Compare And Contrast Italy And Germany In The 19th Century

Compare and Contrast nation building in the United States, Italy, and Germany in the 19th century. The fall of Napoleon in the early 19th century had awoken a spirit of nationalism and sparked the unification of many countries around the world. The Congress of Vienna restored territories conquered by Napoleon, but it distributed land in ways that methodically kept certain territorial areas from uniting to form large, possibly powerful countries. Nonetheless, people across Europe fought for unification. For some – like Italy – unification meant unifying states into a single country; for others, specifically Germany, unification was a means for one state to make itself the leader of a confederation. The United States took note of such global
These small states felt the need to form one unified Italy – something they felt would help protect them against future territorial expansion campaigns. While the Congress of Vienna redistributed European lands and established a means to keep peace, Italian cries for unity were largely ignored by Metternich (de facto leader of the congress, from Vienna) and Italy was divided among many nationalities and groups. Metternich allotted Northern Italy to the control of his own people, the Austrians, Tuscany and Modena to the Hapsburg Princes, the Papal States to the pope, Parma to Marie Louise (Napoleon’s wife), Piedmont and Sardinia to the King of Sardinia, and Naples to the Bourbon King Ferdinand IV. Despite such divisions, the goal of a unified Italian nation captured the imaginations of many Italians; several approaches to unify the principalities emerged. While some radical programs (those of Mazzini for example) were slightly successful, the most popular of unification plans involved looking towards the liberal, progressive state of Sardinia-Piedmont (Northern Italy) to lead a free Italy. Sardinia’s prime minister, Count Camillo Benso di Cavour had unification goals that were realistic and attainable. Cavour realized that Sardinia could not drive Austria out of Italy without the help of a powerful ally. Cavour secretly gained the support of Napoleon III and goaded Austria into attacking Sardinia. Worried about criticism from his own people, Napoleon III backed out, and Cavour gained little land from the Austrian-Sardinian squabbles. Understanding Cavour’s actions, pro-Sardinian nationalists across Northern Italy began to revolt and topple foreign governments in place. Utilizing this popular enthusiasm, the new leaders of central Italy called for unification with Sardinia.