How much did the unification processes in Italy and Germany have in common? PDF

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How much did the unification processes in Italy and Germany have in common? The unifications of both Germany and Italy are two of the most important periods in history. Although the unifications of each country were not related to each other, the processes that lead to unification do share common un...

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How much did the unification processes in Italy and Germany have in common? The unifications of both Germany and Italy are two of the most important periods in history. Although the unifications of each country were not related to each other, the processes that lead to unification do share common underlying factors that were used in different ways by prominent leaders such as Otto von Bismarck within Germany and Giuseppe Mazzini and Count Cavour within Italy. To be exact, before the idea of unification had come to light, both countries were somewhat unified socially by the everyday language, culture and history each country had that could be shared amongst all social classes.1 When unification had be seen as a possibility for each country, there had been two major states that were central to the process, namely the Kingdom of Sardinia and Prussia. Furthermore, both countries had been influenced by France in some way, mainly through the French Revolution, Napoleonic control and waring with or against France. 2 Ideas which had previously been thought of became reality due to these events, such as liberalism and nationalism. However, though these were common between the two processes, what they were used for was different for each country as the main leaders did not have the same beliefs or strategies about unification, and so from these factors the commonalities between the two processes begins the disappear. From the beginning of the unification processes, the German and Italian states were somewhat similar in terms of their individual states sharing a language and a culture. Italian language professor Arturo Tosi suggests that even before Italy had become unified, the states shared an everyday language which could be used by everyone, although there were differences in its uses by different social classes.3 Also, Germany, although split into states, still shared a common culture and history. For instance, folktales were a big part of culture and history within Germany as they had been used within all social classes for many centuries, and they were easily accessible as they were spread by mouth.4 These proved to be something that brought a none unified Germany together as all social classes were able to share them. As Zipes states, even writers during this period ‘borrowed heavily from folklore and used it in order to try to forge a sense of unity among the German people.’ 5 This is shown by philosophers at the time who wrote about the natural unity in their society, saying ‘the German nation placed-sufficiently united within itself by a common language and a common way of thinking’.6 This suggests that before it was politically considered, the average German people and intellectuals had already thought of Germany as united, and suggests that they were in favour of a more united Germany. However, though this can be seen to be a common factor, it shows that there is a difference in the partial unity the countries shared as in Italy, it seems that Italy were unconsciously unified, whereas Germany were using their culture to attempt some form of unity between their people. Furthermore, both Germany and Italy are seen to have had a state which had taken the lead role in driving the process of unification. Prussia had clearly taken the lead role within Germany as during the eighteenth century it had begun to grow in terms of land and military, and so is recognised as the

1 Zipes, Jack, ‘Breaking the Magic Spell: Politics and the Fairy Tale’ New German Critique, No.6, (1975), Tosi, Arturo, Language and Society in a Changing Italy, (UK: Multilingual Matters ltd, 2001) 2 Wawro, Geoffrey, The Franco-Prussian War: The German Conquest of France in 1870-1871, (UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003), Beales, Derek and Biagini, Eugenio F. The Risorgimento and the Unification of Italy, (UK: Pearson Education Limited, 2002) 3 Tosi, Arturo, Language and Society in a Changing Italy, (UK: Multilingual Matters ltd, 2001) 4 Zipes, Jack, ‘Breaking the Magic Spell: Politics and the Fairy Tale’ New German Critique, No.6, (1975) p116135 5 Zipes, Jack, ‘Breaking the Magic Spell: Politics and the Fairy Tale’ New German Critique, No.6, (1975) p116135 6 Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Thirteenth Address, Addresses to the Gerrnan Nation, ed. George A. Kelly (New York: Harper Torch Books, 1968)

