Overview: Italian and German Unification – 1815 to 1890

I. The Aftermath of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna (1815)

The entire period begins with the definitive defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815. His 20 years of conquest had totally destabilized Europe. The major European powers needed to clean up the mess and prevent it from ever happening again.

What was the Congress of Vienna?

The Congress of Vienna (1814–1815) was a meeting of European diplomats and rulers, primarily aimed at restoring peace and order after the Napoleonic Wars.

Key Goals of the Congress:

• Legitimacy: Restoring the ‘legitimate’ ruling families (the old monarchies) who had been overthrown by Napoleon. (Example: Bringing the Bourbon King back to the throne of France.)
• Balance of Power: Ensuring that no single country (especially France) could dominate Europe again. They did this by strengthening France’s neighbours.
• Containment: Creating ‘buffer states’ around France to contain any future revolutionary ideas or military aggression.

The Big Five Players (The Great Powers):

• Austria: Represented by Prince Klemens von Metternich (The host and the most influential conservative figure).
• Great Britain: (Wanted naval power and trade).
• Russia: (Wanted influence in Eastern Europe).
• Prussia: (Wanted territory in Germany).
• France: (Surprisingly, allowed a seat to ensure stability).

Quick Review: The Congress of Vienna was all about stability, preventing revolution, and putting kings back on their thrones. It was a victory for Conservatism.

The Concert of Europe (1815–c. 1850s)

The Concert of Europe was the system established by the Congress. It wasn’t a formal written treaty, but a promise by the Great Powers to meet regularly to discuss issues and intervene militarily if necessary to crush revolutions.

Think of the Concert of Europe like a Neighbourhood Watch group: They agree to patrol the area (Europe) and deal with any troublemakers (revolutionaries) before they cause too much damage.

Key Takeaway: The Congress of Vienna successfully maintained peace between the Great Powers for about 40 years, but it ignored the rising popular forces of nationalism and liberalism, setting the stage for major clashes later.

II. The Clash of Ideologies: Conservatism, Liberalism, and Nationalism

The stability imposed by Metternich and the Congress was constantly challenged by powerful new political ideas, often called the ‘isms’. Understanding these three concepts is essential for understanding the entire 19th century.

1. Conservatism

Core Beliefs:

• Upholds traditional institutions: monarchy, aristocracy, and the established church.
• Society should change slowly, if at all.
• Hated the French Revolution and feared disorder.
• Key Figure: Metternich.

Did you know? Many Conservatives believed that people were naturally unequal and that the elites were the only ones fit to govern.

2. Liberalism

Core Beliefs:

• Values individual freedom (liberty).
• Demands written constitutions, elected parliaments, and protection of rights (like speech and assembly).
• Economic Liberals believed in laissez-faire (free markets, minimal government involvement).
• Crucially, early Liberals usually believed suffrage (the right to vote) should be limited to men who owned property.

Common Mistake to Avoid: Liberalism in the 19th century is not the same as modern political liberalism. It was primarily concerned with property rights and limiting the power of the king.

3. Nationalism

Core Beliefs:

• The idea that a person’s chief loyalty should be to their nation—people who share a common culture, language, and history—rather than to a king or an empire.
• Nationalists demanded that each nation should have its own sovereign, independent state (a nation-state).

Analogy: Imagine you are part of a school club (your nation). Nationalism means you want your club to be completely independent, write its own rules, and govern itself, rather than being ruled by the overarching school administration (the multinational empire).

Nationalism was the greatest threat to the multinational Austrian, Ottoman, and Russian Empires.

Memory Aid (The Isms):
C – Crowns (Monarchs)
L – Liberty (Constitutions)
N – Nation (Shared Culture)

Key Takeaway: The 19th century was a struggle between Conservatives trying to suppress these new ideas and Liberals/Nationalists fighting to implement them, often leading to revolution.

III. Revolutionary Challenges (1820s–1848)

Despite the best efforts of the Concert of Europe, the ‘isms’ repeatedly sparked uprisings.

The Revolutions of 1830

• France: The Bourbon monarchy (restored in 1815) was overthrown again and replaced by the slightly more liberal King Louis Philippe.
• Belgium: Successfully broke away from Dutch rule, demonstrating the power of nationalism to create new states. This was a crack in the Congress System’s foundations.

The Revolutions of 1848: “The Springtime of Peoples”

Don’t worry if this seems complicated; the key is to understand that these revolutions were simultaneous, widespread, and ultimately failed almost everywhere.

Why were the Revolutions so Widespread?

