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Alex Lee
History 110 – Modern Western Civilization
January 10, 2015
Written Assignment
3. Examine the unification of Italy and Germany during the mid-1800s. What were the major
events and who were the major figures? What impact did unification have on these two nations
and on Europe as a whole?
In the middle of the nineteenth century, the map of Europe experienced significant
changes. Two nations underwent individual processes of unification. These processes led to a
united Italy and a united Germany. The independent states of Italy combined under one
government, and the German states did the same. The confederations of both Italy and Germany
affected, not only the individual nations, but also the continent of Europe as a whole.
Before Italian unification occurred, the peninsula, which now makes up the country of
Italy, was divided into almost one dozen independent states. Many of these states were under the
control of the Habsburgs of Austria. Although Italian nationalists sought a united Italy, there
was disagreement and uncertainty behind how to make this dream into a reality.
One of the possible methods of unification of Italy was under romantic republicanism and
was inspired by secret republican societies, like the Carbonari, which were formed after the
Congress of Vienna. Giuseppe Mazzini was one of the major romantic republican leaders after
1831 and became widely known for supporting the nationalist cause. Mazzini was a founder of
the Young Italy Society, an organization put into place to force the Austrians out of Italy. With
Giuseppe Garibaldi, another famous Italian nationalist, Mazzini led uprisings throughout the
1830s and 1840s. After the failure of the Roman Republic of 1849, both men continued to
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engage in guerilla warfare throughout the 1850s. Ultimately, the two were unsuccessful in their
mission because most moderate Italians feared their use of guerrilla warfare to further the
republican nationalist cause. These moderates wanted to “rid themselves of Austrian domination
but not to establish a republic” (690) and hoped that the papacy would step in to help. It was
eventually Count Camillo Cavour, the prime minister of the Italian state of Piedmont, who was
able to unite the nation of Italy as a constitutional monarchy through taking up arms and using
diplomacy.
Count Cavour was in support of monarchies, Enlightenment ideology, classical
economics, and utilitarianism. He was a moderate liberal and wanted a united Italy for the
purpose of economic progress rather than romantic ideals. Cavour thought it was necessary to
prove to the greater European powers that Italy was economically progressive so he put into
place policies fostering “free trade, railroad construction, expansion of credit, and agricultural
improvements” (691). He also saw it in the best interest of the forming nation to ally itself with
France in order to defeat Austria and release the hold the Habsburgs had on several Italian states.
In order to gain French support, he sent Italian troops to aid France and Britain in the Crimean
War.
French ruler, Napoleon III was impressed by Cavour’s support and met privately with
Cavour. Together the two signed a secret treaty in December of 1858 agreeing to provoke a war
in Italy that would be backed by the French in order to drive out the Austrians and create a
climate for Italian independence and unification. The following year, Austria found itself at war
against Italy and France and suffered many losses. In the midst of the conflict, France backed
out and left Italy with an incomplete control over the Italian Peninsula, but the majority of
Austrian power had dissipated. Garibaldi, who still striving for republicanism while working
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with the rest of the Italian forces to drive out the Austrians, was eventually forced to give in to
Cavour’s wishes to create a united Italy in order to avoid civil war between the Italian kingdoms
of Sicily and Naples.
Under the newly united nation-state of Italy, Victor Emmanuel II was crowned king, and
soon after, Cavour died. His death was untimely, and Italian politics fell into corruption. Italian
states of Venetia and Rome were not yet joined to the rest of the nation-state. Finally, in 1870,
the two regions joined Italy, and the unification was complete. The events leading up to this
unification would affect the future of European allies and rivals. Italy chose to join the Allied
forces against Germany and Austria during World War I because of their tainted history with
Austria and Austria’s continued control over Italian-speaking regions of Trent and Trieste. The
unification of Italy, however, was not the only important consolidation of government and states
during this period as Germany also united.
More significant than the unification of Italy was that of the German states. “German
unification was the most important political development in Europe between 1848 and 1914. It
transformed the balance of economic, military, and international power. Moreover, the way it
was created largely determined the character of the new German state” (696). The conservative
prime minister of Prussia was actually the mastermind behind the unification and sought to do so
for the purpose of continuing to embed Prussian dominance within the German nation.
