Download Chapter 25 Part 2

Realpolitik
Chapter 25-2
Italian Unification
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Movement in Italy shifted from Mazzini to
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King Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia-Piedmont
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Supported by Prime Minister, Count Cavour
Supported by Garibaldi and Red Shirts
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Count Cavour
King Victor Emmanuel’s Prime Minister
1852-61
 A moderate nationalist and aristocratic liberal
 Edited Il Risorgimento, a newspaper arguing that
Sardinia should be the foundation of a new,
unified Italy
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Cavour made Sardinia-Piedmont a
liberal and economically viable state:
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Modeled on the French Constitution of 1830:
some civil liberties, parliamentary government
with elections and parliamentary control of
taxes
Reformed the Judicial system
Built up infrastructure (and employment)
Law on Convents : Secularized monastic land
Siccardi Law: decreased influence of th Church
The Pope’s Response
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Same as his response to the French Falloux Law
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Syllabus of Errors: 1864 warned against
liberalism, rationalism, socialism and separation
of Church and state, as well as religious liberty
Cavour
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Had hoped to unify northern and central Italy
Will become much more
Joined Brits and French against Russia in 1855
during the Crimean War
Sought favor from French
Plombieres 1859
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Cavour gained a promise from Napoleon III
that France would support a Sardinian war with
Austria for the creation of a northern Italian
kingdom controlled by Sardinia
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In return, France would gain Savoy and Nice
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Austria was provoked and declared war on
Sardinia in 1859
Italian Unification
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1859 Sardinia-Piedmont gained Lombardy but
not Venetia as a result of the war
Napoleon III aided Sardinia briefly but feared
internal divisions, Austria’s army, threat from
Prussia
1860 Cavour annexed Parma, Modena,
Romagna, and Tuscany
France got Nice and Savoy
In the Meantime…
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Garibaldi liberated Southern Italy and Sicily with
1,000 Red Shirts in 1860
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Then, Garibaldi allowed his conquests to be
absorbed into Sardinia-Piedmont
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February 1861 Victor Emmanuel declared the
King of Italy (all but Venice andRome)
Still Italy
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1866 Sardinia made an agreement with
Bismarck during the Austro-Prussian War:
Sardinia agreed to open up a front against
Austria in exchange for Venice
1871 Rome was captured by Italian troops and
became the capital
France had been defeated by Germany and
could not protect the Pope’s holdings
The End of Italy
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Politically unified BUT a big social and cultural
gap
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The North: Progressive and industrialized and
Urban
The South: Stagnant and agrarian
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German Unification
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After Humiliation of Olmutz …
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The Zollverein still a source of tension
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Kleindeutsch Plan: A unified Germany without
Austria
Otto von Bismarck
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Led the drive for a Prussian-based unified
Germany
Junker background
Obsessed with power
The Gap Theory: gained Bismarck favor with
the King: If the King and the legislature came
to a stalemate; the King should decide since he
had granted the constitution
Bismarck
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continued
The Gap refers to the fact that the Constitution
did not foresee this kind of problem
The Army crisis regarding reforms in the army
created the stalemate
Said, “The great questions of the day will not be
decided by speeches and resolutions- that was
the blun der of 1848 and 1849- but by blood
and iron.”
Bismarck
continued
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The government continued to collect taxes even
though the parliament refused to approve the
budget
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Bismarck oversaw a number of reforms
improving the Prussian military
1863 Prussian-Danish War
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Germany and Austria defeated Denmark and
took control of Schleswig and Holstein
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They were jointly administered by Austria and
Prussia but many conflicts
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Led to the Austro-Prussian War
1866 The Austro-Prussian War
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Or the German Civil War (7 weeks)
Bismarck prepared for war by first making
negotiations with France, Italy and Russia for
noninterference
Prussia had a superior military
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Breech-loading rifles, use of RR’s for troops
Austria was given generous terms
Italy gained Venice for opening up a front for
Prussia against Austria
1867 The North German
Confederation was established
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President: King William I
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Included all of the German states except:
Baden, Wurttemberg, Bavaria, Saxony
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Federal Constitution allowed each state its own
local government
The North German Confederation
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Parliament…Reichstag…bicameral:
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Bundestag…lower house elected by
universal male suffrage
Bundesrat…upper house. Representatives
from each state
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Above shared power equally
The North German Confederation
continued
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The government structure allowed Bismarck to
circumvent the Middle class by appealing
directly to the working classes (Like Napoleon
III)
The Middle Class will be shut out of power and
influence until WWI
1870-1871 The Franco-Prussian War
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Bismarck tried to provoke a war with France
The Ems Dispatch: A telegraph written by
Bismarck giving his version of a meeting
between the King and a French minister
Bismarck claimed that the French diplomat ws
kicked out of Germany after he had asked the
King not to interfere with the Spanish
succession
Franco-Prussian War
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In fact, William I was agreeable and did not
throw the French diplomat out
Bismarck’s Plan: to further unify Germany and
to annex Alsace-Lorraine
The Ems Dispatch was an insult to France and
they declared war
Franco-Prussian War
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continued
Bismarck used the war to bring the four
remaining German states into the North
German Confederation
France was easily defeated. Shocked many
1871 Napoleon III captured
Paris fell
Decisive battles: Metz and Sedan
Treaty of Frankfurt
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Alsace and Lorraine were ceded to Germany
King William I became Emperor of Germany
Called Kaiser Wilhelm
Bismarck now the Imperial Chancellor
Government structure remained but the
Parliament had little real power
The government became a conservative
autocracy with nobility allied with the king
The Austro-Hungarian Empire
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Earlier defeat (Austro-Prussian War) forced
Austria to deal with its ethnic groups
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Czechs and Hungarians continued with demands
of autonomy at the very least
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Austria’s defeat weakened its control at home
Ausgleich (Compromise)
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Official creation of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire (dual monarchy)
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Hungarians had their own assemble, cabinet,
and administrative system
But would support and participate with Austria
in the Imperial army and in the Imperial
Government
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Different Ethnic Groups = no
integration
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Language in government and shcools was a
divisive issue
Bohemia a real problem (Czech or German?)
Conservatives and socialists tried to make it
work by stressing economic concerns
Unsuccessful
1907 Universal male suffrage
Anti-Semitism in Austria-Hungary
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Jewish population in Austrian cities grew rapidly
after Austria gave Jews full legal equality in 1867
By 1900 10% of the population
Jewish population successful in : banking, trade,
the arts, intellectual community and science
(Freud)
German extremists charged Jews with
controlling the economy and corrupting
German culture with alien ideas and modern art
Magyar Rule in Hungary
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1867 Magyar nobility revived the constitution of
1848 and used it to dominate Magyar peasants
and minority groups
Only the wealthiest 25% of pop could vote
Croatians and Romanians in particular resented
laws enforcing the use of Magyar language in
schools
After 1871 Austro-Hungarian Empire much
weakened