France, Germany, & Italy in the Late 19 th Century

France

Napoleon III Became emperor after the Revolution of 1848 Started out as a tyrant, but slowly eased restrictions on the legislature and reduced censorship and eventually issued a new democratic constitution Expanded industrialization, built railroads, created jobs; domestic policies were generally successful

Napoleon III’s Foreign Disasters Tried to bring Mexico into the French Empire, but Mexicans resisted and the United States protested European interference in the Americas Helped Italian nationalists defeat Austria, only to see Italy become a rival of France Lost war against Prussia in 1870, and was captured in battle, ending his reign

The Third Republic In 1871, the French National Assembly accepted a peace treaty with Germany – France surrendered two provinces + cash to Germany – The peace treaty was very unpopular with many French, leading to a brief civil war in France

The Third Republic New French government had a two-house legislature and was headed by a premier – Separated church and state Catholic Church ceased being the official church of France State-run schools were created to replace Catholic schools – Passed laws to protect workers set wages and hours increased worker safety Unfortunately, political, racial, and sexual scandals plagued the Republic in its early decades, damaging the government’s credibility

Germany

To Unite or Not? Remember, “Germany” was still broken into dozens of small states + Prussia and Austria in the early 1800s In 1848, the delegates at the Frankfurt Assembly offered the throne of a united Germany to the King of Prussia, but he rejected their authority to make such an offer

Otto von Bismarck In 1862, Otto von Bismarck was appointed Chancellor of Prussia by King Wilhelm Bismarck immediately began developing a plan to unite Germany under Prussian leadership

Bismarck’s Plan Strengthened the military to fight three wars: – Built an alliance between Prussia and Austria in 1864 and went to war with Denmark, seizing two German states – In 1866, attacked Austria and seized more German territory – In 1870, went to war with France and won easily

The Second Reich After the victory over France in 1871, the many German princes persuaded King Wilhelm I to take the title “Kaiser” (or emperor) of Germany This began the “Second Reich” (The old Holy Roman Empire was the First Reich and Germany under Adolph Hitler would be the Third Reich)

German Government Constitution established a two-house legislature: – The Bundesrat (upper house) was appointed by the princes – The Reichstag (lower house) was elected by male voters – The Bundesrat could veto the decisions of the Reichstag

Germany’s Strengths Plenty of iron and coal resources Lots of industry, large corporations Many miles of railroads Second largest merchant fleet in Europe Many universities = an educated workforce, many scientists

The Iron Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, now Chancellor of Germany, came to be known as “The Iron Chancellor” for his uncompromising desire to remove any obstacles to a truly united German state To completely unify Germany, however, meant destroying any competing loyalties

Kulturkampf Bismarck targeted Catholics, whom he felt were more loyal to the Pope than to Germany – had laws passed which would allow the state to appoint priests and to sanction marriages – when these moves backfired and increased loyalty to the Church, Bismarck backed down

Anti-Socialism Bismarck also campaigned against Socialist groups – feared that the working class would revolt against the state – banned Socialist groups, shut down Socialist newspapers – when these moves failed, he resorted to passing laws that helped improve working conditions to win over the working class created health insurance created disability pay created retirement pensions

Bismarck’s Fall In 1888, Wilhelm I’s grandson Wilhelm II became Kaiser Wilhelm took a much more aggressive interest in ruling Germany and in 1890 he fired the aging and conservative Bismarck Wilhelm began a massive military buildup, with an eye on building a global German empire, thereby upsetting the fragile European balance of power

Italy

Obstacles to Italian Unity Italy had not been united since the fall of the Roman Empire In mid-1800s, parts of Italy were ruled by Austria & France, other parts were independent states, and the pope had direct control of part of central Italy

Reasons to Unite Geographically distinct peninsula Common language Shared history of Roman Empire 99% Catholic Made good economic sense (ease of trade)

The Struggle for Italy The King of Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel, sought to unite Italy under his authority By 1859, Sardinia had defeated Austria and seized most of northern Italy He then allied himself with Giuseppe Garibaldi, a rebel leader in southern Italy who quickly conquered the entire southern half of the peninsula In 1861, Victor Emmanuel was named King of Italy, (although some regions would remain independent until 1870)

The Red Cross Created after the war between Sardinia and Austria left many innocent civilian casualties Originally organized to help the victims of war, today provides aid to the victims of all kinds of disasters Today made up of Red Cross (Christian), Red Crescent (Muslim), and Red Diamond (Non-denominational)

Italy’s Challenges Italy had been divided for so long, that most people maintained regional loyalties over any national loyalty Northern Italy was wealthy, more urban; southern Italy was poor and rural The pope wasn’t happy that he no longer directly controlled much of Italy and urged Catholics not to cooperate with new government Political unrest due to socialist and anarchist groups