Unit Essential Question: Is nationalism the most powerful force in shaping the geopolitical world?

Aim: What role did nationalism play in unifications of Italy and Germany?

GLOBAL NATIONALISM
TASK: In class you were assigned one of the following statements:

 Italian and German unifications were both inevitable;

 Italian and German unifications were both forced;
 Italian unification was inevitable, but German unification was forced;
 Italian unification was forced, but German unification was inevitable

As you read, annotate and look for evidence that supports the statement that you were assigned (and refutes the other
statements!). After you finish reading create a thesis paragraph that includes a contextualization, arguments containing a
historical reasoning skill, and three groupings.

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Nationalism’s Role in Political Revolutions

Nationalism is an unusual force, because it acts in a variety of ways. It can work to bring people together as it did in the case of the Italian and
German States. However, it can also work to pull apart existing countries. After World War I (1914-1918), nationalist groups within Austria-
Hungary revolted and the empire disintegrated into a number of small
nation-states such as Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. In recent Types of Nationalist Movements
times, the world witnessed nationalist movements breakup of The
Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia. Today nationalism
continually threatens the unity of Canada, Spain, and Balkan countries.
Movement Characteristic
A number of different factors contribute to the development Unification Culturally similar lands merge
of nationalist feelings- common goals, purpose, language, religion, together.
history, government, culture, and tradition. Not all of these factors
need to be present for nationalism to exist. For example, there is Separation Culturally distinct groups try to
nationalism in the United States, but there is no religious unity.
break away from a state.
Nationalism’s Role in the Unification of Italy
At the time of Julius Caesar, when “all roads led to Rome,” Italy was the
center of European civilization. During the Renaissance, the Italian city-states
represented the height of European culture and achievement. But by 1815, Italy had
become nothing more than a geographic expression, divided into several small states,
dominated by the influence of the more powerful Austrian and French Empires, and the
Papal States. When Napoleon swept through Europe in the early 1800s, he sparked the
revolutionary concept of nationalism. Thanks in part to Napoleon, Italians began to
think of themselves as members of a larger group who shared not only a history and a
language, but also a destiny to be brought together into a single state, ruled by a unified
Italian government. The Congress of Vienna, however, ignored the desire of the
Italians for their own nation and supported the control of the Papal States and Austria
over much of the region.

Stage One of Unification: Camillo di Cavour

 Unit Essential Question: Is nationalism the most powerful force in shaping the geopolitical world?
Aim: What role did nationalism play in unifications of Italy and Germany?

In 1852, Count Camillo di Cavour was appointed Prime Minister of Piedmont and Sardinia by King Victor Emmanuel II. Cavour once
called unification "nonsense," but he opposed Austrian domination. Thus, he joined the nationalist movement, hoping to create a unified Northern
Italy governed by a liberal constitution. Cavour contributed to the first stage of unification in several key ways. Using skillful diplomacy, and well-
chosen alliances, he set about gaining control of northern Italy for Sardinia. First, he secured an alliance with France in 1858 and prepared for war
with Austria, hoping to acquire the Austrian-held states of Lombardy and Venetia. The war went well for Cavour. Victories over Austria liberated
Italian territories. The state of Piedmont was then able to unite Northern Italy when nationalists staged popular votes called plebiscites in various
territories. The people of these territories overwhelmingly voted to join Piedmont. Because of his skillful diplomacy and negotiation, Cavour has
been commonly nicknamed “the Brains” of Italian unification.

Stage Two of Unification: Giuseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi was willing to die for Italian unification. More liberal than Cavour, he
had a vision of a progressive society that supported workers’ rights, self-determination, and
women’s freedoms. Garibaldi led a small led a small army of red-shirted patriots into
Sicily in Southern Italy and received massive support from many Sicilians. In battle,
Garibaldi always wore a bright red shirt, as did his followers. They became known as the
Red Shirts. Successful in Sicily, Garibaldi and his Red Shirts entered the Italian mainland
with the intentions of moving north. He secured the independence of southern Italy from
its French rulers. Garibaldi then faced an important decision. Meanwhile, the Northern
Italian state of Piedmont had succeeded in acquiring northern Italian territories from
Austria, and in unifying Northern Italy. Garibaldi then faced an important decision.
Although he detested kings, a refusal to unite with Piedmont could have resulted in an
Italian civil war. In the name of unifying Italy in peace, he agreed with Count Camillo
Cavour of Piedmont to step aside and let King Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia
rule a united Italy. For his military achievements, Garibaldi is often nicknamed “The
Sword” of Italian unification.

