Rise of Nationalism, Unification of Italy and Germany

1. The Rise of the Nation-State System

Before the 19th century, Europe was a patchwork of multi-ethnic empires (like the Austrian or Ottoman Empires), small kingdoms, and city-states. Loyalty was owed to a monarch, not to a "country" or a specific national identity.

The concept of the Nation-State—a sovereign territory inhabited by people who share a common culture, history, language, and often religion—was catalyzed heavily by the French Revolution and the subsequent Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon’s armies inadvertently spread the idea of national pride across Europe by showing the power of a citizen army united by patriotism. Even after his defeat in 1815, you could not put the genie of nationalism back in the bottle.

Romanticism vs. The Congress of Vienna: At the Congress of Vienna (1815), conservative European monarchs (led by Austria's Metternich) attempted to restore the old order and crush liberal and nationalist ideas. However, the 19th-century cultural movement of Romanticism fueled nationalism by glorifying the mythical past, folklore, and indigenous languages of the common people. This eventually exploded into the sweeping liberal and nationalist Revolutions of 1848 across Europe, though most were crushed in the short term.

2. Unification of Italy (Il Risorgimento)

By the mid-19th century, the Italian peninsula remained divided into independent states. Austria controlled the north, the Pope ruled the central Papal States, and Spanish Bourbon kings ruled the south (Kingdom of the Two Sicilies).

The unification process (Il Risorgimento or "The Resurgence") was driven by three key figures:

1. Giuseppe Mazzini (The "Heart"):

   • A radical intellectual who founded the secret society Young Italy. He tirelessly agitated for a unified, democratic Italian republic and inspired the youth, though his uprisings frequently failed.

2. Count Camillo di Cavour (The "Brain"):

   • The pragmatic Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia (the only independent native Italian state). Cavour realized idealism wasn't enough; Italy needed industrial power, diplomacy, and a strong army.
   • Masterstroke: Cavour allied with France (Napoleon III) to provoke a war with Austria in 1859, successfully driving the Austrians out of Lombardy (Northern Italy).

3. Giuseppe Garibaldi (The "Sword"):

   • A passionate nationalist military leader. In 1860, he led a volunteer army known as the "Red Shirts" to conquer the southern Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
   • In a remarkable act of patriotism over personal ambition, Garibaldi handed over his conquered southern territories to King Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia.

By 1861, the Kingdom of Italy was officially proclaimed under King Victor Emmanuel II. Venetia (1866) and Rome (1870) were added shortly after, completing the unification and ending centuries of papal temporal power.

3. Unification of Germany

Before unification, Germany was a loose confederation of 39 separate states dominated by the Austrian Empire and the powerful, highly militaristic state of Prussia.

The unification of Germany was not achieved through democratic uprisings (like in 1848), but rather through the aggressive, calculated statecraft of Otto von Bismarck, the Prime Minister of Prussia, using his policy of "Blood and Iron" (military force and industrial might).

Bismarck's Strategy (Realpolitik): Bismarck practiced Realpolitik—politics based on practical, ruthless power rather than moral or ideological considerations. His strategy to unite the German states under Prussian leadership involved fighting three short, decisive, strategically provoked wars:

1. The Danish War (1864): Prussia allied with Austria to seize territory from Denmark, testing their newly modernized army.
2. The Austro-Prussian War (1866): Bismarck deliberately provoked Austria into war. Prussia's vastly superior, industrialized army crushed Austria in just seven weeks. This permanently expelled Austrian influence from German affairs and created the North German Confederation under Prussia.
3. The Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871): To coax the hesitant Catholic southern German states into the union, Bismarck cleverly doctored a telegram (the Ems Dispatch) to provoke France into declaring war on Prussia. The southern German states united defensively with Prussia. The Prussian army obliterated the French forces, capturing Napoleon III and besieging Paris.

The Birth of the Second Reich (1871): On January 18, 1871, in the ultimate humililation to France, the German Empire was officially proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. Prussian King Wilhelm I was crowned Kaiser (Emperor).

4. Impact on the Global Balance of Power

The unification of Germany (and to a lesser extent, Italy) fundamentally destroyed the old balance of power established at the Congress of Vienna. • A newly unified Germany instantly became the preeminent industrial and military powerhouse on the European continent. • The resulting fierce competition for colonies, military superiority, and national prestige between an insecure France, a rising Germany, and an anxious Britain would ultimately set the stage for World War I.