European Nationalism
19th Century
Unification of Germany
• 1865 – 1871
• Led by Otto von Bismarck
– Prime minister of
Prussia
– All about Realpolitik
• do what needs to be
done to keep power
• used nationalism to
unify German
provinces
– Germans had to use Blood & Iron
• iron to industrialize
• blood to get territory w/ resources
“Not by speeches and decisions
of the majorities will the greatest
problems of the time be decided.”
-Bismarck’s Blood & Iron Speech
Blood -1864 – war against
Denmark
• Added Schleswig &
Holstein
-1866 – Seven Weeks
War against Austria
• won more N.
German speaking
states
-1870 – Franco –
Prussian War
• got Alsace &
Lorraine
•January 21, 1871 – German Empire is formed
•The Second Reich is born
Where
did
Germany
Proclaim
her
empire?
Why?
Unification of Italy
Italian Unification
• 1830s –
– Giuseppe Mazzini
• “The Soul”
• founded Young Italy
–A secret society
–Wanted an
independent Italy
–Was forced into exile
• Camillo Cavour
– “The Brain”
– Prime Minister of Sardinia
– Supported Realpolitik
– Able to annex northern
Italian provinces/kingdoms
together
• Giuseppe Garibaldi
– The Sword
– Recruited a force of
1,000 Red Shirts
• Supporters who wore
red shirts
• got control over
–Sicily
–Naples
–Papal States
Balkan Nationalism = Balkan Powderkeg
• Irish Independence Movement
– under British control since 1603
• England – Protestant
• Ireland – Catholic
– Irish language & religion were forbidden
• The Potato Famine
– 1845 - 1848
– ¾ of Irish farmland was under British control
– Potato was main source of food for Irish
• Abundant & nutritious enough to sustain the
growing Irish population
• A working man may eat up to 14 lbs of
potatoes per day
– September 1845: a terrible blight (fungus)
destroyed the potato crop
– The Irish were starving to death
& needed food
• Brits did virtually nothing
– In four years
• Population fell from 9 million
to 3 million
– Starvation
– emigration
• Michael Collins
– 1890 -1922
– Irish nationalist
• Fought for an independent Ireland
– Easter Uprising 1916
• Irish lost but movement was underway
– Bloody Sunday 1920
• British response to IRA killing a British
intelligence group
– Negotiated for independence in England