European Unification and Political Shifts in the 19th Century
Towards a Europe of Nations
The Unifications of Italy and Germany
In the second half of the 19th century, there were processes of unification in Italy and Germany that presented a number of similarities.
- First, the unification was led by the most developed area of each country (Piedmont and Prussia, respectively).
- Secondly, the two unifications were achieved after years of intense armed conflict.
- Finally, the bourgeoisie became the ruling class of the new states. However, to ensure their dominance, they had to agree with old privileged groups, and this gave liberalism a conservative character in these countries, notably Germany.
Italy
Italy was divided into six states. The Pope was sovereign in one, with Rome as the capital, and Austria had annexed Lombardy and Veneto, the rich regions of northern Italy. Only Piedmont, headed by the Savoy monarchy with a liberal sign, was in favor of the unification of Italy.
In 1859, Piedmont’s chief of government, Cavour, started a war against Austria and secured the annexation of Lombardy. In turn, a popular uprising led by Garibaldi overthrew the monarchs from the center and southern Italy.
In 1861, the first Italian parliament proclaimed King Victor Emmanuel of Piedmont as King of Italy. In 1866, the Austrians left Veneto, and in 1870, the Papal States were annexed. The unity of Italy was a fact, and Rome became the capital of the new kingdom.
Germany
Germany was divided into thirty-six states, and the main problem for their unity was the rivalry between the two Germanic powers: Prussia and Austria. Prussia led the unification and enhanced a customs union that brought together the German states except for Austria.
The advance of nationalism in Europe was evident in the revolutions of 1848, when a parliament meeting in Frankfurt offered the crown of a unified Germany to the King of Prussia, but he did not accept it, as it came from a liberal parliament. Since that time, he neglected the proposals to achieve German unification.
Thus, the Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck led victorious wars, one against Austria in 1866 and another against France in 1870, which allowed him to unite all the states under the sway of the King of Prussia. After the victory of Sedan, the Second German Empire was proclaimed, and Wilhelm I was proclaimed Kaiser.
Europe in the Late Nineteenth Century
In the last third of the 19th century, it seemed that Europe had reached a certain stability in border policy. However, a series of conflicts continued to fester.
The Austrian and Turkish empires remained absolutist regimes, and their national challenges remained since their borders kept under their control peoples who aspired to independence. Such was the case of Hungarians, Czechs, and Poles in Austria and of Serbs, Croats, and Bulgarians in Turkey.
In Western Europe, based on liberalism, the political struggle was primarily aimed at the advancement of democracy, that is, the conquest of political equality through the right to universal suffrage, the expansion of individual and collective freedoms, and the recognition of social rights for all people.