German and Italian Unification

1. German and Italian Unification

2. Divided Italy • Following the Revolution of 1848, the Risorgimento seemed a distant dream. • Italy remained divided into three main parts: • Kingdom of the Two Sicilies – ruled by Bourbon monarch. • Pope ruled the Papal States. • In the North, Sardinia-Piedmont was ruled by the House of Savoy; Tuscany, Modena and Parma were dominated by Austria while Venice and Lombardy were part of the Austria Empire.

3. Count Camillo Cavour (1810-1861) • Born of nobility, he became a liberal early in his career. • In 1848, he was elected to the new Piedmontese Parliament and rose through the ranks. • King Victor Emmanuel II (r. 1849-1878) appointed him premier in 1852.

4. Count Camillo Cavour • Cavour quickly instituted a program of liberal reforms, hoping to discredit Austrian tyranny and creating a united North Italian state. • He reformed the currency and finance systems. • Balanced the state budget. • He modernized railroads and factories. • He established banks.

5. Piedmont – Austrian War • Cavour sought alliance with France to help deal with Austria. • Piedmont sends troops to the Crimea. • Napoleon III agrees to deal with Cavour. • Provides French troops to fight against Austria. • Piedmont would gain Lombardy and Venetia. • France would gain Savoy and Nice. • Cavour provokes Austria into war in April 1859.

6. Piedmont – Austrian War • Austria attacked, but were turned back by the Piedmontese and the French at the Battles of Magenta and Solferino. • Napoleon III made a separate peace with Austria (Peace of Villafranca), giving Lombardy to Piedmont but retaining Venice. • Cavour resigned in disgust, but returned in 1860 when revolutionary assemblies across northern Italy moved to join with Piedmont.

7. Revolution in Southern Italy • Revolution broke out in Southern Italy in 1860 against Bourbon Francis II. • Guiseppe Garibaldi sailed south with 1000 Red Shirts to Sicily to support the revolt, taking Palermo. • In August, they crossed to the Italian mainland, Francis II fled. • On Sept. 7, Garibaldi took Naples.

8. The Kingdom of Italy • Cavour then sent troops to take control of the Papal States before Garibaldi moved against Rome. • Garibaldi allowed the annexation of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. • On March 17, 1861 an Italian parliament proclaimed the Kingdom of Italy with Victor Emmanuel II as king. • Wars between Prussia and Austria and France allowed Venetia and Rome to be incorporated into Italy by 1870.

10. Divided Germany • After 1848, liberal nationalists were in a weak position politically. • The German Confederation was reestablished as a loose union of 39 states (including the powerful Prussia and Austria). • The union was dominated by Austria, which held the presidency.

11. Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) • Bismarck was born on Prussian Junker aristocracy. • Worked unhappily in civil service and became a farmer. • Elected to the Landtag (Prussian Parliament) in 1847. • Here he would begin his practice of “realpolitik”

12. Otto von Bismarck • In 1852, he became Prussia’s rep. at the Confederation (later he became ambassador to Russia and France). • Wilhelm I (r. 1861-1888) named him minister-president to push forward expansion of the military. • Despite liberal opposition, he raised taxes to do so, claiming change would come through “blood and iron.” Wilhelm I

13. The Schleswig-Holstein Affair • 1863 annexation by Denmark infuriated German nationalists. • Prussia and Austria allied to defeat Demark in 1864. • The Convention of Gastein provided for joint Austrian-Prussian rule of the duchies. • Bismarck began making deals with France, Italy and Russia for neutrality in dealing with Austria.

14. The Seven Weeks War • In 1866, Prussia accused Austria of violating the Convention of Gastein. • In June, they went to war. • Austrians were soundly defeated at the Battle of Königgrätz (Sadowa) on July 3. • In the Treaty of Prague, Prussia gained several states in northern Germany, the German Conf. dissolved and Italy received Venetia.

15. The North German Confederation • Prussia established the North German Confederation in 1867. • South German states of Bavaria, Wurttemburg, Baden, and Hesse remained independent. • Bismarck wanted to absorb them, but differences (south was Catholic and liberal) and French opposition made this difficult.

16. The Hohenzollern Candidacy • An 1868 Spanish revolution resulted in the nomination of Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern as king. • The French protested and the Prussians acquiesced. • At Elms, French Count Benedetti demanded further Prussian concessions, Wilhelm I refused. • Bismarck had notes of the meeting (known as the Elms Dispatch) released. Napoleon III was enraged and declared war on July 19, 1870. • The South German states allied with Prussia.

17. The Franco-Prussian War • The German armies quickly mobilized and invaded France. • On Sept. 2, the Napoleon III was captured and a large part of the French Army surrendered at Sedan. • In Paris, rebels proclaimed the Third French Republic and continued the war. • On May 10, the Treaty of Frankfurt ended the war. • Germany got the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine and 5 billion francs. • The French greatly resented their defeat.

18. TheGerman Reich • During the war negotiations continued in Germany. • As a result, on Jan. 18, 1871 Wilhelm I was proclaimed Kaiser before an assembly of German princes in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. • The unification of Germany was complete, Bismarck became Chancellor.

20. Lessons and Impact • Liberal nationalists had failed to unify Germany and Italy from below in 1848 . • Where they failed, conservative nationalists were able to succeed from above in the 1860s. • The unification of Germany and Italy changed the balance of power established at the Congress of Vienna (1815) at the expense of Austria and France. • Immediately, Germany became the most powerful nation on the European continent.