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Chapter 19
• After 1850, nationalism became a real
political force motivating practical policies
as it pushed peoples to national unification
and the creation of nation states, in the
process tearing multi-national empires
apart and even precipitating civil war.
Chapter 19
– Nationalism
• In the two decades after 1850, no political force
was stronger than nationalism.
• It pushed people toward national unity in Italy and
Germany and threatened to tear the Habsburg and
Ottoman Empires apart.
Chapter 19
– Political Realism
• Unlike in 1848, however, the nationalist political
figures were neither revolutionaries nor idealists.
• From positions of established power, this new
generation of leaders molded nationalism to fit
harsh political realities.
• They gambled, compromised, manipulated, and
fought to achieve their goals.
Chapter 19
• Independent Italian states were brought
together into a unified nation once Cavour
became committed to the cause of Italian
unification, laying the groundwork for the
meeting between the Piedmontese army
and Garibaldi’s troops in 1860.
The Drive for Italian Unification
– Cavour
• Cavour was born into a well-to-do, noble family living in
Piedmont-Sardinia, a small, but relatively powerful
independent state in northern Italy that also included the
island of Sardinia.
– Piedmont’s Leadership
• Cavour’s goals were clear – modernize Peidmont
economically and thereby win strength and respect for his
homeland
• Make Peidmont the central engine of the drive for national
unification
• Form a new Italian state as a constitutional monarchy under
Piedmont’s king rather than a democratic republic or a
confederation under the pope
The Drive for Italian Unification
– War with Austria
• Cavour and France’s emperor Napoleon III met at
a French resort to discuss ways to move against
Austria, a competitor of France on the Continent
and the chief barrier to Cavour’s hopes for Italian
unity.
• After Austria declared war, France would help
Piedmont drive the Austrians out of Lombardy and
Venezia, and these two states would then be
annexed to Piedmont-Sardinia.
The Drive for Italian Unification
– Garibaldi
• By early 1860, most of northern and central Italy had joined
Piedmont voluntarily.
• Nationalist Guiseppe Garibaldi organized people, conducted
campaigns of guerilla warfare, and leading insurrections.
Often in exile, he had become a well-known figure in Europe
and the Americas.
• In May 1860, accompanied by a thousand civilian warriors
dressed in red shirts, he sailed for Sicily in southern Italy,
where many peasants had already launched a revolt.
• Garibaldi’s goal was nothing less than the conquest of the
Kingdom of Naples, the largest and most populous of the
Italian states, and then Rome itself.
The Drive for Italian Unification
• Kingdom of Italy
– Formally declared in March 1861, with Victor
Emmanuel II as monarch and Piedmontese
Constitution of 1848 as the national charter
– The king, along with a parliamentary government
elected by limited suffrage, would rule.
– The Piedmontese flag now flew over all of Italy, from
the Alps to Sicily, except Venetia and Rome; which
joined the Italian state in 1866 & 1870 (excluding the
Vatican palace
Chapter 19
• In 1850, the Germanic Confederation,
dominated by Austria, did not constitute a
unified nation; a unified Germany would
only appear in 1871 with the creation of
the German empire unified around
Prussian leadership thanks to Bismarck.
Germany “By Blood and Iron”
– Prussian Leadership
• Like Italy, Germany as we understand it did not exist in 1850,
except in the hearts of nationalists.
• The best hope for German unity was with Prussia, which had
strength thanks to economic expansion and leadership over
the Zollverein.
• Zollverein – a German customs union that fostered
industrialization in Prussia and the Rhineland
• When William I and his advisors proposed to double the size
of the army, the liberals defeated the measure
• Convinced that his royal authority was being threatened,
William I called on Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898)
Germany “By Blood and Iron”
– Bismarck
• “I was born and raised as an aristocrat,” Bismarck
once explained. He would remain loyal to Prussia’s
landowning aristocracy for the rest of his life.
• He entered politics in 1847 and came to believe
that only an alliance of conservatism and
nationalism could preserve the aristocracy and
strengthen Prussia.
• He became prime minister of Prussia in 1862. He
had the backing of the king, aristocracy, and the
army; and he promptly defied the liberals in the
legislature, violated the constitution, and ordered
taxes collected for military reform.
Germany “By Blood and Iron”
– Wars for Unification
• Like Cavour, Bismarck sought out political
opportunities, created them when they failed to
materialize, and did not hesitate to take calculated
risks, including war.
• In 1864, Denmark tried to incorporate Schleswig
and Holstein, two small provinces lying between
Prussia and Denmark.
Germany “By Blood and Iron”
– Austro-Prussian War
• Bismarck stirred up trouble with Austria
• He gained Russia’s sympathy by supporting its
intervention against rebellious subjects in Poland.
• In 1866, Bismarck used threats and maneuvers to
provoke Austria into declaring war on Prussia.
• Prussia now controlled the newly created North
German Confederation.
Germany “By Blood and Iron”
– Franco-Prussian War
• Bismarck confronted France in 1870 when the
Spanish crown was offered to a Hohenzollern
prince – related to William I.
• Bismarck persuaded the prince to accept the
Spanish offer, and the French immediately took
alarm at being surrounded by Hohenzollerns.
• The chancellor had taken his greatest risk, France
seemed to possess enough military might and
economic resources to humble Prussia.
• The able Prussian troops quickly scored
resounding successes.
Franco-Prussian War
• Napoleon III was one of the captives
• When the news reached Paris, the liberals overthrew the
government of the Second Empire and declared the Third French
Republic.
