Ideologies of Change: Europe 1815-1914

Unificationof

Italy&

Germany

Creation of Italy and Germany

Revolutions reverberated throughout Western Europe:

- Failures did not diminish impact:

‘To what extent was urban middle class and some working/peasant class ready to rally to a Strong National

State – even an essentially Conservatist one?’

[paraphrasing Text 728]

Meaning of ‘Nationalism’

Significance: Nationalist = Strong

- Nationalism being associated by peoples of all classes to idea of ‘strong state’

- 1850s – 1860s: ‘Great political question’ : how will this play out ? [text 728]

- Implies both: ‘how will states’ exploit this growing popular impression and ‘how will people’ respond?

Italy

Congress of Vienna: 1814-15|ITALY: “ A Geographical Expression” (Metternich)

- North: rich, industrializing provinces under Austria’s control

- West Piedmont + Island of Sardinia: Kingdom

- Tuscany/Central: huge region, included former Mediterranten commercial capital, Florence

Italy- “Papal States” (central): autonomous

- South: Kingdom of two Sicilies (one island, one mainland)

Various ‘talk’ of Unification with no focus over early 19th century

Italy

1848: new political impetus

- Giuseppe Mazzini: demanding ‘democracy’, led uprising

- immediately crushed by Austria

Response- Pope Fled Rome

- King of Sardinia: allowed for some reforms ‘under duress’

Italy

Sardinia vs ‘the North’:

- Sardinia led by Aristocrat Count Cavour

- Sympathzised with conservative middle-class interests: hope to ‘use them’ to expandsardinia’s influence

- Strategic political thinker: exploited rivalry between Austria (occupier of north) and France

- Provoked short-lived war which did not accomplish his goals: resigned from political position

Count ‘Camille Benso’Cavour(1810-1861)

First Prime Minister ItalyMarch – June 1861

Italy

Strategy Provoked War/Austrian Occupation in North:

- Incited Central Regions, especially urban centres, to rebel

- First wide-spread protest

- Leaders demanded ‘unification’ with Sardinia

Successful: ironically, Cavour’s initial goals achieved through actions popular protest Central Italy – returned to power

Italy

Leaving “The Sicilies”: - Island and Mainland regions under the a Bourbon family remained outside the fray

- Cavour and Austria were concerned with the north and central regions: the ‘Sicilies’ were largely overlookeed

Italy

Giuseppe Garibaldi [Text p.730]

- Described as a Romantic, a Radical, a Revolutionary

- Poor sailor’s son, he naturally moved into the military

- Engaged in several successful battles against Austria

- Catapulted to positon of political visibilty

Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) 

[Photo 1861]

Italy

Envisaged a united Kingdom of Sicily:

- Appealed to peasantry: generated rebellion

- Successful in taking Palermo, moving to mainland

- Goal: Papal States and Rome

Italy

Count Cavour:

- Said to have supported Garibaldi: but goals very different

- Sent his own forces to Papal States: occupied all but Rome itself

- “intercepted” Garibaldi: allowed him victory in Naples but denied him autonomy for Sicily

Italy

“Parliamentary Monarchy”:

- Same form government as seen elsewhere: King Sardinia now ‘King’ of Italy (except for Rome and Venice)

- “neither Radical, as Garibaldi hoped, nor truly Democratic” [Text]

- Small minority males could vote: ‘propertied’ elite

- Most of middle class as disenfranchised as workers

Italy

Watch animated ‘map’: Unification of Italy 1829 -1871

[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Italian-unification.gif]

Italy

Most Significant: regional economies

- North: industrializing (Milan, Turin), growing prosperous middle/business class

- South: agrarian, stagnant – increasingly poor economy

- Created significant social and cultural differences: North looking to industrialized Europe, especially France more than to southern regions of new ‘unified’ country

Germany

German Confederation 1848:

- Austria-Prussia: engaged in ‘balancing act’ – curbing the power of the other

- Shared same range of conservative, liberal ideas

- Critical catalyst: economy more than ideology

Germany

Economy:

- Industry flourishing across northern regions

- 1853: ‘Customs Union’ – facilitating movement raw materials, manufactured goods

- All states but Austria had joined: Austria not as well situated for industrial growth

Germany

“Germany without Austria was becoming an Economic Reality” [Text] before it became a political one

- Growing industrial economy: equally growing middle class

- Sharing ‘business’, laissez-faire values ‘liberalism’

- Increasingly in contrast to Austria’s ‘traditional conservatism’

Germany

Political Situation: 1848

- Prussian monarchy: King Wilhelm I

- Responded to ‘revolutions’, rebellions with reforms permitting limited middle-class voice

- By late 1850s, controlled parliament

Germany

King was political strategist:

- Saw success of Italy vis-à-vis Austria: why not take advantage of moment to launch war?

