Mass Politics and Nationalism (^) ‹ 163
(2) both were achieved by, and in the interests of, the aristocratic class. The unifications of Italy
and Germany differed in that a genuine class revolt contributed to the unification process only
in Italy.
Paragraph Outline:
I. Italy: The northern areas of the peninsula were well developed economically and more
sophisticated culturally than the still largely rural and agricultural areas of the south;
culturally, the people of the more developed northern region felt little connection to the
poor peasants in the south, who spoke entirely different dialects.
Germany: significant cultural barriers existed between the rural, conservative, Protestant
north and the urban, liberal, Catholic south; economically, the powerful influence of Hapsburg
Austria, which controlled or influenced a large portion of the German Confederation.
II. Italian unification was achieved through the efforts of Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, a
conservative aristocrat who united Italy in order to create a constitutional monarchy under
Victor Emmanuel II, king of Piedmont-Sardinia. German unification was achieved by
Otto von Bismarck, a conservative aristocrat who united Germany under William I, king
of Prussia.
III. The southern part of the Italian peninsula was originally unified by the efforts of Giuseppe
Garibaldi, a Romantic nationalist who had been an early supporter of Mazzini. The south-
ern movement was a genuine revolt of the masses, rather than the political maneuverings
of a single kingdom. Garibaldi hoped to establish an Italian republic that would respect
the rights of individuals and improve the lot of peasants and workers, but capitulated when
given a choice by Cavour between the fulfillment of Italian unification or civil war.
Rapid Review
In the nineteenth century, increased political participation by the masses supported the
growth of nationalist ideology and feeling. The failure of the revolutions of 1848 broke
the fragile alliance between liberalism and nationalism. Accordingly, the unifications of
Italy and Germany were achieved by and for the conservative aristocracy. Meanwhile, the
Hapsburg Empire was plagued by a nationalities problem and became Austria-Hungary
in 1867. France’s defeat led to the fall of the Second Empire in France, and Alexander II
turned Russia into a police state. In Great Britain, mass politics provided the impetus for a
series of reform bills that would make the country the most democratic of European socie-
ties in the nineteenth century.KEY IDEA19_Bartolini_Ch19_153-164.indd 163 27/04/18 1:55 PM