Several events set unification into motion beginning with Prussian power changing hands
from Frederick William IV to his brother William I. Less idealistic and more patriotic than his
brother, William I sought to increase the size of the army, but the liberal-dominated Prussian
Parliament created a political deadlock by refusing to approve the necessary taxes to achieve this
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goal. The course of the remaining events which led to Germany’s unification was affected
greatly by Otto von Bismarck, prime minister of Prussia beginning in 1862.
In order to change the concentration of liberals in Parliament, Bismarck took it upon
himself to unite Germany by embracing “the cause of German nationalism as a strategy to enable
Prussian conservatives to outmaneuver Prussian liberals” (697). He sought to lead his nation
towards monarchism and Prussian strength. In doing so, Bismarck put the German states through
three wars during his quest for unification.
The first of these three wars was the Danish War, which took place in 1864. One of
Bismarck’s goals was to create a united Germany that did not include Austria. The Danish War
was caused by Denmark attempting to absorb two German Confederation states of Schleswig
and Holstein. Bismarck defeated Denmark by using forces from only Prussia and Austria and
used this to antagonize Austria. Bismarck fed into the second war by persuading Italy to attack
Austria in support of Prussia once the war began.
The second war was the Austro-Prussian War in 1866. Prussia continued to antagonize
Austria until Austria called for intervention by the German Confederation, but Bismarck cited
the 1864 alliance and the Convention of Gastein in his complaint that this intervention would
violate both agreements. This resulted in the war which was ended by the Treaty of Prague and
caused the losing Austria to surrender its state of Venetia to France. Venetia in turn was
awarded to Italy, as promised, for Italian support. Prussia became the major power out of all of
the German states. Hanover, Hesse-Kassel, Nassau, and Frankfurt were annexed after supporting
Austria and came under the control of Prussia. Bismarck united these regions into the North
German Confederation in 1867. The monarchy and army became “the most popular institutions
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in the country” (699), and Prussia’s goal of getting the Parliament to bend to its will was
accomplished.
The third and final war in the unification of Germany occurred from 1870-1871 as the
Franco-Prussian War. Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden, and Hesse-Darmstadt were next on
Bismarck’s list to incorporate into his new confederation. Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern, a
cousin of Prussia’s William I, was chosen to be the new king of Spain. France strongly
disapproved of this, and Bismarck played on this disapproval to trick the nation into war with
Prussia. All of the German states joined Prussia to fight France. Napoleon III himself was
captured at the Battle of Sedan, and soon after, Paris was sieged. The German Empire was
proclaimed, and a settlement of peace was made with France.
The formation of this empire showed the rest of Europe the German’s strength and
provided Europe with a great source of natural resources, educational advancements, and
talented citizens. France and Austria were the two nations most greatly affected by the
unification of Germany, as their many weaknesses were pointed out to the world. All of Europe
knew of the unifications of the Italian states and the German states and would see the power of
these two nations throughout the following decades.
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4. Focusing on Chapters 23-24 on the textbook, discuss the economic and social changes in
Europe during the 1800s and early 1900s, and examine the birth of modern European thought
during this period.
During the 1800s and early 1900s, Europe was in transition both economically and
socially. These changes brought about the birth of modern European thought that would become
commonplace across the continent. Some of the changes were brought about by the Second
Industrial Revolution, changes in the Middle Class divisions and lifestyle, and the new roles of
women. Though these were not the only factors affecting Europe at this time, they played an
important part in influencing modern European thought.
The Second Industrial Revolution focused mainly on expansion of railways and how they
affected economic growth across Europe and introduced new industries altogether. It was
“associated with steel, chemicals, electricity, and oil” (716). Henry Bessemer invented a process
for making steel in 1857, which revolutionized industry forever. Other inventions during the
Second Industrial Revolution included the telephone, the electric lightbulb, the first electric
power plant, the internal combustion engine, the automobile, the diesel engine, wireless
telegraphy, the airplane, and the car. All of these inventions were marks of a global society
moving towards individual independence, luxury, and convenience. The Revolution was not
necessarily a time of economic prosperity. However, in the years before the Panic of 1873,
particularly beginning in 1850, industry and agriculture were in full swing.
In 1873, though, panic struck as multiple large banks failed and caused an economic
stagnation for two decades. During this time, the word “unemployment” was first coined, and
trade unions and socialist political parties first emerged. By the end of the century, most
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countries pulled out of the depression through an expansion of consumerism and growing
demand for goods thanks to the creation of department stores and urbanization.