- Problem: ‘war’ was in interests of traditional, conservative elites – not new business oriented middle class

- Parliament rejected militaristic budgets

Germany

Count Otto von Bismark:

- 1862 King appointed Bismark head of New Ministry

- Used this power to overlook Parliament

- Famous speech: “great questions of the day will not be decided by speeches and resolutions…[the tools of democracy and parliament] … but by ‘Blood and Iron’ “

- Return to traditional military power/politics

Count Otto von Bismark1815 – 1890

First Chancellor of Unified ‘Germany’1871-1890

Germany

Political Stand-off: 1862 -1866

- Elections continued to put liberal majorities into Parliament

- Bismark continued to ignore Parliament: how?

- Played to ‘lower assembly’: representatives elected by universal male vote – interests different from middle class

Bismark’s Nightmare:

Visited by ‘Death’Who is saying “Thank You”

[by Honore Daumier, Aug. 1870]

Germany

Bismark followed mandate: war

- 1866: attacked Austria

- Prussia’s industrialized economy: permitted investing in modernized, reorganized army

- Austria’s army traditional: no match for Prussian strength

Defeated quickly: forced out of German Confederation

Germany

‘North German Confederation’

- Bismark dissolved remaining confederation, formed new ‘North German’ grouping

- Included most northern states of Austrian empire

- Led by Prussia

Germany

Role of Nationalism:

- Political strategy: Bismark had alienated powerful middle-class by ignoring wishes of parliament

- Went back and asked for ‘retro-active’ support for budget that had supported war

- Parliament could not reject success!

Germany

Benefits:

- War had been ‘success’

- New constitution brought promise of new economic growth

- Middle Class saw interests coincide with rise of ‘strong government’: liberalism found middle ground with conservatism

Germany

1870: war with France

- Much historical discussion about Bismark’s ‘editing’ a telegram to force provoke war

- Reality: France concerned about rise of Prussia, new Confederation – sought opportunity to ‘limit’ power

- Bad Timing: after victory against Austria, nationalist sentiments ruled Prussian parliament – all classes behind Bismark

GermanyFranco-Prussian War:

- Same industrial ‘power’ that divided Prussia from Austria had also pushed it ahead of France

- Efforts continued to develop economy, urbanize etc but France, military no competition for Prussia

- Quick victory: humiliating

- Paris: held out for several months, starved into submission

Germany

Expansion of ‘confederation’:

- Bismark’s military success brought many of southern (former) German Confederation states into new political union

- Defeat of France literally marked Birth of Germany

- [Text speaks of ‘German Empire’ – raises confusion with creation of overseas empire from 1880s]

North German Confederation (red). Southern German states joined 1870 to form the German

Empire (orange). Alsace-Lorraine annexed 1871 (tan).

Germany

Reflections:

- Seeing growing role ‘Nationalism’ in holding together fragile political/ideological coalitions

- Divergent, often contradictory interests could only be overcome in short term

- Political ‘use’ nationalism gave longevity to coalitions

Germany“Rhetoric and Ritual”:

- Important aspects of Nationalism (last day)

- But what pushed full support for Bismark and militarism was longer-term vision of economic gain

- Not everyone supported [cartoons of Honore Daumier] but minority in 1860s, 1870s

- Same alliances would also support building of overseas empire 1880s-1890s

Germany

Bismark and a ‘Unified Germany’:

- Continued to ‘play off’ two levels of representative government: Middle Class Parliament vs ‘popular’ lower chamber (‘Reichstag’)

- Wary of rise ‘socialism’: Germany ‘home’ Marx, Engels (1848 ‘Communist Manifesto’)

- Had become basis for German Social Democratic Party

Germany

1878: party outlawed

- Could control ‘party’ but not its politics: socialist values continued to have followers

- Bismark: ‘appeased’ workers with progressive programmes [as Britain had done earlier in century]

- Went much further: national health programme, old-age pensions – ironic most far-reaching ‘socialist’ policies came from militaristic, conservative government

Germany

1890: King ‘Kaiser’ Wilhelm II took throne

- Conscious of Bismark’s personal power: saw it as competition to his own

- Dismissed him but essentially followed same political strategies: kept influence ‘socialism’ at by continuing to support poor, workers

- Limited political reforms kept ‘moderate’ middle class on side until WWI

Italy & Germany

“How did these developments shape European Politics in the decades before WWI?” [Text p.743]

- Two Significant Issues:

- Emergence of ‘Modern Politics’

- Rise of Anti-Semitism

Rise ‘Modern Politics’

From 1848-1870:

- Era saw overall change in ‘political behaviour’

- Elites, aristocracies: to keep power several different groups either had to be appeased individually or brought together

- Middle Class aware of ‘power’ it could exercise in process

Rise ‘Modern Politics’- France example of what happened when neither policy

successfully followed

- Successful unification Italy, Germany: underscored importance of dealing with emergent ‘class differences’

Showed that ideological differences could be overcome – liberals could co-exist/support conservatives – if nationalism ‘used’ effectively

Rise ‘Modern Politics’

Nationalism in late-19th Century Politics:

- Directed ‘inward’: rise of Anti-Semitism in Western (and Eastern) Europe

- Directed ‘outward’: rise of ‘Colonial Empires’ in ‘non-West’

Rise of Anti-Semitism• To be continued