German Revolutions: Similarities Between German And Italian Unification

German and Italian Unification In the late 1900’s, both the Germans and the Italians were unified after failed revolutions. Although they were completely different places unified by completely different people, they went through similar events, the main similarity being the sudden rash of rebellions that began spreading across the continent one by one. During the revolutions in both Germany and Italy, the Austrian soldiers shot the citizens of the cities they were in. Both German and Italian rebels overthrew important leaders. Although the two went through similar events with similar objectives, they had their differences. The beliefs of di Cavour differed from those of Bismarck, in fact, they were complete opposites. Di Cavour believed in

He was very interested in the rebellions that were going on in Germany in 1848 and even left his home in London to join the uprisings in Germany the summer of that year. Although the rebellions turned out to be a failure, Marx still believed that the reform would eventually see victory. Fourteen years after the liberal revolution failed at uniting the German states under a constitutional monarchy in 1848, Otto von Bismarck was chosen by the King of Prussia, Wilhelm, to unite Germany under the Prussian monarchy. Bismarck was a conservative aristocrat that was against the liberal movement but wanted to unite Germany under Prussian monarchy. Bismarck used wars against Denmark and Austria to unite the northern part of Germany while simultaneously getting rid of Prussia’s enemies. He then successfully pushed for a war with France to gain the support of the southern part of Germany. It took nine years for Bismarck to fully unite Germany under the Prussian monarchy but finally in 1871, Kaiser Wilhelm proclaimed the German Empire at the palace of

The only thing that di Cavour and Bismarck seemed to have in common was their aristocratic standing in society. Di Cavour was a liberal aristocrat who wanted to unite Italy under the liberal monarchy of King Victor Emmanuel whereas Bismarck was a conservative aristocrat who completely opposed liberalism and wanted to unite Germany under the Prussian monarchy of King William Wilhelm. Although Prussia was run by a liberal monarchy, Bismarck felt that Germany looked to the power Prussia held, not how they governed their people. He thought that only by war could problems be solved, not through speeches and democracy. Di Cavour on the other hand was trying to unite Italy under a liberal monarchy, believing in liberalism unlike