three Wars of German Unification

The third and final act of German unification was the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, orchestrated by Bismarck to draw the western German states into alliance with the North German Confederation. With the French defeat, the German Empire was proclaimed in January 1871 in the Palace at Versailles, France.

Result of the Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-German War, also called the Franco-Prussian War (July 19, 1870–May 10, 1871), was a war in which a coalition of German states led by Prussia defeated France. The war marked the end of French hegemony in continental Europe and resulted in the creation of a unified Germany.