5 25. The Surge of Nationalism: From Liberal to Extreme Nationalism. The purpose of this chapter is to survey the unifications of Italy and Germany, to examine nationality problems in the Austrian Empire, and to examine the directions of nationalism at the end of the 19th century. It is important to note that the unifications of Italy and Germany came about through the use of Realpolitik by shrewd and calculating statemen rather than idealistic dreamers. A. The Unification of Italy. 1. Forces For and Against Unity. a. The divisions of the peninsula. Italy was politically divided into several states: Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Papal States, the Hapsburg-controlled Lombardy and Venetia; small duchies of Parma, Modena, and Tuscany; and the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont. There were economic and cultural divisions as well; attachment was stronger to the local area than to the peninsula. b. French occupation of Italy in the Napoleonic era had brought modern reforms, encouraged the Italian middle class to see unification as a way of achieving progress. Also, a newly awakened consciousness of the Roman past among intellectuals stirred national sentiments. 2. Failed Revolutions. Had been several attempts to bring about unification, but they had all failed. a. Society of the Carbonari (charcoal-burners) had been active in the 1820s-1830s, had provoked revolutions, but Austria suppressed them all. b. Giuseppi Mazzini (1805-72) emerged after 1830 as the spiritual leader of the unification movement. Was both a liberal who envisioned republican government and a visionary romantic, who founded Young Italy, an organization of dedicated romantics to waken the people to what was termed the Risorgimento. c. The revolutions of 1848 gave them their greatest opportunity, and Mazzini was briefly involved in a republican Rome, but all of the revolutions were failures. Mazzini's approach had failed because the masses did not become aroused, and the revolutionaries could not defeat the Austrians. 3. Cavour and Victory Over Austria. a. Cavour and Piedmont-Sardinia. After 1848 Italian nationalists placed their hopes on Piedmont-Sardinia, of which Count Camillo di Cavour (1810-61) was the leading minister. Cavour turned to Realpolitik, began the modernization of Piedmont, and recognized that outside help would be needed against the Austrians. b. Cavour carried Piedmont into the Crimean War to cultivate French friendship and found a supporter in Napoleon III, who agreed to aid Piedmont were it to be attacked by Austria. c. Austro-Sardinian War of 1859 was the result, but Napoleon backed out during the middle of the conclict, forcing an enraged Cavour to accept the addition of only Lombardy. In return, Nice and Savoy were surrendered to France. d. During the war revolutions broke out in Parma, Modena, Tuscany, and Romagna; these areas voted to join with Piedmont. 4. Garibaldi and Victory in the South. Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-82) was a romantic, soldier-of-fortune type with great charismatic leadership. In 1860 one thousand "red-shirted" adventurers under his leadership invaded Sicily and liberated it, then moved to the mainland and occupied Naples. Cavour was fearful Garibaldi's move against Rome would arouse France; thus he sent Piedmontese troops south to link up with Garibaldi's forces, proclaimed the Kingdom of Italy under the kingship of Victor Emmanuel, 1861. 5. Italian Unification Completed. a. During the war between Prussia and Austria, 1866, Italy sided with Prussia and received Venetia. b. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, French garrisons were withdrawn from Rome, and Italian troops occupied the city, Rome being made the capital. B. The Unification of Germany. After 1848 revolution was discredited in Germany as a means of unification; it would come through Prussian military leadership. 1. Prussia, Agent of Unification. a. Prussian traditions. The state had long been autocratic, military, the throne supported by landed aristocrats, Junkers, who served in both the army and the government. b. Reforms from above. Reform had begun in Prussia during the Napoleonic period: abolition of hereditary serfdom, more local government, extension of education. But Prussia did not become a constitutional monarchy, and the power of the Junkers was unchecked. Meanwhile, the Zollverein, a customs union, had become established under Prussian leadership. c. Failure of liberals. Slowly a bourgeois movement for constitutional reform grew in early 19th century Prussia, but in 1848 the liberals failed to reform Prussia. Events of the year had also indicated Austrian hostility to unification under Prussian leadership. 2. Bismarck and the Road to Unity. a. Coming to power of Bismarck. 1) In 1861 William I (1861-88) became king of Prussia. 2) William saw Austria as a barrier to unification; thus he began reorganization of the army, but ran into refusal of the lower chamber of the legislature to grant funds. 3) In the constitutional crisis William called on Otto von Bismarck (1815-98) as his chief minister. Bismarck was a Junker, patriot, and strong believer in monarchical power; he took unconstitutional steps to collect taxes for the reorganization of the army. b. Wars with Denmark and Austria. 1) The Danish War. In 1864 Bismarck maneuvered to bring Prussia and Austria together in a military campaign against Denmark over the Schleswig-Holstein territories, which were seized. 2) The Seven Weeks War. Austria and Prussia quarreled over administration of the two former Danish territories, Austria being determined on war in order to maintain its influence in German affairs. The forthcoming war was known as the Seven Weeks War (1866), in which Prussia decisively defeated Austria at Sadowa (Koniggratz). Prussia took over the Danish territories, excluded Austria from German affairs. c. The triumph of nationalism and conservatism over liberalism. Military victory made Bismarck a national hero, and he took advantage of his position to appropriate German nationalism; the liberals gave up the effort to give Prussia constitutional and parliamentary government. d. War with France. 