Stage Three of Unification: The “Soul”

Hailing from Genoa, Guiseppi Mazzini was a writer who first rallied Italian
nationalists through Young Italy, an organization dedicated to unifying Italy in the causes of democracy and social reform. The group’s motto was
“God and the People,” and its basic principle was “one, independent, free republic.” Considered a dreamer by some, he used his writing to inspire a
new generation of Italian nationalists to secure independence and create a moral society. Mazzini stated, “Before associating ourselves with the other
Nations, we must exist as a Nation… You Italians must form a Country, because without a Country you have no name, voice, or rights.” For his
inspiring writings, Mazzini is often nicknamed “the Soul” of Italian unification.

Bismarck and the Unification of Germany

Few would disagree that next to Napoleon Bonaparte, Otto von Bismarck filled the largest space on
Europe’s nineteenth-century stage. As the principal author of the “German Revolution,” his actions changed the
balance of power in Europe, and arguably led to two major world wars in the first half of the twentieth century.

Nicknamed the “Iron Chancellor,” Otto von Bismarck was responsible for creating the modern German
nation-state. The early history of the German nation-state is similar to that of Italy. The Holy Roman Empire, a
loose union of German states under the dominance and control of the Austrian Empire, dominated central Europe for
centuries. After the Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna (1815) reduced the number of German states and
established a German Confederation under Austrian control. This arrangement ignored the desires of many
Germans for a unified nation-state, as under Napoleon’s empire, Germans had gotten their first taste of unification.
However the leaders of the Congress of Vienna were chiefly concerned with creating a balance of power and
suppressing liberal ideas throughout Europe.

Because of Bismarck’s political efforts in the mid-to late-nineteenth century, Germany went from this loose
confederation of numerous, weak states to a unified empire that rivaled the military strengths of powerful European states like Great Britain and
France. To achieve this, Bismarck never allowed fixed rules or preconceptions to influence his policies. Bismarck became a master of realpolitik, or
“politics of reality,” which emphasized tough-minded and practical actions, instead of moral considerations or ideological ties. With realpolitik
Bismarck was able to create nationalism and annex, conquer, and absorb all of the states of the German Confederation, except for Austria, into
Prussian control. Following Cavour’s example in Italy, Bismarck’s first move to unify the German people was to create a powerful military for the
state of Prussia. Despite constitutional limitations on the size of the military, Bismarck used his position as Prime Minister of Prussia to simply
ignore the Prussian parliament and its constitution and rule as a dictator from 1862-1867. To him, this was realpolitik, the most opportune way for
Prussia to achieve its goals. In his famous “Blood and Iron” speech, Bismarck spoke:

“The position of Prussia in Germany will not be determined by its liberalism (liberals wanted government elected democratically), but by its
 Unit Essential Question: Is nationalism the most powerful force in shaping the geopolitical world?
Aim: What role did nationalism play in unifications of Italy and Germany?

power...Prussia must concentrate its strength and hold it for the favorable moment, which has already come and gone several times...Not through
speech and majority decisions will the great questions of the day be decided- but by blood and iron.”

In 1865, Bismarck conducted a quick and successful war against Denmark to gain territories that had large populations of German speaking people.
Bismarck then began to negotiate with Austria, trying to convince the country to give up its political dominance over the German confederation.
When negotiations with the Austrian Empire didn’t work, Bismarck provoked Austria to declared war on Prussia, which stirred other Germans to
support Prussia through their common ties. Bismarck’s Prussia won the war in just seven weeks, and helped to unify the northern German States.
The rest of Europe snapped to attention.

