Question

write a short note on unification to italy and Germany

Answer 1

By 1871 both the kingdom of Italy and the empire of Germany were united. Even though both countries used popular trends to that time, both liberalism and nationalism, the process unifying these two countries was very different. The end result was Germany emerging as a strong nation and Italy appropriately, the weaker.

Italy’s problems started with the fact that it didn’t have one main ruler, but two people and a concept, resulting in a different approach to the unification. Gulseppe Mazzini had a radical program focusing on a centralized democratic republic based on universal suffrage and the will of the people. Vincenzo Gioberti, who was a catholic priest called for a federation of existing states 



Therefore, they strategically persuaded European powers to fight against Austria…Italy provoked Austria into war Cavour then used Garibaldi’s popular appeal to his benefit. “When Garibaldi and Emmanuel rode through Naples to cheering crowds, they symbolically sealed the union of north and south, of monarch and people.” (McKay, 837) Italy was now unified.

Answer 2

The process of German unification:-

In 1848, the middle class Germans tried to unite the different regions of German confederation into a nation state under an elected parliament. but this liberal initiative of nation building was repressed by the combined forces of the monarchy and big landlords of Prussia. Otto Van Bismarck, the chief minister of Prussia carried out the process of unification with the help of the Prussian army and bureaucracy. Bismarck was convinced that the unification of Germany could only be achieved by the princes, and not by the people. He wanted to achieve his aim by merging Prussia into Germany. In 1867, Bismarck became the chancellor of the North confederation.

Bismarck's main aim was to unify Germany and was accomplished by three wars which were fought in a brief period of seven years. These wars were ended with the victory of Prussia which helped in completing the process of German unification on 18th January 1871. The German unification established the Prussian dominance in Europe.