Gemma Renshaw

How much did the unification processes in Italy and Germany have in common? state that pushed the unification forward. 7 It had been recognised as the ‘first military power in Europe’, showing how much power and influenced it had within the nineteenth century. 8 Here, most of the political decisions were made and it was Prussia who had defeated Austria in war in 1866. 9 It was Prussia who also had France declaring war against her in 1870, showing that Prussia was thought of as the main force behind the German states as other nations were prepared to fight in order to take her over.10 This was a crucial point in the process of unification as it was the event that gave the opportunity for Germany to become the German Empire. 11 Likewise, the Kingdom of Sardinia, otherwise known as Piedmont, was seen to be the central, or most important, state within Italy. Piedmont had also seen war with France in 1793 which showed the amount of power the state had as the changes that came after waring with France had ‘spread to the rest of Italy from 1796’. 12 Although it does not seem as central and powerful to Italy than Prussia did to Germany, it is clear that it could have the same impact that Prussia had as it was where other nations looked to when waring against the Italian nation or when needing assistance from it. Another common factor was the role that France had in influencing the ideas that contributed to the processes of unification for Germany and Italy. The French Revolution, which took place in 1789, had given names and definitions to ideologies that had previously existed in Europe that had not yet been properly practised.13 As Carr states, ‘Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, the watchwords of the revolution, were carried on the bayonets of the French armies to most parts of Western Europe.’ 14 And as both Germany and Italy are in Western Europe, French ideals were bound to make their way into both countries. Nationalism and liberalism were the two main ideologies connecting Germany and Italy to the Revolution, nationalism especially for Germany and liberalism for Italy. Within Germany, intellectuals and such had continuously spoke of Germany as a ‘nation’ and spoke of unity, one such being Johann Gottlieb Fichte who was a German philosopher. 15 He made addresses ‘To the German Nation’, and within them spoke of the unity that was already existent between the German people.16 He was influenced largely by the French Revolution and its ideals, which clearly comes to light in his addresses as he constantly stresses unity between the German people and how it should stay that way.17 This clearly shows that nationalism was believed in strongly within Germany as my philosophers and intellectuals began to write about similar subjects. 7 The Office of the Historian, ‘Unification of German States’ (2009) Available online: https://history.state.gov/countries/issues/german-unification, Date Accessed: 8th April 2016 8 Abbott, John Stevens Cabot, Prussia and the Franco-Prussian War: Containing a Brief Narrative of the Origin of the Kingdom, Its Past History, and a Detailed Account of the Causes and Results of the Late War with Austria (United States of America: B. B. Russell, 1871), preface 9 Wawro, Geoffrey, The Franco-Prussian War: The German Conquest of France in 1870-1871, (UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003) page 14 10 Abbott, John Stevens Cabot, Prussia and the Franco-Prussian War: Containing a Brief Narrative of the Origin of the Kingdom, Its Past History, and a Detailed Account of the Causes and Results of the Late War with Austria (United States of America: B. B. Russell, 1871), page 200 11 Carr, William, The Wars of German Unification (United States of America: Longman Group, 1991), page 207

12 Beales, Derek and Biagini, Eugenio F. The Risorgimento and the Unification of Italy, (UK: Pearson Education Limited, 2002) 13 Carr, William, The Wars of German Unification (United States of America: Longman Group, 1991), page 1. 14 Carr, William, The Wars of German Unification, page 1 15 Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Thirteenth Address, Addresses to the Gerrnan Nation, ed. George A. Kelly (New York: Harper Torch Books, 1968) 16 Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Thirteenth Address, Addresses to the Gerrnan Nation, ed. George A. Kelly (New York: Harper Torch Books, 1968) 17 Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Thirteenth Address, Addresses to the Gerrnan Nation, ed. George A. Kelly (New York: Harper Torch Books, 1968)

