German and Italian Unification

In the early 19th century Italy and Germany were not countries yet

Nationalism, i.e. the desire for their own nation, inspired Germans and Italians to seek to create a larger national entity

Nationalism =

1. A sense of belonging to a nation or people on the basis of a shared language, racial or ethnic background, geographic origin, religion and/or culture

2. a sense of national consciousness that one’s culture and traditions were superior to those of other countries

Various individuals, in Germany and Italy, played key roles in helping create

new nations in each place

Giuseppe Mazzini, the so-called Soul of Italy

Count Camillo di Cavour, Chief Minister of Sardinia

Giuseppe Garibaldi

Count Otto von Bismarck of Prussia

King Wilhelm I of Prussia

Some rulers, such as Austro-Hungary’s emperor Franz Joseph I or Pope Pius II, steadfastly opposed either German or

Italian unification

Prussia, the key state pushing for German unification, made use of three

wars – the last one with France -- to unify the German people

Emperor Napoleon III of France

Prussian King William I is proclaimed German emperor at Versailles after his

victory in the Franco-Prussian War (1871)

Today Germany and France are no longer enemies, as this recent photo of German

Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy indicates