CHAPTER 23
1800-1914
Building A German
Nation
Between 1807 and 1812, Napoleon made
important territorial changes in German – Speaking lands. Annexing lands for
France, dissolving the Holy Roman Empire, and organizing the Rhine Confederation.
By Napoleon’s defeat, many began to
demand a unified German State, instead at the Congress of Vienna they received the German Confederation, a weak
alliance headed by Austria. (WHY?)
In the 1830s, Prussia created an
economic union called the Zollverein, but Germany remained politically
fragmented. In 1848, liberals meeting in the Frankfurt Assembly offered the
throne of a united German state to Frederick William IV of Prussia – he rejected the idea and throne (“The throne of the people”).
In 1862, King William I appoints Otto Von
Bismarck as the Chancellor or Prime Minister and within a decade will unite the German States under Prussian rule. (Blood and Iron Policy)
Bismarck led Prussia into three wars:
Denmark, Austria, and France – each war increased Prussian power and paved the way for German unity.
Delighted by the victory over France,
many German States persuaded William I of Prussia to take the title
Kaiser, or emperor – and in January 1871,
Germany celebrated the birth of the Second Reich or Empire. (what is considered the 1st?)
In the aftermath of Unification, the German
empire increased ins power by building up its industry and Armed forces. In 1888, William II succeeded his grandfather as Kaiser – the confident new emperor shocked Europe in 1890, by asking the dominating Chancellor, Bismarck, to resign – as he continued to fuel the German
Unifying Italy
Although the people of the Italian peninsula spoke the same language, they had not
experienced unity since Roman times and much like Germany , the invasions of Napoleon had sparked dreams of National Unity.
The Congress of Vienna ignored the nationalists and gave Austria control of much of
northern Italy.
In the 1830s, the nationalist leader Giuseppe Mazzini founded Young Italy, a secret society
to “Constitute Italy, one, free, independent, Republican Nation.” In 1849, Mazzini helped set up a revolutionary republic in Rome, but French forces soon toppled it.
After 1848, leadership of the Italian Nationalist movement passed to Victor Emmanuel II and
in 1852, Victor Emmanuel made Count Cavour the Prime Minister of his Kingdom, Sardinia.
In 1855, led by Cavour, Sardinia joined Britain and France in the Crimean War against Russia.
In 1858, Cavour negotiated a secret deal with Napoleon, who promised to aid Sardinia if
they faced a war with Austria. A year later, Cavour provoked that war an with French help Sardinia defeated Austria.
As other Italian states joined with Sardinia the attention shifted to the kingdoms in southern
Italy. There Giuseppe Garibaldi, a long time nationalist and ally of Mazzini, was ready for action.
By 1860, Garibaldi had recruited a force of 1000 red-shirted volunteers – Cavour provided
weapons and two ships – with surprising speed the volunteer forces won control of Sicily and marched north to Naples.
Garibaldi’s success alarmed Cavour – but in a patriotic move, Garibaldi turned over Naples
and Sicily to Victor Emmanuel II and in 1861, Victor Emmanuel II was crowned King of Italy.
Two areas remained outside the new Italian Nation: Rome and Venetia, but during the
Franco-Prussian War in 1870, France was forced to withdraw its troops from Rome and for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire, Italy was a united land.
Although unification brought great challenges, it also brought increased strength. By 1914,
Russia
Although Serfdom had almost disappeared in Western Europe by the 1700s, it survived and spread
in Russia
Despite the efforts of Peter and Catherine to westernize Russia, it remained economically backwards
and under Autocratic rule. When Alexander I inherited the throne in 1801, he seemed open to liberal ideas. (eased censorship, promoted education, talked about freeing serfs)
By 1812 when Napoleon invaded, the Czar drew back from reform – he feared losing the support of
Nobles.
When Alexander I died in 1825, a group of army officers led an uprising known as the Decembrist
revolt demanding a Constitution. The new Czar, Nicholas I, suppressed the revolt and embraced the three pillars of Russian absolutism symbolized the motto: “Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationalism.”
Nicholas realized that Russia needed to modernize and before he died told his son. “I am handing
you command of the country in a poor state.” Alexander II came to the throne in1855 during the Crimean War – which ended in a Russian defeat and revealed the country’s backwardness. (only a few miles of railroad in all of Russia).
In 1861, Alexander II finally agreed to reforms and issued a royal decree that required
Emancipation, or freeing the serfs. This freedom boosted the drive for further reforms. (Elected assembly, roads, reduced military terms – 25 to 15 years, industry, agriculture)
Alexander’s reforms failed to satisfy many Russians. In the 1870s, some socialists carried the
message of reform to the Peasants with little success. The failure of this movement sparked anger in some Radicals.
A revolutionary group called itself the People’s Will hurled two bombs at the Czar’s carriage in
Alexander III responded to his father’s
assassination by reviving the harsh methods of Nicholas I and launched a program of Russification aimed at suppressing non-russian people (Jews, Armenians)
Under Alexander III and his son, Nicholas II, Russia
finally entered the Industrial Age. Radicals sought support among new industrial workers of the 1890s. (Vladimir Ulyanov (alias) Lenin, 1917 revolution)
War broke out between Russia and Japan in 1904 –
although Nicholas II called on his people to fight for the “Faith, the Czar, and the Fatherland” – the news of military disasters led people to call for a
constitution and reform of the inefficient and corrupt government.
As the crisis deepened, a young Orthodox priest,
Father George Gapon, organized a march on St. Petersburg to petition for justice and freedom – Sunday, January 22, 1905.
Fearing the marchers, the Czar had fled the palace
and called in Soldiers – as the people approached gunfire rang out, killing hundreds of people and any trust and faith left in the Czar. (Bloody Sunday)
In the months that followed Bloody Sunday,
discontent exploded across Russia. At last, Nicholas was forced to announce sweeping reforms in the October Manifesto.
“Freedom of person, conscience, speech, assembly, and union.”
The Duma or elected national legislature was
established.
By 1906, the first Duma met, but Czar Nicholas
dissolved it and appointed a new prime minister, Peter Stolypin and repression followed as he sought to restore order.
Prime Minister Stolypin was assassinated in 1911