Gemma Renshaw

How much did the unification processes in Italy and Germany have in common? Within Italy, the ideals of the French Revolution only spread further in once Napoleon had invaded in 1796.18 Even states which had not come under Napoleon’s control were ‘influenced by French ideas’ showing how effective the ideologies which had been formally familiarised during the French Revolution were.19 Napoleon had a strong hold of most Italian states which strengthened the belief in liberalism as they wanted freedom from foreign rule, which would not come to them after Napoleon had been defeated as Austria then had control over some Italian states, which only strengthened their need to become liberalised. 20 Not only had The French Revolution influenced nationalist and liberalistic feelings within both countries, but war with France had in some way contributed to those feelings growing stronger across Italy and Germany. In 1859, Sardinia, which was the driving force of the Italian states before unification, went to war against Austria with France in order to liberate themselves from the Austrian empire.21 The removal of Austrian control was important to the Italians as not only were they stopping Italy from being autonomous, but Austria did not agree with a united Italy or nationalism as it was seen as a product of the French Revolution, which Austria and the Powers wanted to eradicate.22 This further shows that the Italian states were moving quickly towards liberalism as they were willing to go to war in order to gain their independence from Austria, which they managed to gain. Germany, however, benefitted from waring against France. The Franco-Prussian war which happened in 1870 opened up the final stages of unification for Germany as it gave Germany more land and the ability to unify the German states, which was the ending Germany was striving for. 23 Through war involving France, the Italians were becoming more united through achieving their goal of liberalism as they were freed from Austrian control, whereas through their war against France, the Germans were becoming more united in a national sense because of the victories they had achieved. During the unification processes, both Italy and Germany had officials that are seen to be the architects of the unification and it is most likely that the unification would not have happened had they not been involved. Within Italy, Giuseppe Mazzini and Count Cavour played the biggest role in terms of leading the states to unify. Mazzini is seen to be strongly in favour of a united Italy as he believed, due largely to religion, that Italy needed to be ‘reborn’. 24 As Beales states, ‘his mission was to preach the freedom of the Italian nation’ which shows again that liberalism was the ideology which the top Italian politicians wanted as it shows the stress of wanting freedom for Italian people. 25 Cavour, who was also a big believer in liberalism, was another political character that had influenced the unification of Italy, especially in his efforts against Austria. 26 He was fundamentally different to Mazzini in that his interests did not lie entirely with the Italian people, but he did 18 Clark, Martin, The Italian Risorgimento, (UK: Routledge, 2009) 19 Clark, Martin, The Italian Risorgimento, page 11 20 Abbott, John Stevens Cabot, Prussia and the Franco-Prussian War: Containing a Brief Narrative of the Origin of the Kingdom, Its Past History, and a Detailed Account of the Causes and Results of the Late War with Austria (United States of America: B. B. Russell, 1871) 21 Abbott, John Stevens Cabot, Prussia and the Franco-Prussian War: Containing a Brief Narrative of the Origin of the Kingdom, Its Past History, and a Detailed Account of the Causes and Results of the Late War with Austria (United States of America: B. B. Russell, 1871), chapter 12, page 166 22 Beales, Derek and Biagini, Eugenio F. The Risorgimento and the Unification of Italy, (UK: Pearson Education Limited, 2002) 23 Carr, William, The Wars of German Unification (United States of America: Longman Group, 1991) 24 Duggan, Christopher, A Concise History of Italy, (Cambridge: University Press, 1994) 25 Beales, Derek and Biagini, Eugenio F. The Risorgimento and the Unification of Italy, (UK: Pearson Education Limited, 2002) page 56 26 Beales, Derek and Biagini, Eugenio F. The Risorgimento and the Unification of Italy, (UK: Pearson Education Limited, 2002) page 107 - 109

