Italian and German Unification
The Unification of Italy
At the start of the 19th century, Italy had last been unified under the Byzantine emperor, Justinian, in the 7th century CE. Since then it had been a patchwork o
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Italian and German Unification
The Unification of Italy
At the start of the 19th century, Italy had last been unified under the Byzantine emperor, Justinian, in the 7th century CE. Since then it had been a patchwork of states under Byzantine, Lombard, Norman, German, French, Spanish, and Austrian rulers. Political fragmentation brought economic and cultural fragmentation as well. Without standard gauges, railroads did not cross state boundaries, while numerous tolls and dialects also hindered trade.
The Unification of Germany
German unification was largely the work of Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince von Bismarck, who served as the Minister-President of Prussia from 1862 to 1890. A member of the Junker class (the landed aristocracy of Germany), Bismarck was deeply conservative, monarchist, and aristocratic; his major interest was in turning a unified Germany, under the leadership of Prussia, into a conservative bastion against liberalism and change.
Bismarck had to fight three wars to unify Germany. The 1864 Danish War helped Bismarck consolidate his internal position in Prussia. The War of 1866 ousted Austria from leadership in Germany for good. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 brought the South under the aegis of the Germany as well.
War with Austria
Bismarck believed that trouble and eventual war with Austria would be inevitable. His entire policy from 1863 to 1866 was predicated on war with Austria. He had made sure that Russia would not intervene when he sympathized with Russia in crushing the Polish revolution of 1863. Napoleon III was maneuvered into a favorable position by all kinds of vague promises for territorial aggrandizement in 1865. An alliance with Italy was made in April 1866, through Napoleon's assistance, which stipulated that Italy would come to the aid of Prussia if a war with Austria broke out in three months. Bismarck also tried to get Bavarian support but failed.
War with France
But Germany was not yet fully unified. The South remained outside the fold and here is where France and Napoleon III came into the picture. Napoleon was vulnerable. He was forced to modify the traditional Richelieuan policy toward Germany because of his nationalities doctrine. But Napoleon's policy was still somewhat equivocal on German unification, as if he could not decide which was more important his belief in national self-determination or to keep France stronger than the new Germany would be.
The German Empire
On January 18, 1871 William was crowned as the Emperor of Germany in the French Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. The Germans know how to add insult to injury and thus lay the groundwork for future wars. Victor Hugo made a profound prophesy at this time that France would retake Alsace and Lorraine and even the Rhineland and make Germany a republic.
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