4th DBH HISTORY

TEACHER: YOL AKIN

2nd Evaluation Nationalism & Liberalism in the

Nineteenth Century

Definitions of Nationalism and Liberalism

A. Nationalism is a feeling held by a people that they are different from all other
peoples. It's usually associated with a common language, religion, cultural background
or economic interests. It usually carries with it the desire to work for the welfare of the
nationality and to create a nation state as a homeland.

B. Liberalism is the belief in the value of the individual human being. It believed that
all human beings had rights and that among those rights was the right to a voice in
selecting the government which would govern them. Liberalism worked to changed a
system based on privilege resulting from birth or wealth.

The Unification of Italy

A. The Italian States Before 1848

1. The Italian people had been subjected to foreign rule since the 16th century, but they
could recall a glorious tradition in which Italians had dominated the world (Roman
Empire, Renaissance). Italians hoped to regain that earlier influence.

2. Napoleon had appealed to Italian nationalist feeling when he encouraged the Italians
to support him against Austria. When Napoleon was defeated, Italians hoped that the
Congress of Vienna in 1815 would write all Italians under one government.

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3. The Congress of Vienna, however, left the Italian peninsula divided and most of it
was under foreign rule:

Lombard & Venetia: provinces of the Austrian Empire.

Parma, Modena, Tuscany: duchies ruled by relatives of the Austrian Empire.

Papal States: ruled by the Pope.

Kingdom of Naples (Two Scillies): ruled by a relative of the Bourbon Spanish

King.

Kingdom of Piedmont (Sardinia): ruled by an Italian-speaking ruler, Charles

Albert of Savoy.

4. Disappointed nationalists continued to work for an Italian union and nationalist,

terrorist groups collectively called the Carbonate sprang up to popularise nationalism.

5. Guiseppe Mazzini was an Italian nationalist leader who did much to build support for
Italian nationalism through his underground newspaper Il Risorgimento and by forming
the Young Italy Party as a nationalist and terrorist organization with groups operating in
each of the Italian cities.

B. 1848

In 1848 revolution in France triggered revolts in the neighbouring German states

including the Austrian Empire.

While the Austrians were preoccupied, King Charles Albert of Piedmont invited
the other Italian rulers to join in a national crusade to free Lombardy & Venetia from
Austrian rule.

When the revolt in Austria failed, the other Italian rulers deserted, Charles
Albert's army was defeated and he had to abdicate in favour of his son Victor Emmanuel
II.

When the Pope deserted Charles Albert, Mazzini was angry and his Young Italy
Party attacked Rome, threw out the Pope and set up the Roman Republic with Mazzini
as president.

Catholic Europe was outraged and Louis Napoleon Bonaparte sent a French
army which attacked Rome, defeated Mazzini, restored the Pope and stayed in Rome to

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protect him. 1848 had been a year of failures for Italian Nationalists but from the
failures important lessons had been learnt.

1 - The Italians realized that they were not strong enough to defeat Austria alone.
They would require the help of a foreign Great Power.

2 - Leadership could not come from a private individual like Mazzini. If Italians
were to be united, they would have to be led by an established Italian ruler.
Nationalists looked to Victor Emmanuel II as the heir of Charles Albert.

C. Leaders for the Union

1. Victor Emmanuel II, King of Piedmont, heir of Charles Albert, played a symbolic
role, however, he was an Italian monarch. He had average abilities and loved the army,
though Piedmont's was weak.

2. Count Camillo De Cavour was a genius in political area. He was Prime Minister of
Piedmont. He was brilliant man and the brain of the unification.

3. Garibaldi was an exceptional guerrilla warfare leader and an impulsive person. He

become a person who the whole world watched and admired because of his exploits in
South America and Europe. He would become Italy's hero.

D. Preparations for Union

When Cavour became prime minister of Piedmont in 1848, he set out to develop
an image of Piedmont as a prosperous and progressive state to win the favourable notice
of the European great powers and the other Italian states.

With foreign loans he provided government aid to industry, agriculture and

transportation and improved the standard of living for most people in Piedmont.

Piedmont supported England & France in the Crimean War but at the Paris
Peace Conference, Cavour was unsuccessful in persuading Britain or France to help
Piedmont in a war against Austria.

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 Following the "Orsini bomb incident," Emperor Napoleon III met with Cavour
and agreed to the pact of Plombiers. France would support Piedmont if it was attacked
by Austria and once Austria was defeated, Piedmont would gain Lombardy and Venetia
and would give up Nice and Savoy to France.

Cavour provoked a quarrel with Austria over the issue of draft-dodgers and
when Austria declared war on Piedmont, Cavour asked for French help.

