07 Ideologies and Nationalism in Nineteenth-Century Europe
Compare nineteenth-century European liberalism, conservatism, socialism, and nationalism, then trace how Italian and German unification unfolded through distinct political strategies.
Political ideologies in context
Nineteenth-century European politics was shaped by debates about who should govern, how society should change, and what defined a political community. , , , and offered different answers, but they could also overlap. For example, national unity could be pursued by liberal revolutionaries or by conservative monarchs.
and political rights
emphasized individual rights and limits on political authority. Nineteenth-century liberals generally supported constitutional government, elected representation, equality before the law, civil liberties, and protection of private property. Many also favored freer trade and less government involvement in the economy, so their support for political reform did not necessarily mean support for broad economic regulation.
Liberal movements challenged absolute monarchies and inherited privilege, but political rights were often restricted in practice. Voting commonly depended on property or wealth, and women were generally excluded from political participation. The language of equal rights therefore did not immediately produce universal political equality.
, order, and reform
grew partly in reaction to the upheavals of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era. Conservatives valued social order, established institutions, religion, monarchy, and continuity. They feared that rapid change and revolution could lead to violence and instability, and generally preferred gradual reform to sudden political transformation.
After Napoleon’s defeat, conservative leaders, including Austrian statesman Klemens von Metternich, worked to restore monarchies and maintain a balance of power among Europe’s states. did not mean resisting every change: in the second half of the century, some conservative leaders adopted and limited reforms to strengthen their states and preserve their authority.
and industrial society
emerged amid industrialization. The growth of factories and wage labor created new wealth while exposing many workers to low pay, long hours, and insecure conditions. Socialists criticized the inequalities of laissez-faire capitalism and sought a more cooperative and egalitarian society. Early reformers such as Robert Owen proposed cooperative communities; these approaches are often called utopian .
In The Communist Manifesto (1848), Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels argued that history was shaped by conflict between social classes. They identified the as the owners of factories and capital, and the as wage workers who sold their labor. Marx and Engels believed that workers would eventually overthrow the capitalist order and create a classless society.
Socialists disagreed about how to achieve change. Some favored revolution, while others pursued improvements through unions, elections, and legislation.
and self-government
holds that people who share a sense of national identity should have political autonomy or govern themselves. National identity could be linked to language, culture, history, religion, or shared political ideals. Nationalists in divided territories often sought to unite people in one state, while peoples under foreign rule might seek independence.
In the early nineteenth century, frequently joined with : nationalists might argue that a people should govern itself and have a constitutional government. The revolutions of 1848 demonstrated the strength of these ambitions, but many uprisings were defeated. Later, political leaders also mobilized nationalist feeling from above, using diplomacy, state power, and war to achieve unification.
could inspire solidarity, but it could also promote hostility toward outsiders or marginalize minorities.
The unification of Italy
Before unification, the Italian peninsula was divided into several states. Austrian influence was strong in the north, while the papacy ruled central territories. The , or Italian revival, brought together different projects for national unity. Giuseppe Mazzini promoted a united Italian republic, while King Victor Emmanuel II and his prime minister, Camillo di Cavour, advanced a monarchist path centered on Piedmont-Sardinia. Giuseppe Garibaldi led popular volunteer forces in the south.
Cavour used diplomacy and war to weaken Austrian control. In 1859, Piedmont-Sardinia and France defeated Austria, and Piedmont gained Lombardy. In 1860, Garibaldi’s campaign in Sicily and southern Italy helped bring those territories under Victor Emmanuel II. On March 17, 1861, the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed, with Victor Emmanuel as king. Venetia joined in 1866, and Rome was annexed in 1870, completing the kingdom’s territorial unification at that time.
Italian unification was not the triumph of one ideology alone. Republican nationalists helped create the movement, while monarchy, diplomacy, popular military action, and foreign wars all contributed to the final state.
The unification of Germany
After 1815, German-speaking lands consisted of many states grouped in the German Confederation. Prussia’s , a customs union established in 1834, encouraged economic links among many German states. In 1848, an elected assembly at Frankfurt attempted to establish a united, constitutional Germany. The project failed when Prussian King Frederick William IV refused the crown offered by the assembly.
German unity was eventually achieved under Prussian leadership. In 1862, King William I appointed Otto von Bismarck as prime minister. Bismarck strengthened the Prussian state and pursued unification through wars against Denmark in 1864, Austria in 1866, and France in 1870–1871. Prussia’s victory over Austria excluded the Habsburg Empire from the new Germany and enabled the formation of a Prussian-led North German Confederation. Victory over France brought the southern German states into the union.
On January 18, 1871, the German Empire was proclaimed at Versailles, and William I became German emperor. Unlike the liberal project attempted at Frankfurt, unification was directed by a conservative monarchy and state officials. It created a national state, but not a fully democratic one: imperial authority and Prussian influence remained powerful.
Comparing the two unifications
The unifications of Italy and Germany show that nationalist goals could be pursued through very different methods and by leaders with different political aims. Italian unity combined republican activism, monarchy, diplomacy, popular military action, and foreign wars. German unity followed a Prussian-led path shaped by state power, a conservative monarchy, and a sequence of wars. In both cases, national unity did not necessarily mean that liberal nationalists’ political goals were fully realized.