A combination of factors led to these massive uprisings:

• Economic Distress: Crop failures (like the potato blight) and economic depression caused widespread starvation and unemployment.
• Liberal Demands: Middle classes demanded constitutional government and voting rights.
• Nationalist Demands: Groups like Hungarians, Czechs, and Italians demanded autonomy or independence from their imperial rulers (especially Austria).

Why Did They Fail?

In almost every location (France being a temporary exception), the revolutions were ultimately crushed by conservative forces.

• Lack of Unity: Liberals and Nationalists often fought each other. Once liberals got constitutional freedoms, they refused to support the social demands of the working classes.
• Imperial Army Strength: The Austrian and Prussian armies remained loyal and were powerful enough to brutally suppress the disparate revolutionary forces.
• Internal Divisions: In places like the German states, nationalists couldn’t agree on who should lead a unified Germany (Prussia or Austria?).

Key Takeaway: The 1848 revolutions showed that while popular forces (Nationalism and Liberalism) were powerful, they needed strong, centralized leadership and military power to succeed against the established conservative order.

IV. The Triumph of Nationalism: The Age of Unification (1850s–1871)

After 1848, the methods used to achieve unification changed. Instead of romantic, popular revolutions, strong leaders used calculated warfare and political maneuverings—a strategy known as Realpolitik—to achieve their goals.

1. The Unification of Italy (The Risorgimento)

Before 1860, Italy was a patchwork of small states, many controlled directly or indirectly by Austria.

Key Figures and Roles:

• Camillo Cavour (The Brains): Prime Minister of Piedmont-Sardinia (the strongest independent Italian state). He was the practical politician who used diplomacy and military alliances (Realpolitik) to drive Austria out.
• Giuseppe Garibaldi (The Sword): A romantic nationalist who led a volunteer army (the ‘Red Shirts’). He conquered the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Southern Italy) and then handed control over to Cavour, prioritizing unification over his own power.
• Victor Emmanuel II (The Crown): King of Piedmont-Sardinia, who became the first King of unified Italy (1861).

Step-by-Step Unification Process:

• Cavour’s Diplomacy (1850s): He skillfully allied with France to defeat Austria and gain territory in Northern Italy.
• Garibaldi’s Invasion (1860): Garibaldi took the South; Cavour, fearing a republican takeover, quickly moved his forces south.
• The Merger (1861): Garibaldi met Victor Emmanuel II and symbolically ceded his conquered territories, allowing the new Kingdom of Italy to be proclaimed.

Did you know? Rome was not included in unified Italy until 1870, largely because French troops protected the Pope until they were needed elsewhere (during the Franco-Prussian War).

2. The Unification of Germany

Germany, like Italy, was a collection of many small states, dominated by two major powers: the Catholic Austrian Empire and the Protestant Kingdom of Prussia.

Key Figure: Otto von Bismarck

Bismarck, the Minister-President of Prussia, was the ultimate practitioner of Realpolitik.

• Realpolitik Definition: A policy of using any means necessary—including war, deception, and cynical diplomacy—to achieve national goals. It focuses on power, not morality.
• Famous Quote: Bismarck declared that great questions would be solved not by speeches and majority resolutions, but by “Blood and Iron.” This meant military power and industrial strength, not liberal ideals.

Step-by-Step Unification Process: The Three Wars

Bismarck masterminded three short, decisive wars to eliminate rival powers and unite the German states under Prussian leadership:

• The Danish War (1864): Prussia allied with Austria to gain territory from Denmark. This created a tension point between Prussia and Austria.
• The Austro-Prussian War (Seven Weeks’ War, 1866): Bismarck maneuvered Austria into a war. Prussia won quickly due to superior organization and technology. Result: Austria was permanently excluded from German affairs. Prussia formed the North German Confederation.
• The Franco-Prussian War (1870–71): To bring the remaining independent Southern German states into the fold, Bismarck needed a common enemy—France. He skillfully provoked Napoleon III into declaring war. Prussia won decisively.

The Final Act: The German Empire was proclaimed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles (France) in January 1871. Kaiser Wilhelm I (of Prussia) became the German Emperor.

Key Takeaway: By 1871, both Italy and Germany were unified through the strategic use of military force (Blood and Iron) and political maneuvering (Realpolitik), replacing the idealist dreams of 1848 revolutionaries.

Summary of Key Dates (1805–1871)

Memorizing the sequence helps you structure your essays!

• 1815: Congress of Vienna establishes the conservative order.
• 1830: Revolutions in France and Belgium show the first major cracks.
• 1848: Widespread failure of Liberal and Nationalist revolutions across Europe.
• 1861: Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed (Cavour/Garibaldi).
• 1866: Austro-Prussian War excludes Austria from German affairs (Bismarck).
• 1871: German Empire is proclaimed after defeating France (Bismarck’s ultimate triumph).