Nation-States — Unification of Italy, Germany and Britain

Nation-States — Unification of Italy, Germany and Britain
Posted on 26-03-2022

Nation-States — Unification of Italy, Germany and Britain - Notes

After 1848, nationalist sentiments were often mobilized by conservatives for promoting state power and achieving political domination over Europe. The unification of Italy and Germany came about through this process.

Unification of Germany (1866-1871)

  • In 1848, middle-class Germans tried to unite the different regions of the German confederation into a nation-state under an elected parliament.
  • In Prussia, nation-building acts were repressed by the combined forces of the monarchy and the military and were supported by the landowners called junkers.
  • Prussia took over the leadership of the movement.
  • Otto von Bismarck, chief minister of Prussia, was the architect in the process of nation-building.
  • Prussia emerged victorious after fighting three wars over seven years against the combined forces of Austria, Denmark, and France and the process of unification of Germany was completed.
  • On 18th January 1871, the new German Empire headed by the German Emperor Kaiser William I was declared in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles.
  • The unification of Germany established Prussian dominance in Europe.
  • The new German Empire focused on modernizing the currency, banking, legal and judicial systems.

Unification of Italy

  • Italy was divided into seven states.
  • Only Sardinia-Piedmont was ruled by an Italian princely house.
  • North Italy was under Austrian Habsburgs.
  • The center part was under the Pope.
  • The southern regions were under the Bourbon kings of Spain.
  • During the 1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini formed a coherent program for uniting the Italian Republic and formed a secret society called Young Italy.
  • The failure of revolutionary uprisings both in 1831 and 1848 prompted King Victor Emmanuel II from Sardinia-Piedmont to unify the Italian states.
  • Chief Minister of Sardinia-Piedmont, Count Cavour, led the movement for the unification of Italy.
  • In the year 1859, Sardinia-Piedmont with an alliance with France defeated the Austrian forces.
  • In 1860, Sardinia-Piedmont’s forces marched into southern Italy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and drove out the Spanish rulers.
  • In 1861, Victor Emmanuel was declared the king of united Italy, and Rome was declared the capital of Italy.

Britain has a different history of how it consolidated as a nation-state without uprisings and revolutions. The British Isles were inhabited by ethnic English, Welsh, Scot, or Irish. The English nation grew more in power and wealth, and it began to exert influence over the other nations of the islands.

The concept of nation-states, with England as the center, came in 1688 after the Parliament snatched power from the monarchy. In 1707, the Act of Union between England and Scotland resulted in the formation of the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain’.

To ensure the growth of British identity, Scotland’s cultural and political institutions were suppressed. The British imposed control over Ireland as well. Ireland was deeply divided into two groups, Catholics and Protestants. The English favored the Protestants and helped them establish their dominance over a largely Catholic Ireland.

In 1801, Ireland was forcibly incorporated into the United Kingdom after a failed Irish revolt. The symbols of new Britain were the English language, the British flag (Union Jack), and the British national anthem (God Save Our Nobel King).

Personalities

Otto Von Bismarck: He was the architect of a Prussian consolidation that was also a form of German unification. Once the empire was established, he actively and skillfully pursued pacific policies in foreign affairs, succeeding in preserving the peace in Europe for about two decades.

Kaiser William: Wilhelm II was the last German Emperor (Kaiser) and King of Prussia, ruling the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from 15th June 1888 to 9th November 1918. In newly formed Germany, a lot of emphases was placed on modernizing the currency, banking, legal and judicial systems.

Count Camillo di Cavour: The Chief Minister of Piedmont, Count Camillo di Cavour, helped the king in forming an alliance with France, and they defeated the Austrian forces in 1859. Camillo Paolo Filippo Giulio Benso, Count of Cavour, Isolabella, and Leri, generally known as Cavour, was an Italian statesman and a leading figure in the movement toward Italian unification.

Giuseppe Garibaldi: He was an Italian general, politician, and nationalist who played a large role in the history of Italy. He has been hailed as one of the ‘Fathers of the Fatherland’ for his contribution to the Italian Risorgimento, which unified the fractured nation under one rule. He joined the war along with his armed volunteers called the ‘Red Shirts’. In 1860, Garibaldi and his troops marched into southern Italy and the Kingdom of Two Sicilies.

Dates

1855: The Kingdom of Sardinia participated from the sides of the British and French in the Crimean War.

1858: Cavour formed an alliance with France.

1859-1870: Unification of Italy.

1859: Sardinia-Piedmont formed an alliance with France and defeated the Austrian forces. A large number of people under the leadership of Giuseppe Garibaldi joined the movement.

1860: Sardinia-Piedmont’s forces marched into South Italy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and drove out the Spanish rulers.

1861: Victor Emmanuel II was declared the King of United Italy and Rome was declared the capital of Italy.

1866-1871: Unification of Germany.

1871: The Prussian King, William I was proclaimed the German Emperor.

1905: Slav nationalism gathers force in the Habsburg and Ottoman Empires.

1914: Beginning of the First World War.

 

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