Compare and contrast the processes of unification in Germany and Italy.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Both areas consisted of multiethnic principalities with diverse economic and political interests. Germany had more ethnic and religious diversity, but it also had a preexisting economic confederation (the Zollverein) that loosely organized it. Both areas used nationalism to promote a sense of cultural unification in spite of regional differences and dialect variations. However, Cavour found it useful to project a common enemy, Austria, and ally with Napoleon III of France to gain the backup he needed to force Austria out. In Italy, the Red Shirt movement led by Garibaldi had built on the activism of several decades, promoting the historical and cultural legacy of all regions of Italy and had popular support from Young Italy and the carbonari. In Germany, there were claims of cultural achievements, to be sure, but Bismarck relied more on technology and natural resources, as well as advanced industrialization, to build up military forces and then provoke wars with France and Austria and thus appeal to Germans to unite against a common enemy.