E. War of Italian Liberation (1859-60)

The armies of Piedmont and France won early victories against the Austrians
with the result that there was an outburst of Italian nationalism throughout the Italian
states.

In Parma, Modena, Tuscany and the northern Papal States, the people revolted
against their rulers, raised armies and joined in the war against Austria.

Although the Italian and French armies continued to win victories, the war
unpopular in France and Napoleon III negotiated a Peace Settlement with the Austrian
Emperor Francis Joseph. Piedmont would gain only Lombardy while all other Italian
areas would be returned to their former rulers.

When the people of Parma, Modena, Tuscany and the northern Papal States
refused to accept their former rulers, they asked for union with Piedmont.

Cavour persuaded Napoleon III not to interfere by giving up Nice and Savoy to
France and once plebiscites had been held in each area, Lombardy, Parma, Modena and
the northern Papal States were united to form the Kingdom of Italy with Victor
Emmanuel II from the temporary capital at Florence.

F. Garibaldi Congress of Naples (1860)

When the people on the island of Sicily revolted against their Spanish ruler, they
asked Garibaldi to come to the south and lead the revolt.

Despite Cavour's opposition, Garibaldi went to the south, liberated Sicily and
then invaded the mainland.
Garibaldi conquered all of Naples, claiming it in the name of Victor Emmanuel
II. When Garibaldi planned to march on to Rome, where a French army was protecting
the Pope, Cavour sent the King to the south to take command away from Garibaldi.

As the King passed through the eastern Papal States, the people welcomed him
and asked to be in the union with Piedmont.

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 Once plebiscites had been held, Naples and the eastern Papal States were
included in the Kingdom of Piedmont.

G. Completion of Union

Italy allied itself with Prussia during the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and
although the Italian forces were defeated by Austria, Prussia won the war and forced
Austria to give Venetia to Italy.

During the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), the French troops were called home
from Rome and Italy took the city as its capital while the Pope withdrew into the
Vatican and refused to recognize the new Italian government.

The Unification of Germany

A. The German States Before 1848

The area that we call Germany today was once included in the Holly Roman
Empire, a collection of over 300 separate political units, loosely banded together under
the Holy Roman Emperor. Napoleon I abolished the Holy Roman Empire and in its
place created the 50 state Confederation of the Rhine, a collection of puppet states,
controlled by France.

After Napoleon's defeat, the Congress of Vienna, influenced by the Austrian

chancellor Metternich, set up the Germanic Confederation under the permanent
presidency of Austria. Metternich wanted to use this position to stop any movement
toward liberalism or nationalism within the German states. The two most important
member states in the German Confederation were Austria and Prussia.

a) Austria

-leader of a multi-national empire. It opposed nationalism because it feared the collapse

of its empire.
-traditional leader of the German-speaking world.
-ruled by the Hapsburg family.
-still largely a feudal, agricultural state.
-little industry and only a small middle class.
-had a large, but almost outdated army.
-led by Prince Metternich, the Austrian government dominated European political life
from 1815 to 1848.

b) Prussia

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-younger and more ambitious state than Austria.
-ruled by the Hohenzollern family.
-state had been created by assembling scattered Hohenzollern possessions to support a
larger army-state built on the dual foundations of the monarch and the army.
-largely an agricultural state, but had great potential for industrial growth (iron, coal,
etc.).
-had a growing middle class with liberal ideas that was jealous of the Junker class (land
owning nobles).
-ambitious to lead a German national union.
-Prussia set up customs or a trading union call the Zolverein with 23 other German
states. Its success encouraged German nationalists to believe that there might be other
advantages to a larger union and that increased the influence of Prussia among the other
states, since Austria was not a member.

B. 1848

In 1848 the Revolution in France touched off revolts in the neighbouring

German States and for a time each of the princes lost control to groups of liberal
reformers. In Prussia, "King Frederick William IV" turned power over to the liberal
reformers but when they could not agree, he dismissed them and granted a constitution
which appeared democratic but in reality kept power in his own hands.

While liberal reformers controlled the government in each state, they sent
representatives to a meeting at Frankfurt to discuss a German union. The Frankfurt
Assembly split into two groups; the Great Germans would include the entire Austrian
Empire and give the throne to a Hapsburg while the little Germans would exclude the
Austrian Empire and would give the throne to Hohenzollern. Most favoured the great
German idea but it failed when the revolt in Austria failed and the Austrian Emperor
would not cooperate.

Frederick William IV of Prussia was offered the crown of a constitutional

monarchy but he rejected it and the Frankfurt Assembly failed.

1848 had produced failures for both liberals and nationalists but the issues had
become clearer.

1. The failure of the liberal movement to unite the German states had discredited them.
Nationalism was more important to the German people than Liberalism.