Gemma Renshaw

How much did the unification processes in Italy and Germany have in common? eventually strive for Italian unification, as Beales states ‘he had hoped for the eventual attainment of Italian independence.’ 27 In Germany, the top leader in the unification process was Otto von Bismarck, who was the Prime Minister of Prussia and the first Chancellor of the German Empire. 28 Unlike Mazzini, Bismarck was seen to only have interest in Prussia and how he could protect what she had become. For instance, Bismarck was known to be against liberalism and what it stood for as he saw it as something that would hinder Prussia.29 However, he was a cunning man that ‘had realised that National Liberalism might be manipulated in the interest of Prussia’ showing that he was only willing to act when Prussia was going to prosper from his actions, rather than acting in the interests of the people. 30 Cavour is similar to Bismarck in a way that both of them wanted to unification in order to improve their own positions and achieve their aims rather than achieve unity for the people, which Mazzini clearly did. The two gradually walked towards unification of their nations as it looked to be something that could greatly strengthen their positions as they saw that it was what officials and the people wanted. As Wawro states, ‘Bismarck saw clearly that… Prussian liberals wanted… a unified Germany’, so in order to make his position known, this is what he eventually strived for, as previously mentioned, Cavour did as well.31 In conclusion, the processes of the unifications of Germany and Italy did share common underlying factors that helped to spur the process on. However, how each country chose to utilise those factors is clearly different. They had started the processes with cultures and languages that unified the citizens of the German and Italian nations, but German philosophers saw this as an opportunity to spread nationalism and a way to further unify the people, whereas Italy chose not to. They had both developed a state which had become the central power out of all of the separate states, and both seemed to be used as a centre for war which was necessary in order to reach the end of the processes. Both processes had cunning leaders who helped reach the point of unification. The Italian leaders tried to gain their liberal wants through distancing themselves from Europe and it’s control, whereas Bismarck wanted to gain his aims through going into Europe showing the rest of the Powers the amount of strength Prussia had gained in a short amount of time and did so quite effectively as he was able to strengthen his position through the victories he’d achieved. There is clear commonalities within the processes of unification for Italy and Germany, however, from those different decisions were made which lead to the nations being unified.

27 Beales, Derek and Biagini, Eugenio F. The Risorgimento and the Unification of Italy, (UK: Pearson Education Limited, 2002) 28 Steinburg, Jonathan, Bismarck: A Life, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011) 29 Carr, William, The Wars of German Unification (United States of America: Longman Group, 1991) page 59. 30 Carr, William, The Wars of German Unification (United States of America: Longman Group, 1991) page 60. 31 Wawro, Geoffrey, The Franco-Prussian War: The German Conquest of France in 1870-1871, (UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003) page 14

Gemma Renshaw

How much did the unification processes in Italy and Germany have in common? Bibliography Primary sources: 

Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Thirteenth Address, Addresses to the Gerrnan Nation, ed. George A. Kelly (New York: Harper Torch Books, 1968)

Secondary sources: Books: 

     

Abbott, John Stevens Cabot, Prussia and the Franco-Prussian War: Containing a Brief Narrative of the Origin of the Kingdom, Its Past History, and a Detailed Account of the Causes and Results of the Late War with Austria (United States of America: B. B. Russell, 1871) Beales, Derek and Biagini, Eugenio F. The Risorgimento and the Unification of Italy, (UK: Pearson Education Limited, 2002) Carr, William, The Wars of German Unification (United States of America: Longman Group, 1991) Clark, Martin, The Italian Risorgimento, (UK: Routledge, 2009) Duggan, Christopher, A Concise History of Italy, (Cambridge: University Press, 1994) Geiss, Imanuel, The Question of German Unification 1806 – 1996 (London: Routledge, 1997) Hearder, Harry, Italy: A Short History, (Cambridge: University Press, 1990)



Kinder, Frank L. & multiple others, Making Europe: People, Politics, and Culture, Volume II: Since 1550, (USA: Houghton Mifflin, 2009)



Steinburg, Jonathan, Bismarck: A Life, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011)

 

Tosi, Arturo, Language and Society in a Changing Italy, (UK: Multilingual Matters ltd, 2001) Wawro, Geoffrey, The Franco-Prussian War: The German Conquest of France in 1870-1871, (UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003)

Journals: 

Zipes, Jack, ‘Breaking the Magic Spell: Politics and the Fairy Tale’ New German Critique, No.6, (1975) p116-135

Website: 



Kenneth Barkin, ‘Otto von Bismarck’ (2012) Available online: http://www.britannica.com/biography/Otto-von-Bismarck/article-history , Date Accessed: 10th April 2016 The Office of the Historian, ‘Unification of German States’ (2009) Available online: https://history.state.gov/countries/issues/german-unification, Date Accessed: 8th April 2016

Gemma Renshaw...