In 1867, the North German Confederation was established, the first step in Bismarck’s unification dream. The new confederation tried to convince
the southern German states to join, but the benefits of an all-German parliament and a joint army weren’t enough to them. After the success of
provoking war with Austria, Bismarck has a strategic political realization. He realized that provoking a war with France would perhaps motivate the
southern German states to join in on a German confederation by stirring nationalist feelings. This strategic war was easy enough to provoke, since
France was already alarmed at the sudden rise of Prussia’s military strength and the challenge to Europe’s balance of power. In early July of 1870,
the Prussian, King Wilhelm I was in the spa-resort of Bad Ems and was joined there by the French Ambassador Benedetti. The French Ambassador
raised the issue of the Spanish succession (assumption to the Spanish throne). Wilhelm's account of the exchange was telegraphed and sent from Bad
Ems back to Berlin, where Bismarck received it. Bismarck edited the Ems Telegram so as to lead Germans to believe that France had delivered an
ultimatum to King Wilhelm, and the French to believe that Wilhelm had rudely rebuffed a French effort to resolve a diplomatic crisis. Bismarck
made sure that the telegram was published in Paris on the eve of the national holiday, Bastille Day and the feeling of insult combined with French
national pride led to a quick declaration of war by France on Germany. It was realpolitik all over again.

The Franco-Prussian War was over by January 1871, and amid the
flurry of anti-French sentiment, the southern states voluntarily joined
the Northern Confederation, and Bismarck’s dream of a unified
German Unification, 1866-1871
Germany was complete. Already Prime Minister of Prussia, in 1871
he became the Chancellor of the new German Empire. The Congress
of Vienna (1815) had established a balance of five great powers in
Europe- Great Britain, France, Austria, Prussia, and Russia. However
the unification of German states upset this by stripping lands from
Austria and France, (especially upsetting to the French was the loss of
the border territories Alsace and Lorraine), and establishing a united
military and economic power, Germany, in place of Prussia.

The result was fame and honor for Bismarck. He oversaw the new
constitution of the German Empire, which was based on Prussia’s own
constitution. The unification of Germany was also the beginning of a
prosperous period of peace for the new power. Bismarck negotiated
alliances with Austria-Hungary and Italy, and also managed to
preserve peaceful relations with Russia. In this way, Bismarck, who
had waged three brief but strategic wars, helped avoid several more
European wars through his diplomacy.

Chancellor Bismarck soon turned his attention to domestic issues and

all but abandoned his conservative attitude. From 1866 to 1878, Bismarck allied himself with the National Liberals, and he helped establish a
uniform civil and criminal code, adopted the gold standard, moved to free trade, and generally promoted rapid industrialization. He also introduced
the world’s first welfare program, which introduced workers compensation and old age benefits that eventually became a model for the United
States’ own social security system developed under Franklin D. Roosevelt in his New Deal decades later.

Bismarck was against any political group that was against the German Empire, which led him to oppose the left’s Progressive Party and the Catholic
Centre Party, a considerable amount of the population since one-third of the country was Roman Catholic. In 1872 he began a political campaign
against Catholicism. He also aided the creation of a civil marriage, in part to weaken the influence of the Church. He dissolved religious orders such
as the Jesuits, and Church appointments had to be approved by the state.

Where the Catholics were a problem for Bismarck in the 1870s, the socialists became a problem in the 1880s. He went on to call them “rats that
should be exterminated,” harsh political rhetoric that would appear again in a much darker form under the Nazis. He eventually went on to blame
socialists for two assassination attempts on Kaiser William I, and consequently had the Social Democratic Party banned from Parliament.

Bismarck’s success did not last forever. In 1890, Kaiser William II, who disliked Bismarck’s change in foreign policy, dismissed him from office.
Bismarck died a on July 30, 1898, after living out his final years on his estate near the city of Hamburg where he wrote his memoirs and continued to
openly criticize the direction of the new government. He is an important political figure not only because he helped transform a cluster of weak states
into one of Europe’s powerful empires, but because he introduced a new type of skillful politics in shifting his political affiliations in the name of
serving his country.