The middle class fell victim to growing consumerism and sought social equality and the
equality of property in response to the new socialist and labor movements. Diversity in the
middle class became far more evident. Members of the upper end of the middle class made up of
entrepreneurs and professionals collected an abundance of luxury goods such as furniture,
pianos, and artwork. The white collar workers, or lower middle class, emerged as a “wholly new
element” of the middle class (720). These people were often the secretaries, retail clerks, and
lower level businesspeople or government workers who aspired to separate themselves from the
working class and strive for upper middle class status or better. As the middle class grew and
diversified, the major cities of Europe did as well.
Urbanization became commonplace as cities across the continent were redesigned. A
new area of living space emerged known as “suburbs” where people, typically of middle class
descent, lived removed from urban congestion but not so far removed that they lived outside of
urban influence and opportunities. Within the highly urbanized regions, however, reforms took
place. Sanitation improved as new water and sewage systems were developed. Public health
became of greater concern for the government. Another emerging concern was that of the roles
and experiences of women in the nineteenth century.
In the late 1800s, woman gained new ground as women broke barriers in property rights,
education, and employment. Great Britain gave married women the rights to property in their
own names, and Germany allowed women to take jobs without the permission of their husbands
in 1900. By the early 1900s, women were pursuing roles as teachers and some “radical” women
were even attending medical schools. The Second Industrial Revolution brought about available
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positions for employment as secretaries and clerks, and these things allowed women more
independence outside of the home than ever before.
Throughout all of these things – Second Industrial Revolution, changes in the Middle
Class divisions and lifestyle, and the new roles of women – modern European thought was born.
Curiosity in education and science grew. Theories, like that of evolution and origination of
species, were formed. Religion was challenged. Freud first brought about psychoanalysis, and
philosophical thoughts and ideas were spread. Racism, anti-Semitism, and feminism became the
topics of conversation for many European governments, and the governments themselves were
challenged by new political ideologies like communism and socialism. Europeans experienced
social and economic change, and this led to a whole new school of thought for people across the
continent.
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6. Discuss the major events of World War II in Europe from the invasion of Poland through the
end of the war. What were the major events and who were the most important figures? What
were the turning points of the war?
World War II was not like World War I as far as the number of countries it involved and
the fronts upon which is was fought. “World War II was truly global” (907). It took place
mainly in Europe, Asia, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean. The war officially began
when Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. In response, Britain and France declared
war on Germany two days later. With that, the war was in full swing and would lead the major
powers around the world into conflict.
In May of 1940, Winston Churchill became the prime minister of Great Britain and
would prove himself to be far beyond worthy of this position by the end of the war. On June 10,
1940, France’s army fell to German forces, and Italy invaded southern France. Churchill refused
to compromise with Hitler or submit to the earlier methods of appeasement used by Great Britain
and France when dealing with Hitler previously. “One of Churchill’s greatest achievements was
establishing a close relationship with U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt found
ways to help the British despite strong political opposition” (909), and before the United States
was even part of the war, the nation was supporting the British with supplies and ships. Britain
was able to defeat German forces in the air and prevent invasion of British soil. After failing to
invade Britain, Hitler set his sights to the east. The ambitious Hitler followed through with
Operation Barbarossa and invaded Russia. In spite of Stalin’s panic, the mission was
unsuccessful. Hitler, however, still fully intended to stick to his dream of turning Europe into his
empire, the Third Reich. Up to this point, the fighting had been contained to Europe and North
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Africa and involved Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany, and Italy, but that would soon
change when Japan chose to get involved.
On December 7, 1941, General Tojo launched attacks on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in order
to provoke the United States to war and further Japan’s interests in Southeast Asia. The war was
officially taking place in Europe, North Africa, the Atlantic, and now in Asia and the Pacific,
too. The following day, the United States and Britain declared war on Japan, and soon after,
Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. The United States, however, was not
prepared for war – a fact which became extremely evident as Japan took control of many Pacific
and Asian lands. The future began to look dim on all fronts for the Allies, but this all changed at
the Battle of Midway Island in June of 1942 when the U.S. conquered Japanese troops.
Five months later, the next major battle was fought at Stalingrad. “The Russians lost
more men in this one battle than the Americans lost in combat during the entire war, but their
heroic defense prevailed” (916). This battle was a turning point for the Russians, and the
Americans supported them with supplies and materials. The Germans found themselves
dwindling and would soon be conquered.
