10. Nationalism, Empire, and European Expansion
This guide explains how nationalism, state-building, imperial expansion, migration, and racial ideologies transformed Europe and connected its rivalries to the First World War.
and the Nation-State
Between the mid-nineteenth century and 1914, European politics changed through the interaction of , industrialization, and imperial competition. These forces reshaped political borders, economies, migration, citizenship, and ideas about race.
linked political authority to a shared identity. That identity might be based on language, culture, history, or political ideals. Nationalist movements challenged dynastic empires and multiethnic states, but governments also used to mobilize armies, educate citizens, and create unified markets.
had more than one political form:
Liberal emphasized popular sovereignty and constitutional rights.
Conservative used national unity to reinforce monarchies, armies, and centralized administrations.
Nation-building often combined popular participation with coercion.
The creation of Italy and Germany shows that nations were not simply ancient communities waiting to become states. Unification required diplomacy, war, propaganda, administrative reform, and the selective construction of national traditions.
Takeaway: could promote collective political identity while also strengthening state power and excluding people defined as outsiders.
Italian Unification: The
Before unification, the Italian peninsula was divided among several states. Austria influenced northern Italy, the Bourbon monarchy ruled the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the pope governed the Papal States, and the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont ruled the northwest.
The brought together different approaches to unity:
Giuseppe Mazzini promoted republican and popular through Young Italy.
Camillo di Cavour pursued diplomacy, military alliances, and monarchic nation-building.
Giuseppe Garibaldi led revolutionary volunteers and military campaigns.
Cavour secured French support against Austria, and Piedmont-Sardinia gained Lombardy after the war of 1859. In 1860, Garibaldi’s Expedition of the Thousand conquered Sicily and Naples. Garibaldi transferred authority to King Victor Emmanuel II, allowing the northern monarchy to incorporate much of the peninsula. The Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed in 1861, Venetia joined in 1866, and Rome became the capital in 1870.
Unification created a state before it created a fully integrated nation. Northern Italy industrialized more rapidly, while much of the south remained poor and rural. Political participation was narrow, and conflict with the Catholic Church followed the annexation of Rome. Mazzini and Cavour therefore represent an important contrast: could mean democratic self-government, or it could mean the expansion of an existing monarchy through elite strategy.
Takeaway: Italian unification depended on popular movements, military action, diplomacy, and monarchical authority, but it left major regional and political divisions unresolved.
German Unification
The German-speaking lands were divided among many states within the German Confederation. Economic cooperation helped build a shared identity. The , a customs union led by Prussia, reduced internal trade barriers and increased Prussian influence.
The failed liberal revolution of 1848–1849 revealed both the strength and limits of German . Representatives in the Frankfurt Parliament attempted to establish a constitutional nation-state, but the Prussian king rejected the crown offered by the assembly. Unification instead proceeded through Prussian power politics.
Otto von Bismarck used war and diplomacy to create a small German solution that excluded Austria:
In 1864, Prussia and Austria defeated Denmark and gained control of Schleswig and Holstein.
In 1866, Prussia defeated Austria, dissolved the German Confederation, and established the North German Confederation.
In 1870–1871, Prussia’s war with France encouraged the southern German states to join the national project.
On January 18, 1871, King Wilhelm I of Prussia was proclaimed German emperor at Versailles. The German Empire combined , military victory, diplomacy, and monarchical authority. It had an elected parliament, but the emperor, chancellor, army, and Prussian elite retained considerable power.
Italy and Germany shared important features: both were unified through a combination of and state power, and both faced tensions between modern institutions and unequal political authority. Italy remained a constitutional monarchy with strong regional divisions, while Germany became a federal empire dominated by Prussia.
Takeaway: German unification demonstrated that could be achieved through military and diplomatic state-building rather than parliamentary democracy.
and European Expansion
After 1870, European states intensified their competition for colonies. involved extending political, economic, and military control beyond a state’s recognized borders. Industrial powers sought raw materials, labor, markets, strategic bases, and international prestige. Governments also used imperial expansion to display national strength and divert attention from domestic conflicts.
The scramble for Africa accelerated during the 1880s. At the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, European governments established rules for claiming territory without meaningful African representation. The conference did not create every colonial boundary, but it helped establish an international framework for European partition and recognition of territorial claims.
Colonial rule took several forms:
Settler colonies encouraged permanent European settlement and land seizure.
Extractive colonies focused on mines, plantations, taxes, and forced labor.
Concessionary regimes gave private companies authority to exploit territory under imperial protection.
A left local rulers formally in place while removing meaningful control over foreign policy and administration.
Colonial economies were often reorganized around exports rather than local needs. Railways, ports, schools, and hospitals could be built, but they generally served administrative, military, or commercial purposes. Colonial governments imposed taxes, seized land, recruited labor, and used military force. Colonial subjects nevertheless acted politically: they negotiated, petitioned, resisted, migrated, formed movements, and adapted European institutions.