1) Tension between Prussia and France. During Austrian War, Bismarck had organized the northern German states into the North German Confederation, but south Germany was hostile. Bismarck realized that a war with France would stimulate nationalistic feelings to complete unification. Napoleon III was also fearful of the growing power of Prussia and contemplated war to block the Prussians. 2) The Spanish candidacy. Spanish throne had fallen vacant; one candidate was Leopold of Hohenzollern, a choice much opposed by the French. The French ambassador demanded of William a promise that no Hohenzollern would ever be a candidate, information which William sent to Bismarck in the Ems telegram. Bismarck's editing of the telegram aroused war fever in both countries. 3) Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. French expected complete victory, but were decisively defeated by Prussiams, who occupied Paris. France was compelled to pay a large indemnity, cede Alsace and Lorraine. In January 1871 at Versailles the newly unified German Empire was proclaimed, with William I as emperor. Was a powerful nation, upsetting the old balance of powers, and would create great tensions in Europe. C. Nationality Problems in the Hapsburg Empire. Austria was a mosaic of many nationalities, creating a difficult situation in a time of developing nationalistic sentiments. After 1848 Austrian officials tried to resist nationalism by strengthening autocracy, tightening bureaucracy under German control. 1. Magyarization. Defeat of Austria by Prussia forced Austrians to conciliate Magyars in Hungary with creation of the Dual Monarchy - Austria-Hungary - as two separate nations, two separate capitals (Vienna and Budapest), but with a common ruler, Francis Joseph (1848-1916). Foreign affairs, the military, and finance were conducted by joint ministries. After 1867 the Magyars worked to impose their language and traditions on non-Magyar minorities. Magyars carried out ruthless policies of oppression, but were also forces calling for outright Hungarian independence. 2. German Versus Czech. Haughty German attitudes combined with growing Slavic national consciousness produced a crisis, which was most serious among Czechs of Bohemia, who were literatre, educated, and formed the industrial heartland of the Austrian Empire. Pro-German feelings were strongest among the Sudeten Germans, some of whom began to call for annexation to the German Empire in a Pan-German movement. Meanwhile the Czechs wanted the same degree of autonomy as had been given to the Hungarians. 3. South Slavs. These were the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, and the new state of Serbia (which became independent in 1878) hoped to annex these Serbs into a Greater Serbia movement. D. The Rise of Racial Nationalism. Before 1848 nationalism and liberalism went hand in hand, but nationalism took on an extreme form in the latter part of the century, glorifying the nation above liberty and individualism, became increasingly intolerant of minority groups. Nationality was being extolled by conservatives, stripped of ideals of liberty and equality. 1. Volkish Thought. Was an extreme form of nationalism in Germany, its sponsors wanting to bring the German people together through language, traditions, love of the fatherland. Saw Germany as unique, the liberal-humanist tradition of the West was alien to German ways; in many ways it promoted escapism from contemporary problems to a mythical past, looking to the Middle Ages and the period of the Germanic tribes. Movement appealed to small farmers, villagers, artisans, intellectuals, some of whom came to feel German superiority over other peoples; saw the German race as purer, descendants of the superior Aryans. Leading writer was the Englishman, Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855- 1927), who adopted German citizenship. Such thought justified German domination of other peoples, Slavs, colonials overseas, etc. 2. Anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism became a particularly powerful movement in later 19th century Europe. a. History of anti-Semitism dates from the Middle Ages, when Jews were identified as those responsible for Christ's crucifixion; were persecuted from time to time, depending on whims of rulers; might be required to live in ghettoes, wear identifying badges. Conditions improved during the period of the Enlightenment; and Jews moved to cities, taking leading roles in business and banking and the professions. The Jewish presence in the professions and cultural life was particularly strong in Vienna. But nationalism and Volkish thought in the late 19th century led to a revival of anti- Semitisim, this time around nationalistic rather than religious feelings. Anti-Semitism was present throughout Europe, but was particularly strong in central and eastern parts of the continent. b. Zionism. Nationalistic feelings also stirred among the Jews; father of Zionism was Theodore Herzl (1860-1904), an Austrian journalist who argued that the best solution was creation of a new Jewish state (The Jewish State, 1896). In 1897 the First Zionist Congress met in Switzerland and called for a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Names and Terms to Remember Italy (m) Junkers Vienna (m) King. of Two Zollverein Budapest (m) Sicilies (m) William I Francis Joseph Papal States (m) Otto von Bismarck Czechs Lombardy (m) Danish War Bohemia (m) Venetia (m) Schleswig-Holstein Sudeten Germans Piedmont-Sardinia Seven Weeks War South Slavs (m) North German Conf. Serbia (m) Carbonari Spanish candidacy Volkish thought Giuseppi Mazzini Ems telegram Aryans Young Italy Movement Franco-Prussian War Houston Stewart Risorgimento Alsace-Lorraine (m) Chamberlain Count Camillo Cavour German Empire (m) anti-Semitism Austro-Sardinian War Magyarization ghetto Giuseppe Garibaldi Dual Monarchy Zionism "red-shirts" Austria-Hungary (m) Theodore Herzl Naples (m) Victor Emmanuel