19th Century European Revolutions: Italy & Germany

Posted on Jan 19, 2025 in History

19th Century Revolutions in Europe

The revolutions in Europe during the 19th century took place because many people did not accept the Restoration or the return of the Ancien Régime. They were based on three ideologies: Liberalism, Nationalism, and Democracy.

Liberalism

Liberalism is an ideology that defends individual liberties. With origins in British liberalism and in Enlightenment ideas of “equality and liberty”, it represented the interests of the bourgeoisie (wealthy bourgeois). Its principles were:

  • Drawing up a constitution
  • Constitutional monarchy as the form of government
  • Separation of powers
  • Popular sovereignty (limited male suffrage)
  • Individual liberties

There are two types of liberals: moderate and progressive. Moderate liberals supported very limited male suffrage. They shared sovereignty between the Courts and the King and limited freedom of expression. Progressive liberals supported limited male suffrage, so a greater number of men could vote, sovereignty only for the people, without restrictions on freedom of expression.

Nationalism

Nationalism defends the right of the people to form independent nations and to create their own states. The principles were:

  • Nation-state based on common links: culture, history, language, and clear territorial boundaries
  • Popular Sovereignty

There were two types of Nationalism:

  • Unification Nationalism advocates the unification of independent states, such as German or Italian unifications.
  • Separatist Nationalism advocates independence for regions, such as Greece, Belgium, or Catalonia nowadays.

Democracy

Democracy proposed the political participation of the whole population to end the social and economic inequalities caused by bourgeois liberalism. Their principles are universal manhood suffrage and a republic as a form of government.

Italian Unification (1859-1870)

Various factors caused a growth in nationalism:

  • The Congress of Vienna left the Italian Peninsula divided into seven states. The state of Lombardy-Venetia was under Austrian control.
  • Nationalist and liberal successes in other countries encouraged Italian nationalists.
  • The failure of the Revolutions of 1848 encouraged nationalism. Piedmont wanted to unite Italy. The king declared war on Austria but he was defeated.
  • Napoleon III, Victor Emmanuel II, and the Count of Cavour supported Italian unification. It began in 1859, when the Piedmontese expelled the Austrians from the north of Italy; and the expansion continued to include Parma, Modena, and Tuscany.
  • In the south, the Italian nationalists, under Garibaldi, conquered the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1860).
  • Veneto was annexed in 1866 and Rome in 1870.
  • Italy became a parliamentary monarchy, with Victor Emmanuel II as king. Rome became the capital.

German Unification (1866-1871)

German unification began as a result of these factors:

  • Germany was divided into 39 states, united by a federal Diet dominated by Austria.
  • There was a strong influence of liberals and nationalists.
  • There was a strong desire to build a solid political union.
  • The failure of the Revolution of 1848.
  • A customs union (Zollverein) was established in 1834.

The process of unification was started by Otto Von Bismarck from Prussia, who expelled all Austrians from the German Confederation.

  • He defeated France and annexed Alsace-Lorraine.
  • The German princes united with Prussia.
  • Germany became the Second Reich (empire) with Wilhelm I as emperor.