Germany - Can the army be the builder of the nation?
After 1848, nationalism began to be separated from democracy and revolution in Europe. Conservatives often used nationalist sentiments to increase state power and gain political dominance over Europe.
This can be seen in the process by which Germany and Italy were unified to become nation states. As you have seen, nationalist sentiments were widespread among middle-class Germans, and they attempted to unite the various regions of the German federation to form a nation state governed by an elected parliament in 1848. But this liberal initiative of nation building was suppressed by the power of the monarchy and the army. He was also supported by the big Junkers of Prussia. After that, Pasha took over the leadership of the movement for national integration. His chief minister. Otto von Bismarck was the father of this process, which took the help of the Prussian army and bureaucracy. During seven years, Prussia won three wars against Austria, Denmark and France and the process, of unification was completed. In January 1871, King William I of Prussia was proclaimed Emperor of Germany at a ceremony at Versailles.
The morning of 18 January 1871 was extremely cold. A meeting of important Prussian ministers, including the princes of the German states, representatives of the army and the chief minister, Otto von Bismarck, took place in the very cold Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles. The assembly proclaimed the new German Empire under the leadership of William I, the Kaiser of Prussia.
The nation-building process in Germany showed the dominance of Prussian state power. The new state placed great emphasis on modernizing Germany's currency, banking and legal and judicial systems, and Prussia's actions and actions often became a model for the rest of Germany.
Italy
Italy, like Germany, had a long history of political fragmentation. Italy divided into several hereditary kingdoms and the multinational Habsburg Empire. In the mid-nineteenth century, Italy was divided into seven kingdoms, of which only one—Sardinia Piedmont—was ruled by an Italian royal. The northern part was under the Austrian Habsburgs, the central regions were ruled by the Pope and the southern regions were under the Bub kings of Spain. The Italian language also had not acquired a common form and still had various regional and local forms.
In the 1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini tried to present a well-thought-out program for a unified Italian republic. He also formed a secret organization called Young Italy to spread his objectives. With the failure of the revolutionary revolts in 1831 and 1848, the responsibility of annexing the Italian states through war fell on the ruler of Sardinia-Piedmont, Victor Emmanuel II. In the eyes of the ruling elite of the region, a unified Italy offered them possibilities of economic growth and political dominance. Chief Minister Cavour, who led the movement to unify Italy's territories, was neither a revolutionary nor a believer in democracy. Like all wealthy and educated members of the Italian aristocracy, he spoke French far better than Italian. Sardinia-Piedmont was able to defeat Austrian forces in 1859 through a clever diplomatic treaty of Sardinia-Piedmont with France, behind which Cavour was involved.
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