Hitler and the forces of Nazi Germany would ultimately be defeated following the launch
of American, British, and Canadian troops in Normandy, France on June 6, 1944 – a day that
would become known as D-Day. American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of the
Allied forces, led the strategic planning that led to the liberation of France. Germany made its
last reach for victory at the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium and Luxembourg but failed. Russian
forces swept into Berlin in March of 1945, but “because the Allies insisted on unconditional
surrender, the Germans fought on until May” before finally surrendering (916). All that was left
was the Japanese Empire to defeat.
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American began forcing the Japanese into surrender by reclaiming islands throughout the
Pacific. By October, the United States had reclaimed the Philippines, and in 1945, Iwo Jima and
Okinawa fell to the Allies. To finally end the war, the United States dropped an atomic bomb
over the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Over the course of the next three days,
the Soviet Union invaded Japanese-occupied Manchuria, and the U.S. dropped a second atomic
bomb on Nagasaki. Japanese Emperor Hirohito intervened with Japanese plans of another
invasion and surrendered to President Harry S. Truman on September 2, 1945, thus officially
ending World War II in an Axis defeat.
World War II brought out a very ugly side of humanity. Numerous lives were lost on
both the Allied and Axis sides. Anti-Semitism was experienced and made into a hideous reality
for the many Jewish lives lost in the Holocaust, and Hitler’s name was forever cemented in
infamy. The ending of the war was not the ending of fears and the beginning of peace, and it
cost greatly in regards to human lives, money, and supplies for all parties involved.
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7. Discuss the causes of the Cold War and its major events through the end of the 1960s. Was
either side more at fault than the other? What were the turning points of the conflict?
Almost immediately following World War II was the Cold War. The Cold War Era
spanned from the 1940s all the way up until the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Cold War is
known by this name due to the fact that it existed, not as a full-fledged battle physically fought
between nations, but as a series of conflicts, competitions, and skirmishes between primarily the
United States and the Soviet Union of Russia. “While it lasted, this conflict dominated global
politics and threatened the peace of Europe, which stood divided between the U.S.-dominated
North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, and the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact” (937).
Some of the causes of this period of time were due to Russia’s attempts to spread its communist
regime further into Eastern Europe and across Asia, the competition between both nations in
regards to nuclear power, the space race, and hard feelings between the nations leftover from
World War II.
Because it was such a long era of conflict, many dates stand out as important events
marking the altercations between the United States and the Soviet Union. Two of the first
important events of the era were the formation of the United Nations and the Yalta Conference
both in 1945. At the Yalta Conference, the Big Three – Prime Minister Winston Churchill of
Great Britain, President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States, and Premier Joseph Stalin of
the Soviet Union – met to discuss forming the United Nations and make post-war arrangements.
Roosevelt and Churchill worked together to make concessions for Stalin in order to get him on
board with the rest of their plans, and Roosevelt followed the example of Woodrow Wilson in
suggesting the United Nations as Wilson had suggested the League of Nations in World War I.
In March of the following year, Churchill made his famous speech in which he described an
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“iron curtain” that had been drawn across Europe and represented the divide between Soviet and
non-Soviet Europe. The difference on each side of this metaphorical curtain was drastic, as the
Soviet side suffered greatly in regards to its economic standing. The Soviets dominated Eastern
Europe and intended to expand their rule further.
After Stalin made clear his plans to expand the Soviet Union, the Americans adopted a
policy known as containment. The purpose of containment was “to resist the extension of Soviet
expansion and influence in the expectation that eventually the Soviet Union would collapse from
internal pressures and the burdens of its foreign oppression” (938). U.S. opposition to the Soviet
Union led to the establishment of the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. The purpose of
the Truman Doctrine was for America to agree to support nations “who are resisting attempted
subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures” and to aid Greece and Turkey in their
fights against Soviet rule (939). The Marshall Plan was the name of the European Economic
Recovery Program which stood to combat growing communist sentiment amongst war-ravaged
Western Europe. “Following the declaration of the Truman Doctrine and the announcement of
the Marshall Plan, the Soviet Union defined a new era of conflict between the United States and
itself” (940).
After this, the Soviet Union took control of Czechoslovakia, and the United States went
ahead with their plans on what to do with post-war Germany. Because the United States had
control over part of Berlin, the Soviet Union completely blocked off the city for over a year.
Germany and Berlin continued to be divided, and the rest of Europe became more unified in
opposition to the Soviet Union.
