Italian and German Unification Mr Whites World History

Italian and German Unification Mr. White’s World History

Italy Before Unification �Italy had been politically divided up until the 1800 s �Individual city states were ruled by local families, or by foreign monarchs �Trade barriers, poor transportation, and different Italian dialects discourage political and economic unification

Early Attempts �Early attempts at Italian unification failed �Giuseppe Mazzini formed a secret society for the unification of the Italian states �Mazzini was able to get some Italian states to unify to fight Austrian soldiers who had occupied some Italian cities �This war to expel the invaders failed, but began to get Italians thinking about unification

Victor Emmanuel and Camillo di Cavour �Victor Emmanuel, king of Sardinia, tried to keep support for national unity alive �With the support of his count, Camillo di Cavour, Victor Emmanuel was able to strength Sardinia as a state to be reckoned with by other European powers �Sardinia even participated in the Crimean War, which gave them some say in the end treaty

Sardinia Defeats Austria �Cavour created an alliance between Italy and France against Austria �He then encouraged nationalists in Lombardy to revolt against Austria; in turn, Austria declared war on Sardinia �By the time this war had ended, Sardinia had defeated Austria and had expanded its power with new Italian states that unified with it

Garibaldi and Southern Italy �Giuseppe Garibaldi was a nationalist leader in the southern parts of Italy �He had learned guerilla warfare in South America, and had returned to Italy to lead his supporters in a nationalist uprising �Garibaldi was able to unite many of the southern Italian states with many military victories

The Strength of Prussia �The Congress of Vienna had created the German Confederation as a defensive alliance against France �Different powerful German states existed, led by Prussia and Austria �William I became king of Prussia in 1861 – he supported a strong military for the strength of his nation

Otto von Bismarck �William I appointed Otto von Bismarck as his prime minister �Bismarck shared the king’s view of a strong government and army to achieve national unity �Bismarck supported the idea of realpolitik – a nation should pursue its advantage by any means necessary �Bismarck believed that the issues of the day would be solved by “blood and iron. ”

Bismarck’s Plan �Bismarck wanted to: �Raise money for army expansion �Reduce Austrian influence among the German states �Unify the German states, except Switzerland Austria �Bismarck went to war three times to do this

Prussia’s Wars �First, Prussia allied with Austria to defeat Denmark – this created tensions between Prussia and Austria �Then, he created ties with Russia, France, and Italy to alienate Austria – this results in a war with Austria, which Prussia wins �This establishes the German Confederation, an alliance between German states that Prussia is the head of

Franco-Prussian War �Finally, Prussia and the German Confederation go to war with France �The Prussians quickly and easily defeated the French, using strategy and operational methods similar to Napoleon’s �The German states had unified in this war, in a common alliance against the French

The Unification of Germany �In the French palace of Versailles, the German leaders proclaimed the beginning of the German empire, and thus created Germany �William I became the kaiser of Germany �Bismarck became chancellor

Germany’s Industrial Growth �German political and business leaders worked hard to make Germany an industrial power �With investment from Great Britain, France, and Belgium, Germany quickly modernized and industrialized �By the end of the 1900 s, Germany was a strong industrial power

German Militarism and Bismarck’s End �Bismarck kept socialist groups from taking control of the German government �When William II took power as kaiser of Germany, he continued to work with Bismarck to support German militarism �Bismarck finally resigns in 1890