THE MAKING OF GERMANY AND ITALY

A BRIEF COVERAGE

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UNIFICATION OF GERMANYIn 1848, middle-class Germans tried to unite the different regions of the German confederation into a nation state under an elected parliament. In Prussia, nation building acts were repressed by the combined forces of the monarchy and the military and were supported by the landowners (“Junkers”).

Prussia took over the leadership of the movement for national unification. Prussia emerged victorious after fighting three wars over seven years against the combined forces of Austria, Denmark and France and the process of unification of Germany was completed. 18th January 1871: The new German empire headed by the German Emperor Kaiser William I was declared in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles. The unification of Germany established Prussian dominance in Europe. The New German Empire focused on modernizing the currency, banking, legal and judicial systems.

MAP OF PRUSSIA (1815)

The chief aim of Bismarck of Germany was to make it organized, safe and powerful. To achieve his aims he did not resort to democratic means because he considered the democratic system useless. By his actions he proved that he was an able statesman and a skilled diplomat of his time. He was a follower of 'Blood and Iron' policy. But besides being militarist he was a clever diplomat. Before making an attack on his enemy, he used to make him isolated and friendless and instead of becoming himself an invader he used to provoke his enemy to make an attack on him. His diplomacy was full of bluff and power.

OTTO VON BISMARCK

Bismarck used to consider himself Prussian first and a German afterwards. He did not want to endanger the existence of Prussia in the unification of Germany. He wanted to incorporate the whole Germany into Prussia.

He did not agree to those schemes for a union which would destroy the integrity of the Prussian kingdom. Bismarck was the most practical-minded politician. That is why he did not pay any attention towards the establishment of the colonial empire. His politics was for Germany and Europe as well. He was never lost in distant vision like that of Talleyrand.

OTTO VON BISMARCK

His foreign policy can very well be defined in two words Divide and Rule. He could bring each of his enemies to his knees by following this policy.

He made France friendless and isolated in Europe, in order to cripple her for ever so that she could never wage a war against Germany. But the militarist policy of Bismarck turned Germany into a militant nation which brought destructive consequences for her.

OTTO VON BISMARCK

William I felt the necessity of the reorganization of Prussian army. The organization of the army was entirely based upon a law of 1814. He wanted to increase the number of the soldiers and improve the quality of army by providing them facility of training.

Military service was made compulsory for every person of Prussia for a minimum period of three years. It was also decided that the number of the soldiers in the army of Prussia would be 4, 50,000.

Sufficient funds were required to meet the expenses of the army and for making it well equipped. But the Chamber of Deputies bitterly opposed the military plan of the king. The liberals were in the majority in the Chamber of Deputies.

They wanted that the unification of Germany should be achieved through democratic and constitutional means, and not by blood and iron. On the other hand, William I had no faith in the constitutional measures.

WILLIAM I

Thus, a bitter and prolonged controversy arose between the king and the Chamber of Deputies. When the bill was presented before the Chamber of Deputies, it was rejected. The king dissolved the Chamber and new elections were held. Unfortunately, the liberals again achieved the majority.

They again opposed the Army Reform Bill of the king. In this way, a deadlock followed between the Crown and the Chamber of Deputies. Now William I had three alternatives:(i) He should give up the idea of the reform of the army.(ii) He should dissolve the Parliament.(iii) He should resign from his post.

Finally, he decided to abdicate the throne. It is said that he had written his resignation and signed it, but at the very moment, he remembered a man, who could help the king in the times of trouble.

WILLIAM I

William I immediately called him and appointed him the Chancellor of Prussia on September 23, 1862. He assured the king of carrying out the policies of his master against the consent of the Chamber of Deputies. He declared:"I will rather perish with the king, than forsake your Majesty in the contest with parliamentary government."

WILLIAM I

UNIFICATION OF ITALYA long history of political fragmentation was experienced in Italy.

Italy during the middle of the nineteenth century

•Was divided into seven states.

•Only Sardinia-Piedmont was ruled by an Italian princely house.

•The North was under Austrian Habsburgs. The centre was under Pope.

•The South was under the Bourbon Kings of Spain. Italian language had varieties of dialects; therefore, it was not stable in its form.

UNIFICATION OF ITALYDuring the 1830s Giuseppe Mazzini formed a coherent program for uniting the Italian Republic. King Victor Emmanuel II from Sardinia-Piedmont to unify the Italian states. Chief Minister of Sardinia-Piedmont, Count Cavour, led the movement for the unification of Italy.

1859: Sardinia-Piedmont with an alliance with France defeated the Austrian forces. Large number of people under the leadership of Giuseppe Garibaldi joined the movement.

1860: Sardinia-Piedmont‟s forces marched into south Italy and the Kingdom of the Two Scillies and drove out the Spanish rulers.

1861: Victor Emanuel was declared as the king of united Italy and Rome was declared the capital of Italy.

MAP OF ITALY

GIUSEPPE MAZZINI

Giuseppe Mazzini was nicknamed The Beating Heart of Italy. He was an Italian politician, journalist and activist for the unification of Italy. His efforts helped bring about the independent and unified Italy.

In place of the several separate states, many dominated by foreign powers which existed until the 19th century. He also helped define the modern European movement for popular democracy in a republican state. His faith in democracy and his enthusiasm for a free Italy he inherited from his parents. At the age of twenty-two he joined the secret society of the Carbonari, and was sent on a mission to Tuscany, where he was entrapped and arrested. On his release, he set about the formation, among the Italian exiles in Marseilles, of the Society of Young Italy, which had for its aim the establishment of a free and united Italian republic.

GIUSEPPE MAZZINI

His activities led to a decree for his banishment from France, but he succeeded in outwitting the spies of the Government and going on with his work. The conspiracy for a national rising planned by Young Italy was discovered, many of the leaders were executed, and Mazzini himself condemned to death.

Almost at once, however, he resumed operations, working this time from Geneva; but another abortive expedition led to his expulsion from Switzerland. He found refuge, but at first hardly a livelihood, in London, where he continued his propaganda by means of his pen. He went back to Italy when the revolution of 1848 broke out, and fought fiercely but in vain against the French, when they besieged Rome and ended the Roman Republic in 1849. 

GIUSEPPE MAZZINI

Defeated and broken, he returned to England, where he remained till called to Italy by the insurrection of 1857. He worked with Garibaldi for some time; but the kingdom established under Victor Emmanuel by Cavour and Garibaldi was far from the ideal Italy for which Mazzini had striven. The last years of his life were spent mainly in London, but at the end he returned to Italy, where he died on March 10, 1872. Hardly has any age seen a political martyr of a purer or nobler type.

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