In April of 1949, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Britain, Italy,
Denmark, Norway, Portugal, and Iceland joined with Canada and the United States to form
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NATO to agree to assist one another in case of an attack. In May of 1955, Albania, Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union signed the
Warsaw Pact to formally recognize the all-powerful rule of the Soviet Union over the eastern
half of Europe. The war, however, could not be contained to Europe forever. Eventually the
Cold War actually turned into a typical war fought by troops for a period of time known as the
Korean War.
After capturing Korea from Japan during World War II, the country was divided between
the United States and the Soviet Union at the 38th parallel of latitude with the intention of
reuniting the country in the future. “By 1948, however, two separate states had emerged: the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the north, supported by the Soviet Union, and the
Republic of Korea in the south, supported by the United States” (945). North Korea invaded
South Korea in June of 1950. The United States, Great Britain, Turkey and Australia sent forces
to support South Korea. China, under their communist ruler Mao Zedong, sent troops to support
North Korea. Eventually, an armistice was established on June 16, 1953 that ended the Korean
conflict and kept the border at the 38th parallel. That same year, Joseph Stalin died, and there
were hopes that the Cold War would die along with him.
Stalin’s death marked the beginning of the Khrushchev era but not the end of the Cold
War. Premier Nikita Khrushchev sought to shy away from Stalinism but not from
authoritarianism and to “reform the Soviet system but to maintain the dominance of the
Communist Party” (946). In fact, he publically denounced Stalin’s policies in a speech given in
1956. That same year, the Suez crisis, the Polish crisis, and the Hungarian uprising occurred.
The Suez crisis was caused by the Egyptian president attempting to seize control of the Suez
Canal and France and Britain getting involved. The Polish crisis was characterized by Poland
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going against Soviet wishes and electing the candidate of their choice to the position of prime
minister. During the Hungarian uprising, new premier Imre Nagy came into power and talked
about creating a Hungary more independent of the Soviet Union. Each of these events were
examples of rebellion against the regime of the Soviet Union, and after that year, Soviets spoke
of having a “peaceful coexistence” with the United States (948).
A few events throughout the 1950s occurred between the two superpowers, which
proved that the Cold War would not be over so soon. In 1957, the Soviets launched the first
manmade satellite into orbit, giving the appearance of technological superiority over the United
States and the West. The following year, talks of limiting nuclear testing began between the two.
By 1958, things had cooled down enough to the point where leaders from each country could
visit and tour the opposing country without fear. A summit would be scheduled for May of
1960, and President Eisenhower would be going to Moscow. Before the summit could occur, a
U.S. U-2 aircraft on a reconnaissance mission over the Soviet Union was shot down. The furious
Soviet government canceled plans to attend the summit and for Eisenhower to visit their country.
One idea as to why the Soviet Union backed out of the summit was that it did not want to be
outdone by China in a stand against the capitalist societies of the western world. As the Cold
War moved to the next decade, it was clear that conflicts would continue well into the late 1900s.
John F. Kennedy, the new U.S. president, and Khrushchev met in Vienna, but it was
essentially pointless. Later that year, the Soviet Union supported East Germany in erecting the
Berlin Wall to keep East Germans from migrating out into West Germany. Under President
Kennedy’s short term in office, the most volatile days of the Cold War occurred. The Cuban
Missile Crisis took place during October of 1962 and threatened the safety and lives within the
two competing countries and beyond to the rest of the world. Fidel Castro’s communist Cuba
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became an ally of the Soviet Union and allowed the Soviet Union to place nuclear missiles in
San Cristóbal, Cuba. “In response, the American government, under President Kennedy,
blockaded Cuba, halted the shipment of new missiles, and demanded the removal of existing
installation” (949). The Soviets backed down after a week of intense fear of the real possibility
of nuclear war, and in 1963, both nations agreed on a nuclear test ban treaty. After this event,
the tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union decreased significantly.
The Cold War would continue into the 1990s, but the worst of it was over. Both sides of
the conflict had done a great amount of damage to the other in regards to time, finances, and
recourses, but fortunately, this particular “war” did not result in the loss of millions of lives.
Almost every event during this time was caused by either the United States or the Soviet Union
trying to outdo the other and competing. Ultimately, the two nations could not see eye-to-eye
because of the simple fact that communism and capitalism were, and continue to be, two
opposing forces with very different ideologies. Each nation was proud and sought to protect its
own interests and could not find a way to trust the other or live in peace.