The Age Of Nationalism

• 1850-1914: an “Age of Nationalism”• Unification of Italy and Germany became major areas of focus

• Debates between conservatives, liberals, and socialists still continued

• Nationalism became the major theme of the late-1800’s• Intense pride and devotion to one’s country or ones culture

Aftermath of the Revolutions of 1848

• 1853-1856

• Causes:• Conflict between Russia and the Ottoman Empire over territory in

the Balkan Peninsula and Black Sea region

• Possibility of Russia becoming too powerful made other European countries nervous

• France and Great Britain aided the Ottoman Empire in the war• Were hoping to keep Russian expansion in check

• Sardinia (Italian state) also joined against Russia

• Heavy casualties• Florence Nightingale…nursing

• Russia was defeated

Crimean War

• Italy divided into city-states since the fall of Rome

• Italian peninsula was a battle-ground for competing states throughout much of the early modern period• Lands controlled by outside powers such as Austria and France

• Attempts at unification in the early 1800’s were unsuccessful• Guiseppe Mazzini: called for a centralized republic with universal

suffrage

• Vincenzo Gioberti: called for Italy to unite under the Pope (he was a priest= POV)

• Eventually, Italian unification would be spearheaded by King Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia and his advisor Camillo Benso di Cavour

Unification of Italy

• Risorgimento: “Resurgence”…Italian name for the unification of Italy

• Obstacles for unification:• Various territories controlled by different states; Austrian control of

Italian land was a major obstacle

• Cavour allied Sardinia with France hoping that France could help Sardinia push the Austrians out of Italy• 1859: Sardinia and France went to war with Austria

• Following this war, rebellions spread throughout Northern Italy as neighboring regions decided to unite with Sardinia

•

Unification of Italy

• In Southern Italy, Guisseppe Garibaldi led a revolt in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which was controlled by the French• Garibaldi was a member of a nationalist group known as Young Italy

• His army of Red Shirts (numbering only about 1000) was able to defeat the French

• This made Cavour nervous; he feared that Garibaldi would attempt to unite Italy under his own rule

• Cavour approached Garibaldi and convinced him to work with Sardinia to unite the Italian Peninsula.

• Victor Emmanuel was declared the first king of Italy on March 17, 1861

• Venice and Rome were added to Italy in 1866 and 1870

Unification of Italy

• 1861: Wilhelm I became king of Prussia

• 1862: Otto Von Bismarck appointed Chancellor/Prime Minister of Prussia

• Wilhelm and Bismarck had dreams of Prussia growing in power and dominating German lands. They used nationalism to achieve this goal.

• Realpolitik: the politics of reality. Making practical decisions by using facts to guide an action• Weigh the costs and consequences before acting

• Ethics or moral obligations are less significant than the promotion of national interests

Unification of Germany

• Under Bismarck, Prussia grew in power• “Blood and Iron” speech: a tribute to military power and

industrialization

• Begins a series of wars to take over neighboring German states• The Danish War: Prussia seizes control of Schleswig with plans of

also taking over Holstein, an Austrian territory

• 1866: Seven Weeks War or Austro-Prussian War: Prussia defeats Austria

• Franco-Prussian War:• France and Prussia go to war; France thought they were preventing a

Hohenzollern from taking the throne of Spain.

• Bismarck encourages the rumor and stirs up trouble until France eventually starts the war

• France suffers a humiliating defeat

• January 18, 1871: the King of Prussia was declared the Emperor of Germany

• In the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles

Unification of Germany

• Germany and France became bitter enemies• Germany gained control of Alsace-Lorraine (both were rich,

industrial provinces)

• Germany will become and economic and military power

• Germany joins other nations in their quest to build an empire (imperialism…more on this in our next unit)

Unification of Germany