 1846 – Economic Problems lead to hardships ◦ Lower-middle class, workers, peasants  Middle class wanted right to vote ◦ Gov’t refused to make changes  1848 – monarchy overthrown ◦ Provisional government created ◦ Constitutional Assembly  Elected by Universal Male Suffrage

 Nov. 4, 1848 – Second Republic created ◦ Single legislature elected by all males  December 1848 – Elect Charles Louis Napoleon Bonaparte president ◦ Nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte

 Italy ruled by many groups ◦ Austria  Venetia and Lombardy ◦ Spanish Bourbons  Kingdom of Two Sicilies  Italians don’t want to live under separate rulers ◦ 1815 – 1848 – move toward unification

 1848 – nationalists look to Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia for leadership ◦ Largest and most powerful Italian state ◦ Liberal constitution  1849 – King Victor Emmanuel II

 1852 – Camillo di Cavour appointed prime minister ◦ Expanded economy to increase gov’t revenues ◦ Created army  Not large enough to defeat Austrians ◦ Cavour allies w/France  1858 – Louis-Napoleon  Combined army takes over northern Italy, except Venetia

 Cavour Secretly helped rebels in southern Italy  Giuseppe Garibaldi leads Red Shirts ◦ Capture Sicily ◦ Conquers Southern Italy ◦ Given permission by people to unite North and South  March 17, 1861 – Italy finally unified ◦ Garibaldi turns over control to King Victor Emmanuel III

◦ 1866 – Venetia becomes part of Italy ◦ 1870 – Italians take Papal States  Ruled by pope  Rome becomes capital of Italy

 1839 – German Confederation ◦ 39 German states formed into a loose grouping ◦ Dominated by largest states  Austria-Hungary  Prussia has advantages  Mainly German population  Powerful army  industrialized

 Prussia Leads German Unification ◦ Authoritarian gov’t  King had control over gov’t and military ◦ 1861 – Wilhelm I succeeds throne  Reforms army and doubles military  Liberal parliament refuses to give money  Seen as challenge to authority  Supported by Junkers – conservative wealthy landowners

 Wilhelm I appoints Otto von Bismarck prime minister ◦ Realpolitik  “Politics of reality”  Power politics w/no room for idealism  Based on practical matters not theory ◦ Ruled w/out consent of parliament and budget  Ruled by “Blood and Iron”

 Prussia Expands ◦ forms alliance w/Austria  War w/Denmark to win Schleswig and Holstein

 Seven Weeks’ War ◦ Causes conflict w/Austria over Schleswig and Holstein  Austria declares war in 1866 ◦ 7 Weeks’ War  Prussian victory  Austrians lose Venetia to Italy  Prussia controls northern Germany  Joins eastern and western parts of Prussia  1867 – North German Confederation dominated by Prussia

 Franco-Prussian War ◦ war with France ◦ Bismarck claims French insulted Wilhelm I ◦ French declare war on July 19, 1870 ◦ Southern Germany joins Prussia  Nationalism joins territories ◦ January, 28, 1871 – French surrender  Pay 5 billion francs  Give up Alsace and Lorraine

 Wilhelm I crowned kaiser (emperor) at Versailles ◦ Second Reich ◦ Dominance through “blood and iron”  War and military strength

 Following Congress of Vienna 5 Great Powers ◦ Britain, France, Austria, Prussia, and Russia  By 1871 – 2 great powers ◦ Britain and Germany  Most powerful militarily and economically ◦ Austria and Russia  Lag far behind ◦ France in the middle  Balance of Power had shifted ◦ Sets up possibility of future conflict