than he did Italian. Through a tactful diplo
e engineered by Cavour, Sardinia-Piedmont
the Austrian forces in 1859. Apart from regular
er of armed volunteers under the leadership of
ined the fray. In 1860, they marched into South
of the Two Sicilies and succeeded in winning
al peasants in order to drive out the Spanish
Answers
Explanation:
Germany – Can the Army be the Architect of a Nation?
After 1848, nationalism in Europe moved away from its association
with democracy and revolution. Nationalist sentiments were often
mobilised by conservatives for promoting state power and achieving
political domination over Europe.
This can be observed in the process by which Germany and Italy came
to be unified as nation-states. As you have seen, nationalist feelings were
widespread among middle-class Germans, who in 1848 tried to unite
the different regions of the German confederation into a nation-state
governed by an elected parliament. This liberal initiative to nation-building
was, however, repressed by the combined forces of the monarchy and
the military, supported by the large landowners (called Junkers) of Prussia.
From then on, Prussia took on the leadership of the movement for
national unification. Its chief minister, Otto von
Bismarck, was the architect of this process carried
out with the help of the Prussian army and
bureaucracy. Three wars over seven years – with
Austria, Denmark and France – ended in Prussian
victory and completed the process of unification.
In January 1871, the Prussian king, William I,
was proclaimed German Emperor in a ceremony
held at Versailles.
On the bitterly cold morning of 18 January 1871,
an assembly comprising the princes of the
German states, representatives of the army,
important Prussian ministers including the chief
minister Otto von Bismarck gathered in the
unheated Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles
to proclaim the new German Empire headed
by Kaiser William I of Prussia.
The nation-building process in Germany had
demonstrated the dominance of Prussian state
power. The new state placed a strong emphasis
on modernising the currency, banking, legal
and judicial systems in Germany. Prussian
measures and practices often became a model for
the rest of Germany.
Fig. 11 — The proclamation of the German empire in the Hall of
Mirrors at Versailles, Anton von Werner. At the centre stands the
Kaiser and the chief commander of the Prussian army, General von
Roon. Near them is Bismarck. This monumental work (2.7m x
2.7m) was completed and presented by the artist to Bismarck on
the latter’s 70th birthday in 1885.