The Rise of Nations and Social Ideologies in 19th Century Europe

Unification of Italy

Before 1870, Italy was divided into many states and regions:

• The Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, an independent kingdom ruled by King Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy.
• Milan (west-central) and Venetia (Venice, northeast) were states under the sovereignty of the Austrian Empire.
• Duchies (small states like Parma, Modena, and Tuscany) were on the Italian mainland.
• The Papal States (including Rome and the Vatican).

Key Figures:

• Victor Emmanuel II: Initiated the unification of Italy from Piedmont, favoring a monarchy.
• Giuseppe Mazzini: Also sought the unification of Italy, advocating for a republic.

Ultimately, a monarchy was established in Italy, led by King Victor Emmanuel II with Camillo Cavour as Prime Minister. Key dates include 1815 and 1848. France was allied with Italy against its enemies: the Austrian Empire and the Vatican.

Unification of Germany

King William I of Prussia and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck had the support of the Germanic peoples. The unification of Germany was achieved in 1870.

Features:

• Monarchy of the old regime.
• A free bourgeoisie.
• It was economically less traditional than the unification of Italy.

Allied countries included Italy. Enemy countries included France, Austria, and Denmark.

Class Society

Money now defined social standing, with the bourgeoisie managing and possessing wealth. The bourgeoisie increasingly enriched themselves, but at the expense of the proletariat, exploiting the lower classes, especially children and women.

Social Divisions:

• Residential Neighborhoods: Characterized by capitalist luxuries for the bourgeoisie.
• Working-Class Neighborhoods: Home to the proletariat.

Lower Class or Peasantry

• Laborers: Rural farmers, with little money, living off their land.
• Working Masses: Urban proletariat, earning low wages, working at the pace of machines; their main diversion was the bars.

Types of Socialism

Utopian Socialism

Early socialist thought, originating in France. Key figures included Henri de Saint-Simon and Charles Fourier.

Marxism

Developed by thinkers like Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, it sought to end capitalism and analyze its structure. It argued that capitalism would inevitably face major contradictions. It predicted that workers would increasingly gain power while the aristocracy would lose it.

Marxists believed that the increasingly powerful bourgeoisie would become more hated, leading to a class struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, with the aristocracy ultimately losing power.

Contributions of Marxism

• History is a succession of class struggles.
• The working class was to carry out a policy of state conquest (revolution).

The International

The First International

Based in London, it organized labor movements across the continent. It ultimately caused a division between socialism and anarchism.