Unification of Italy and Germany Essay

In a letter to an Italian friend, Napoleon wrote, “I do not wish to see Italy united. I want only independence. Unity would bring danger to me…” (Doc 11). Despite all of the bitter resentment, Cavour was pleasantly surprised when the northern and central states of Italy called for a fusion, and he returned to power in 1860 (McKay et al

Garibaldi and Cavour were two very influential people in the unification for Italy and without them the unification may not have occurred. Although they both ultimately wanted the same thing, the unification of Italy, they went about it in different ways. Cavour was a highly intellectual man, who orchestrated things from a political stand point ensuring good relations with countries like France, of which without the unification may never have succeeded. Garibaldi on the other hand was more of people’s person, a leader of men who was very direct and his actions such as the taking of Naples and Sicily allowed Italy to unite properly and

Germany started out as a divided nation fighting for dominance in Europe. Otto Von Bismarck was able to take this struggling complexity and unify it. During this process Bismarck turned the small country of Prussia into a powerhouse, growing the population from 11 to 18 million. Bismarck sprung from a landlord class and moved his way up the political ladder as realpolitik, realistic Politician. He was a man of simple ideals; he stressed duty, service, order, and the fear of God. These ideals along with manipulative tactics are what lead Bismarck on his journey of the unification of Germany, proving that without Bismarck’s diplomatic efforts between 1871 and 1890 Europe would not be the stabilized continent it is today.

The political history of Italy is quite extensive. The Greeks were the first to settle in Italy and established colonies in the southern part of the country and in Sicily. There was not a sense of political reality as much as there was a civilization (Windows on Italy- History). While the Greeks controlled the south the Gauls, or Celtic people, ruled the north and the Po Valley. But the most important group to settle in Italy was the Etruscans. Because of their advanced civilization, the Etruscans were the only ones to establish political and cultural ideas before the Roman Empire (Windows on Italy- History). At the end of the Etruscans rule, Rome began a unification of Italy and established Latin to be the general language (Defusco).

Those who agreed that Italy should be unified argued that Italy would not survive in the separated states, would be vulnerable to invasions, and would ultimately be weaker overall. Giuseppe Mazzini, an attorney who was exiled from Piedmont and wanted Italy to be unified so that he could

As president, Bismarck led Germany into unification through his opportunism and his various policies. Charismatic yet aggressive by nature, Bismarck was known for his ability to seize opportunities and manipulate situations to his advantage. It is debatable whether or not Germany would have achieved unification under the power of anyone other Bismarck. In his 1996 book The Problem of the German Nation State, Wolfgang Mommsen said, “Bismarck’s policies- admirable or satanic... occupy centre stage.” This is particularly true for his infamous policy of “blood and iron”. Also, Bismarck’s diplomatic abilities are able to be seen when looking at his foreign policy of 1871 to 1890. Bismarck’s policies and opportunism are predominantly evident when looking at the Three Wars.

While the religious division of the Prussia Protestant and that of the dominating Austria Catholics was an important factor, the opposition from Austria and the rulers were more important. Nationalism became this progressively intensifying cycle that eventually climaxes into war. Many began to put aside the idealistic ideas of society and began to embrace the realities of society as competitive and combative. Under the calculated guidance of Otto von Bismarck, Germany would finally be on the promising path of unification.

The leading drive in Prussia for unification was a man named Otto Von Bismarck. Otto Von Bismarck was a master strategist that initiated a series of

Bismarck was the man who did the most to unify Germany. It was clear that unification was one of his major objective which he announced in his famous ‘Blood and Iron speech’. I was fascinated by how he managed to unify the so many divided states. Thus, my historical investigation examines the question, to what extent was the Franco-Prussian war Bismarck’s final step to unify Germany? To assess whether the Franco-Prussian war was Bismarck’s final step for unifying the loose net of 39 German states or not, the investigation analyses the previous steps made by Bismarck to unify Germany. It investigates the events between 1962, when Bismarck became Minister president of Prussia and 1971, when Germany became officially unified. The events analyzed are the Danish war, The Prussian Austrian war and the Franco Prussian war.

The Italian Unification is a time period during which Italy becomes unified as one country. While trying to unify the country there were obstacles faced and conquered by Mazzini, Cavour, and Garibaldi as they continued to unify Italy. They pushed Nationalism on the people. The problems that were faced during the time of the unification were the Austrian occupation of Lombardy and Venice. Also, the land still belonged to the Pope and not the government which meant that it did not really belong to everyone and didn’t symbolize unification. The last problem is there is an existence of many independent states which means there were states ruling themselves.

”My goal, which was, I believe, shared by most italians at that time, was to unite the country and rid it of foreign powers. Those who gave Italy her freedom would earn her people’s gratitude” (Garibaldi, page 6). During the age of Italian unification, there were three men who fought for her (Italy’s) freedom. Those men were Cavour the brains, Mazzini the soul, and Garibaldi the sword (Chastain).

The main political alignments of the newly unified Italy were the liberalists, socialist and the Catholic Church supporters and they all had different views and opposed each other. When Giolitti was in power he tried to win over all the key groups in order for them to accept and support the liberal state, however he was unable to do so because in trying to please one section he would end up alienating the other.

These differences and obstacles that were diving Italy weren’t although a bi problem because the people felt that there was a connection between them and that’s why most of the citizens welcomed Garibaldi when he came to liberate them from their kings.Garibaldi could still not do this alone because he needed the support of a high and influent political power. Cavour was the first politician that intervened and gave the political help to Garibaldi, Cavour , although, “ had the power to manipulate and export the strategic situations”.”Count Camillo Cavour was the prime minister of the kingdom of Piedmonte” and together with Garibaldi they were the main symbols of the Italian Heroism.Cavour together with garibaldi were the major figures that helped to the unification of Italy.On the other hand even if Garibaldi new how to strategically win and hoot command a military force, Cavour was still the main person which decided where to attack and when to attack.This is shown during the unification when Garibaldi wanted to attack Rome but Cavour stopped him from doing it

war with a unique goal for its conclusion as his main goal was not to

Obviously, the newly united Italian state was greeted with much celebration. Unfortunately, it was also only a start. In truth, fundamental problems still plagued the country and had to be addressed if complete hegemony was to be achieved: firstly, the new Kingdom of Italy suffered from extreme backwardness and secondly, it was still deeply divided. The new Italy was split between north and south, between cities and countryside, between regions, between cities and localities,