• Paris surrendered in January 1871.
• On January 18, 1871, Bismarck called the heads of the German
states to Versailles in France.
• In the Hall of Mirrors, the dignitaries proclaimed King William I,
emperor of the new German Empire
• He ruled until 1888
• Bismarck’s constitution for the North German Confederation became
the constitution for the new German Empire.
• The Second Reich included a large and growing population, a
vibrant industrial economy, and a feared military.
• Bismarck remained chancellor and lived to rule over his creation for
the next 19 years.
Chapter 19
• Even as the United States strengthened
politically and expanded territorially,
growing regional differences led to a
bloody civil war which reestablished
national unity and government, at the
same time as Canadian territories
demanded to be a single nation.
The Fight for National Unity in
North America
– The United States
• American culture began to free itself from European influence
– North-South Divisions
• The South remained agricultural, dependent on plantation crops and
based on slave labor
• The North enjoyed a growing population and favored federal over
state power
– Slavery
• By the early 1800s, the northern states had eliminated slavery
• In the North, antislavery sentiment grew
– The Civil War
• Regional differences ignited war between the North and the South
– Canada
• In 1867, the British North American Act united Canada into a single
nation with its own constitution
Chapter 19
• The political force of nationalism pulled the
multi-ethnic Austrian empire apart and
caused subject nations in the Ottoman
empire to revolt.
Divided Authority in the Austrian
and Ottoman Empires
– Austria
• Nationalism pulled Austria’s multiethnic empire apart
• Czechs, Serbs, Romanians, Magyars, and others wanted to form
independent nations rather than be one with Austria (German)
– Austria-Hungary, 1867
• In 1866, the dominant German minority in Austria compromised with
the Magyars rather than fight over nationality issues
• The Compromise of 1867, set up the Dual Monarchy of AustriaHungary
• Each country had its own parliament, but the two were united under
a common ruler, the head of the House of Habsburg
• This arrangement did not please other national groups, especially
the Czechs, who demanded equality with the Hungarians.
Divided Authority in the Austrian
and Ottoman Empires
– The Ottoman Empire
• Like the Austrians, the Ottoman rulers also had to struggle
with the divisive forces of nationalism.
– Balkan Nationalism
• In the Balkan provinces in southeastern Europe nationalism
rose, producing movements for independence
• Nationalism had fueled an unsuccessful revolt by the
Romanians in 1848
• In 1856, the Romanians gained international support as part
of the settlement of the Crimean War
• They won their freedom from the Ottomans in 1878
• Due to nationalist movements among the Bulgars, they
revolted in 1876
• Although each side committed atrocities, those by the Turks
shocked the Europeans
Chapter 19
• By channeling nationalism into
statebuilding, French and Russian rulers
reached out to citizens for support,
exchanging reform, social peace, and the
idea of national greatness for support of
the nation and its leaders.
• Napoleon III and the Second Empire
Using Nationalism in France and
Russia
– Napoleon III
• In France, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte promised reform while
creating a regime based on authoritarian nationalism
• He was originally elected president of France’s Second
Republic in 1848
• He organized a coup d’etat on 12-2-1851 to seize power
because the National Assembly refused to change the
constitution so he could run again
• Napoleon III tried to convince citizens that he would lead the
nation to new heights in domestic and foreign affairs
• Napoleon directed the building of hospitals, nurseries, and
homes for the aged.
Using Nationalism in France and
Russia
– Napoleon III
• He kept bread prices low, instituted a system of
voluntary social insurance, encouraged
cooperatives, and partially legalized labor unions
• In 1862, his armies marched into Mexico City and
set up a Habsburg prince, Maximilian, as puppet
emperor for France
• Napoleon withdrew his troops a few years later
leaving Maximilian to deal with the Mexican forces,
because of threats from the U.S.
Using Nationalism in France and
Russia
– Fall of Napoleon III
• Declining prosperity weakened Napoleon’s position within
France
• To appease liberals and workers he made many concessions
• By 1870 the liberal parliament had begun to gain the upper
hand, and Napoleon III went to war with Prussia where he
was defeated and captured
• Alexander II and Russia
Napoleon III had stood for order, reform from above, and national
grandeur. Until he faltered, the French gave up their liberal
sentiments for those ends. In Russia, Tsar Alexander II made
similar appeals in an effort to overcome that country’s troubles
Using Nationalism in France and
Russia
– Russia’s Autocracy
• By 1850, Russia had earned a reputation as the most
conservative of the European powers.
• Its government was autocratic under the tsar, its feudalistic
society still bound serfs to the land and their lords, and its
large army had feelings of invincibility
– Crimean War
• In 1853, war broke out between Russia and the Ottoman
Turks
• The causes were comlex
• Russia hoped to take territory from the Ottoman Empire
Using Nationalism in France and
Russia
– Alexander II’s “Great Reforms”
• Alexander’s “Great Reforms” came from above but proved
much more far-reaching and dramatic
• In 1861, Alexander freed Russia’s 22 million serfs and, a few
years later, 25 million state-owned peasants
• Other reforms made the judicial system more independent,
created local political assemblies with elected officials,
encouraged primary and secondary education by opening
thousands of new schools, and reduced military service
• Expectations for further reform rose too fast for Alexander
• Alexander intended to transform Russia into a modern
authoritarian state that could command the allegiance of its
citizens and wield power through a reformed, supported
military. He succeeded only partially.