Italy and Germany entered imperial competition later than Britain and France. Italy acquired Eritrea and Italian Somaliland and suffered a major defeat while attempting to conquer Ethiopia at Adwa in 1896. Germany established colonies in parts of Africa and the Pacific.
Takeaway: Imperial expansion connected industrial power, national prestige, economic extraction, and military control, while colonial subjects continued to resist and reshape imperial rule.
Migration and the Movement of Labor
The nineteenth century was an age of mass migration. Population growth, land shortages, political repression, religious persecution, famine, and industrial change encouraged people to move. Steamships and railroads reduced travel time and cost, while expanding economies in the Americas created demand for labor.
Migration followed several routes:
Rural inhabitants moved to European cities for industrial work.
Italians, Irish, Germans, Poles, Jews, and others crossed the Atlantic.
Workers moved within Europe toward industrial centers.
Colonial subjects were recruited or coerced into labor systems within imperial territories.
Between 1870 and 1900, nearly twelve million immigrants arrived in the United States, most from Europe. Economic opportunity attracted many migrants, while others fled crop failures, persecution, war, and political restrictions. helped relatives and neighbors follow earlier migrants, creating ethnic neighborhoods and transnational communities.
Migration strengthened economies and enriched urban culture, but it also produced xenophobia. Governments and political movements increasingly classified people by nationality, ethnicity, religion, and race. Immigration restrictions, citizenship laws, and border controls developed alongside modern . As a result, the question of who belonged to the nation became a central political issue.
Takeaway: Migration connected regions and economies while intensifying debates about labor, identity, citizenship, borders, and belonging.
Racial Ideologies and Colonial Power
and exclusion were supported by racial ideologies that ranked human groups in a supposed hierarchy. , , and used scientific language to justify inequality, although these theories falsely treated social differences as biological facts.
Such ideas portrayed Europeans as bearers of civilization and represented Africans and Asians as incapable of self-government. The language of civilizing missions obscured economic exploitation and political violence. Racial theories also shaped policies toward minorities and migrants, including Jews, Roma, and colonized peoples.
Racial antisemitism differed from older religious anti-Judaism because it defined Jews as a supposedly permanent biological group. By the late nineteenth century, politicians used racial antisemitism to mobilize voters and explain social tensions. Later Nazi ideology combined racial antisemitism, extreme , , and imperial conquest.
Racial ideology did not produce only one political outcome. Depending on circumstances, it could support colonial rule, immigration restriction, segregation, nationalist movements, or genocide. Its common feature was the claim that unequal treatment was natural rather than historically constructed.
Takeaway: Racial categories were politically constructed, but powerful institutions presented them as biological truths in order to justify unequal treatment.
Global Power Competition and the Road to War
National unification and imperial expansion altered the balance of power. Germany’s industrial growth and military strength challenged Britain and France. Italy sought recognition as a great power. Russia expanded in Eurasia, while Austria-Hungary struggled to manage competing national movements.
Colonial disputes, naval competition, alliance systems, and nationalist public opinion connected European politics to conflicts across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. A crisis involving a distant territory could become a test of national honor. Military planning and mass conscription made war more destructive, while newspapers and patriotic organizations encouraged citizens to see international rivalry as a struggle for national survival.
By 1914, European nation-states were linked by alliances but divided by intense competition. The revealed the destructive consequences of combining mass , imperial rivalry, militarism, and modern industrial power.
When examining evidence from this period, ask:
Who created the document, and who was its audience?
Which parts describe events, and which parts justify policies?
Who is absent from the account, especially when territories are discussed?
How does the perspective compare with accounts from colonized people, migrants, or political opponents?
How are terms such as nation, race, civilized, native, and citizen being defined and used?
Takeaway: The same forces that built powerful modern states also intensified international rivalry and helped make a global industrial war possible.
Connecting the Period
From the 1850s through the early twentieth century, European nation-building and overseas expansion developed together. Italy and Germany unified through combinations of popular , diplomacy, war, and state power. The new nation-states then competed for colonies, markets, resources, and prestige.
Mass migration connected Europe to the wider world, while racial ideologies attempted to justify unequal citizenship and colonial rule. These processes created modern national identities and global systems of inequality at the same time. They also intensified power rivalries that contributed to the and shaped political struggles throughout the twentieth century.
A useful way to connect the period is:
encouraged political consolidation and competition among states.
Industrialization increased the resources available for production, migration, and warfare.
extended European power overseas and intensified rivalry.
Migration connected labor markets and societies while provoking exclusion.
Racial ideologies justified unequal rule and citizenship.
Alliances and militarism transformed rivalry into global war.
Final takeaway: Modern European power was built through both national integration and global domination, and the tensions between those processes shaped the political crises of the twentieth century.