2. It was clear that the German states could only be united by either Austria or Prussia
taking the lead since Austria opposed any union German nationalists naturally looked to

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Prussia, but the Prussian ruler would not act until Prussia had become strong enough to
stand up to Austria militarily.

C. Preparations for Union

Between 1850 and 1860 Prussia underwent an industrial revolution as it

developed the iron and steel industry and the transportation systems which would be
needed to build Prussia's military strength.

In 1860 Frederick William IV was replaced on the throne by his brother William
I and the new King set out to increase the size and professional quality of the Prussian
army.

A deadlock developed in government when the Reichstag would not approve the
necessary taxes. To deal with the crisis the king appointed Otto Von Bismarck as his
chancellor. Bismarck came from the Junker class and he had served in the Prussian
diplomatic service as a representative to the Diet of the Germanic Confederation and in
the Prussian embassies in Paris and St. Petersburg.

Bismarck was strongly anti-liberal and he ordered the Reichstag to approve the
necessary taxes. When the Reichstag stilled refused he used the army to collect the
taxes without legal authority and spent the money on military reform. Bismarck was
hated by the Prussian people but he had won the confidence of the king and he believed
that the people would also support him once he proved the effectiveness of the army.

D. Danish War 1864

In 1864 the king of Denmark inherited the German speaking provinces of

Schleswig - Holstein and when he planned to incorporate them into Denmark, the
people of Schleswig - Holstein appealed to appealed to the Germanic Confederation for
help.

Bismarck was anxious for a war to test his new army and to appeal to the
nationalists in the German States he offered Prussian help to Schleswig - Holstein and
publicly invited Austria to join in war against Denmark.

Prussia and Austria easily defeated Denmark and the Danish war contributed in
several ways to the coming of the German Union:

1. The Prussian army proved its effectiveness as a fighting force and Bismarck became
popular in Prussia.

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2. By posing as champion of the German speaking people, Bismarck attracted the
favourable attention of German nationalists in all of the German States.

3. As an ally of Austria, Bismarck was a welcome in the Austrian camps and he had a
chance to access the Austrian military strength. He was convinced that Prussia was
strong enough now to defeat Austria.

4. As a part of the peace agreement, Schleswig - Holstein were placed under the
combined administration of Austria and Prussia where Prussia could easily provoke a
future conflict with Austria.

E. The Austro - Prussian War 1866

Bismarck provoked a quarrel with Austria over the administration of Schleswig -

Holstein and the Austro - Prussian war began in 1866.

Prussia was supported by Italy and while most of the Prussian forces attacked
Austria, the rest of the Prussian army seized the German land which was between the
two parts of Prussia.

The 4 Catholic German states in the south allied themselves with Austria while
in the north, the princes of 21 of the states applied to Prussia to form a federal union.

In each of the 21 states Prussia would have a separate government for internal
matters while the constitution outlined the role of the central government for the whole
of the north German Confederation.

Emperor (King of Prussia, Head of Hohenzollern)

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 Chancellor (appointed by the Emperor
and answerable only to him. Hold office
as long as they have the confidence of the

Bundesrat (representatives Reichstag (popularly elected

of the princes in the federal representatives of the people.
union) Had the power to approve or
reject new laws or taxes
presented to them. Had no
legislative initiative. No
control over the cabinet,
foreign affair or the army.

Within seven weeks Austria was defeated and Bismarck, hoping to build an
Austrian friendship in the future, granted a lenient peace settlement requiring only that
Austria give up Venetia to Italy and that it promised to stay out of the affairs of the
German states.

F. The Franco - Prussian War 1870 - 71

The new German union shocked France and Napoleon III wanted to destroy it
before it could become too powerful.

Bismarck wanted a war with France because he thought it would encourage

nationalism and cause the 4 catholic states to become part of the union.

The perfect crisis developed when in 1870, the Spanish throne was offered to a
relative of Wilhelm I. France was outraged and the French demanded that this should

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never happen. Wilhelm I agreed, but when the French demanded further assurances,
this was an insult to the Germans.

When the Germans refused to give in to the hostile pressure France declared war
on Prussia. Just as Bismarck had wanted, the 4 Catholic German states asked to be part
of the German Federation.

The war went very badly for France and the French army was defeated and
Napoleon III was captured then later abdicated. France had lost the war. Just before
Paris was surrounded, the German princes from the 25 states in the Federation met and
declared Wilhelm I Emperor of the Germany in 1871. Unification had been established
by Bismarck. The consequences of the war were that the provinces of Alsace and
Lorraine were taken from France and given to Germany. The loss of Alsace and
Lorraine disturbed the peace of Europe until WWI as France continually looked for a
war of revenge against Germany.

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